- Reviews claim the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D excels in productivity, creative tasks, and gaming tasks
- Innovative cache design improves cooling and multi-threaded efficiency
- Eight cores, 16 threads and 96 MB of L3 cache for $480
AMD’s latest Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor has impressed tech reviewers across the board, with the media highlighting its adeptness at handling productivity and creative workloads, as well as gaming.
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D costs $480 and offers eight Zen 5 cores, 16 threads, and an expanded 96MB L3 cache. The design provides better thermal processing by placing the cache under the compute chip, allowing higher sustained clock speeds. This approach not only keeps the processor cooler, but also optimizes data flow, making it more efficient for multi-threaded applications.
Notebook control noted that the processor’s improved IPC performance makes it “a good foundation for creative tasks”, adding: “Compared to its predecessor, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D delivers up to 25 percent more performance depending on the scenario – without an increase in power consumption.”
Full overclocking support
In his review, TechPowerUp said: “While overall application performance is not the main focus of the 9800X3D, it is still important to test. Many makers not only game, but also run compute-intensive applications, which has been a bit of a weakness of the X3D family, as Intel’s Raptor Lake offered better application performance and gaming performance that was close enough. AMD has successfully addressed this with the 9800X3D. The 9800X3D is 18% faster than its predecessor, which is a significant improvement. In some applications the benefits are even greater.”
The reviewer added: “On certain compute-intensive tasks we see improvements of 25 to 30% – very impressive. Compared to the 9700X, the 9800X3D is 6% faster and only 12% behind the 9900X.”
Tom’s hardware However, sounded cautious, saying: “The Core i9-14900K is a stronger competitor to the 9800X3D due to its lower price tag of $440, and for its price it delivers better performance in productivity workloads than the 9800X3D, beating it by 41% respectively and 10% on multi- and single-threaded workloads. If you’re more interested in productivity work in this price range, the 14900K is a solid competitor, albeit one that typically consumes more power (except when idle).”
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D offers full overclocking support, with AMD’s Precision Boost Overdrive feature providing an accessible route to achieving even more performance.
Users can fine-tune core and memory speeds, maximizing the CPU’s potential for both gaming and creative work. This flexibility in performance tuning fits well with AMD’s strategy of offering processors suited to a range of demanding tasks.
Tom’s hardware concluded its glowing review with a nod to the processor’s versatility, saying, “The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the fastest gaming chip on the market by a wide margin, easily beating Intel’s rival processors. AMD has also significantly improved performance on productivity workloads, eliminating some of the downsides of choosing a gaming-optimized X3D chip.”