Reviews show that AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the fastest gaming CPU in the world. Faster than AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Intel Core i9-14900K and Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.
After months of waiting, AMD officially announced the Ryzen 9800X3D CPU several days ago, the latest entry in the X3D series of processors. This comes after disappointing reviews of the non-X3D AMD Ryzen 9000 series of CPUs.
The X3D series started with AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which was a game changing CPU when it was released. Then came its successor, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D – a new gaming king back then. Both of them have turned out to be among the best-selling CPUs out there.
Now it’s the chance to see how AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D performs. But first, the specs.
AMD Ryzen 9800X3D Specs
| CPU Specs | Ryzen 7 5800X3D | Ryzen 7 7800X3D | Ryzen 7 9800X3D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Zen 3 | Zen 4 | Zen 5 |
| CPU Socket | AM4 | AM5 | AM5 |
| CPU / SoC Process Node | 7nm / 12nm | 5nm / 6nm | 4nm / 6nm |
| Cores / Threads | 8 / 16 | 8 / 16 | 8 / 16 |
| GPU Cores | – | 2 | 2 |
| Base Clock | 3.4 GHz | 4.2 GHz | 4.7 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 4.5 GHz | 5 GHz | 5.2 GHz |
| L1 Cache | 512 KB | 512 KB | 640 KB |
| L2 Cache | 4 MB | 8 MB | 8 MB |
| L3 Cache | 96 MB | 96 MB | 96 MB |
| Default RAM Speed | DDR4-3200 | DDR5-5200 | DDR5-5600 |
| Max RAM Capacity | 128 GB | 128 GB | 192 GB |
| Tjmax | 90°C | 89°C | 95°C |
| TDP | 105W | 120W | 120W |
| MSRP | $449 | $449 | $479 |
Though the cost of the CPU has increased too by a small $30. Specs wise, Ryzen 7 9800X3D has some important improvements.
The CPU tile is made on an improved process node, it has higher clocks, supports faster RAM by default and has higher Tjmax. This is because AMD has made some major changes inside the CPU.
Massive Changes In Cache Location
Unlike AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, that have the extra X3D L3 cache put on top of the CPU cores, AMD has completely changed the location of the extra X3D L3 cache on AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D by moving it below the CPU cores.
This is a massive change that basically changes how the X3D cache works on the CPU. Now because the CPU cores are on top, it allows far better temperatures and higher clocks. This directly means performance improvements.
Reviews
AMD claims that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU is, on average, 8% faster in gaming when compared to the previous-gen Ryzen 7 7800X3D and 20% faster than the recently released Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU. But are those claims true. Let’s check out some of the reviews.
Tom’s Hardware
Tom’s Hardware saw a massive increase in gaming performance in their AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review.
When gaming at 1080p, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is, on average, 15% faster than the previous-gen AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D – a great gaming CPU itself. But that’s not alone, AMD Ryzen 9800X3D is a massive 30% faster than Intel’s best gaming CPU, the Intel Core i9-14900K and it is also a huge 35% faster than Intel’s latest CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.
So big is the performance difference that AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s 1% lows are comparable to Intel Core Ultra 9 285K’s average performance. Such a one-sided benchmark between two rivals is something we haven’t seen in years.
Not only that, even testing 9800X3D with a cheaper DDR5-5600 gave good results in performance and even there it managed to keep the lead in front of others.
In terms of power consumption, we do see some increase due to higher clocks. While gaming, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D consumed 66W in average, whereas the Ryzen 7 9800X3D consumes 76W – similar to the relatively power efficient Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.
The only problem is that Tom’s Hardware found it to have high idle power usage – something which is common with AMD Ryzen CPUs of recent times.
Even the power consumption in productivity apps see big increase over the previous-gen, but so does the performance. Also, productivity apps are not necessarily what this CPU is made for.
TechSpot
Steve Walton from the Hardware Unbox YouTube fame has posted a written review for the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
When testing games at 1080p, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a big 11% faster than the previous-gen Ryzen 7800X3D and 30% faster than similar Ryzen 7700X CPU without X3D cache.
It is also 28% faster than Intel Core i9-14900K and 35% faster than Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. Again, a huge difference in performance between two CPU companies.
In terms of power consumption in synthetic benchmarks, it used 54% more power than Ryzen 7800X3D, while delivering 24% faster performance. While the power consumption is relatively higher than x800X3D CPUs, it’s still lower than many others.
TechPowerUP
Compared to others, TechPowerUP had relatively modest increase in gaming performance when reviewing AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. We felt that the GPU they tested – the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 was causing a bottleneck in their tests. They plan to re-test Ryzen 7 9800X3D when the RTX 5090 releases.
When testing games at 1080p, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D was 6% faster than Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 8% faster than Intel Core i9-14900K, 12% faster than Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 15% faster than AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
In terms of power consumption, the application benchmarks do see quite an increase. However, the power consumption increase is relatively modest in gaming.
But despite higher power consumption, that doesn’t seem to completely translate in increased temps. While the temps does increase in synthetic benchmarks, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D actually has better temps in gaming over Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 7 5800X3D. All thanks to moving the cache below the CPU core.
Conclusion
As always, those who aren’t satisfied with the above reviews can always check other reviews. VideoCardz and 3DCenter have a huge list of them.
There’s one thing for sure, though. Without any doubt. AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the best gaming CPU ever released. Yes, it’s more expensive and other previous-gen X3D CPUs are far cheaper now. But the performance that AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D offers is on another level.
It leaves all the competition behind, that too by a big margin. Intel is not even near it. So much so that AMD’s competition is with its own previous-gen X3D CPU, the Ryzen 7800X3D.
We haven’t seen such a one-sided contest in years. We haven’t seen a CPU that’s so ahead in gaming like this. That’s why, we are saying, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a gaming CPU legend already.
We aren’t saying this alone. Reviewers everywhere reviewing it are having similar views. Some even mentioned how smooth it’s to game on this CPU and some mention how easy it’s to test this CPU as they faced no software or hardware issues while testing it. Interestingly, the found it to be faster than what even AMD claimed.
Additionally, German retailer MindFactory has tweeted a huge box full of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs. Suggesting that unlike others, it’s going to be in a good stock too.
We feel that it’s going to be selling massively everywhere it’s going to be available.
