AMD has recently launched its Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, which has brought the company's gaming performance competitiveness against Intel back to the top. The 3D Vertical Cache memory used in the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 7900X3D, and Ryzen 7 7800X3D processors has supercharged their gaming performance. The 7800X3D is perfect for an elite gaming PC build that is used for playing games with some domestic productivity on the side. On the other hand, the 7950X3D is ideal for heavy content creation and application workloads besides gaming, which means AMD levels up to Intel on both fronts.
The 3D Vertical Cache is a fast 64 MB slice of SRAM cache stacked on top of the 32 MB on-die L3 cache of "Zen 4" chiplets, which extends the L3 cache size to 96 MB. This has a profound impact on gaming workloads, as the CPU cores have more amount of game data at much lower latency than DRAM. AMD has shared some technical aspects of the Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, including the core configuration of the processors, the voltage range, and the cache die design.
The Ryzen 9 7900X3D processor offers two CCDs with the same L3 cache configuration as the Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor. However, the core configuration differs, as the CCD of the 7900X3D processor has six cores enabled, with the same 64 MB L3 cache added, or 10.7 MB of L3 cache per core, as the 7950X3D processor CCD with AMD 3D V-Cache.
The AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs have the same basic graphics engine with 2 AMD RDNA 2 CU's. The built-in graphics is meant to provide basic display-out capabilities for troubleshooting, as well as enough performance for watching videos and doing basic office tasks. The built-in graphics resides on the I/O die and is a self-contained unit with its own L2 cache. It does not access the L3 cache on any of the compute dies.
AMD recommends following their team's instructions when testing AMD Processors, including installing the correct AMD Chipset Software and ensuring that you are running on an optimized OS for testing AMD 3D V-Cache technology. With a single CCD product with AMD 3D V-Cache technology, a workload capable of benefiting from higher levels of L3 cache will automatically see optimized performance when the basic steps are followed.
AMD is partnering closely with Microsoft to help optimize the built-in thread scheduler in Windows for AMD Ryzen & Threadripper processors to ensure full benefit from their technologies. Additionally, they continue to work closely with game developers to ensure game threads are optimally scheduled to take advantage of the large AMD 3D V-Cache technology available on Ryzen 7000X3D processors.
Overall, the Ryzen 7000X3D processor series is a game-changer for AMD, and it has set the company up for the crucial Spring-Summer season, when PC gamers tend to upgrade and play the latest games.
