AMD’s Ryzen 7900X3D is now so cheap that it could tempt some PC gamers against buying an Intel CPU
AMD’s Ryzen 9 7900X3D, the 12-core processor that benefits from 3D V-Cache, has never been cheaper in the US – and it’s falling in price elsewhere, it seems.
VideoCardz saw that the Ryzen 9 7900X3D has been reduced to $389 New egg and Amazon in the US (although a code or coupon must be applied in both cases).
The 7900X3D’s regular MSRP is $599, to give you an idea of how far the price tag has dropped for this 12-core chip. Granted, lately the price has been valued at $400 or just above $400, but this is the first time the price has crept below that level.
With the price cut being applied simultaneously for Amazon and Newegg, at the exact same level, it looks like this is an officially orchestrated discount from AMD (although we can’t be sure).
At $389 in the US, the Ryzen 9 7900X3D is now 35% below MSRP, and actually just $20 more than Newegg’s 7800X3D (at the time of writing). All this makes the 7900X3D look quite attractive, especially when you consider the price tag of a top-end Intel processor (the Core i9-14900K is 40% more expensive, again at the time of writing).
Outside the US, the 7900X3D also appears to have been significantly reduced, although not to the same extent – with a 20% discount in Britain, for example. So further price drops could come to other regions, perhaps…
So for those who are going to use AMD, given that the Ryzen 9 7900X3D is a 12-core CPU versus the 8-cores of the 7800X3D, and it also has higher clock speeds, it’s now a good idea to get the beefier Ryzen 9 part to buy, right?
Well no, and if you’re only interested in PC gaming, the typical advice is to stick with the 7800X3D – but let’s dig into that a little deeper.
Analysis: For AMD gamers, the cache configuration matters
Okay, so firstly, there’s no denying that the Ryzen 9 7900X3D’s strengths (four extra cores, faster clocks) mean that if you’re going to be using the CPU for other tasks besides PC gaming, it’s the better choice for only $20 more compared to the 7800X3D.
The problem for gaming lies in the way the 3D V-Cache is configured with these two AMD processors. In the 7900X3D, the cores are divided over two chiplets, with six cores each, and only one chiplet has the 3D V-Cache. But with the 7800X3D there are only eight cores, and because there is no multi-chip design, all eight cores benefit from the cache – meaning there are two more cores than the 7900X3D.
So conventional wisdom and benchmarks have shown that the 7800X3D is better for gaming – and it’s cheaper (not by much, mind you). Lately, however, we’re seeing some claims, and even benchmarks on YouTube, showing that the 7900X3D is now very competitive overall with the 7800X3D. The theory is that it’s more refined so that the multi-chip configuration isn’t such a drawback, and that’s certainly a sentiment that’s been aired on some forums lately.
That said, we obviously need to be careful not to put too much stock in that idea (this is not a test we undertook ourselves). Any way you look at it, the 7900X3D isn’t realistically that far off from the 7800X3D in most games, and given how much better the chip is for everything outside of gaming, the 7900X3D seems like an excellent choice at this current price point. Especially for anyone who uses their PC for productivity or creativity in any way.
If you pull the trigger on a Ryzen 9 7900X3D, make sure your drivers are up to date (chipset, motherboard) to take full advantage of the latest (apparent) tweaks and tweaks for this CPU. But the 7800X3D remains a top processor for the money and is still rated as our best gaming CPU today.