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AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Review – Worth the Cache$?!

AMD’s new Ryzen 7 5800X3D is an interesting processor to analyse as it feels as much of a real-world product as it does a technology demonstrator for AMD’s future plans.

Looking at real-world performance, this processor is not the chip you should be considering purchasing if you have productivity workloads. When it comes to gaming, though, that’s where the Ryzen 7 5800X3D does extremely well.

We saw results that make the new AMD processor with its 96MB of L3 cache as fast as Intel’s Core i9-12900K, and sometimes notably quicker. You have to credit AMD for delivering sizable gaming performance increases without deploying a complete overhaul of the underlying Zen 3 architecture.

So, productivity performance is well below par and there’s no overclocking. But power efficiency is strong and gaming performance is excellent. Plus, you have the benefit of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D being a straightforward, drop-in AM4 upgrade.

Perhaps this is exactly what us gamers have been wanting all along; a no-nonsense processor that crunches through AAA titles without even sparing a thought for 3D animation or video editing workloads.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is honestly one of the more intriguing processors I have analysed in recent times.

From a productivity workload perspective, it’s almost certainly a complete no-go. From a mixed usage perspective, there are clearly better options. But from a purely gaming perspective, it does look to be a very compelling solution, particularly if you’re already on AM4 or if you’ve already decided to spend Core i7 or Core i9 money on your gaming chip.

I think that AMD’s roughly £35 price increase for the Ryzen 7 5800X3D versus the Core i7-12700K is very tolerable to gamers. With the new 3D V-Cache-equipped Ryzen, you’re getting higher gaming performance albeit at a higher cost versus the Core i7-12700K. But you get the benefit of the AMD chip being on the considerably lower cost AM4 platform.

I think that last point in particular will be a deal-sealer for a lot of enthusiast gamers.

To finish up this one, I want to focus on the innovation side of things here as I really do feel that AMD deserves credit for bringing a whole new technology to market. Perhaps the way in which I should view the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is as an interesting display of AMD’s engineering prowess in recent times.

Intel went for an innovative new hybrid approach in Alder Lake and then reverted to the far-from-innovative brute force approach with the Core i9-12900KS.

Not to be outdone by Intel’s new mainstream flagship, AMD has hit back with its own innovative approach that is far more pioneering than simply adding more cores or ramping up clock speed. And that deserves some serious credit, particularly when such impressive performance in the domain of gaming is delivered alongside.

Realistically, I think this Ryzen 7 5800X3D is AMD testing the water for its new 3D V-Cache technology before we see a bigger deployment perhaps as one of the fundamental features for future Zen processors. And if that is indeed the case, this first look at AMD’s 3D V-Cache on the consumer platform has indeed got me very excited for what is to come.

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D US MSRP is $449 USD and £410 in the UK.

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Pros:

  • Outstanding gaming performance – as good as the best gaming chips.
  • Modest power usage.
  • Drop-in upgrade for AM4 platform users.
  • Huge amounts of L3 cache may benefit some niche workloads.

Cons:

  • Significant price increase versus non-3D V-Cache Ryzen chips.
  • No overclocking will disappoint some users.
  • Weak productivity performance for the price.

KitGuru says: AMD's new Ryzen 7 5800X3D is undoubtedly innovative with its 3D V-Cache technology deployment. Balanced performance is certainly not the 5800X3D's strength, but if you're interested solely in gaming, this new AM4 CPU with its 96MB of L3 cache delivers excellent performance. 

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Rating: 8.5.

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