AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review: obliterating the competition

It has been a tough outdated time in terms of benchmarking CPUs, I can let you know that. The Ryzen 9000 launch again in August was let down by comparatively meagre efficiency enhancements and an unready software program ecosystem, whereas Intel’s 285K and 245K launch final month confirmed a big efficiency regression versus 14th-gen – regardless of a genuinely attention-grabbing shift in architectures. Fortunately, AMD is right here to avoid wasting the day with the Ryzen 9 9800X3D.

As you would possibly count on, the 9800X3D is the quickest gaming CPU we have ever examined, however what you would possibly not count on is simply how a lot quicker it may be in some titles versus the 7800X3D, 9700X and 14900K – and the way a lot of a step ahead it’s exterior of video games versus its X3D predecessor.

What I significantly like about the 9800X3D is that it does one thing a bit totally different to the 7800X3D and 5800X3D earlier than it. Fairly than including on the additional L3 cache above the CCD, AMD has popped it beneath this time round, a transfer that sees temperatures go down and clock speeds go up. The result’s a chip that may be a significantly better all-rounder than its predecessors, whereas nonetheless delivering the form of game-changing efficiency that makes X3D chips price ready for.

Picture credit score: AMD

To correctly familiarize yourself with the stage of efficiency on supply, we have run the 9800X3D via our full gamut of 11 sport benchmarks at 1080p, 1440p and 4K, together with a few of the most demanding single-player (Dragon’s Dogma, Starfield, Cyberpunk) and multiplayer (CS2, F1 24) releases. Our energy evaluation and DDR5 testing additionally returns from our current Intel Core Extremely 200S opinions.

Earlier than we get into all that although, it is price taking a more in-depth have a look at the specs right here – and whether or not the adjustments we see versus the 7800X3D and 9700X are mirrored in our artificial and content material creation benchmarks.

In brief, the 9800X3D presents greater base clock speeds and way more L3 cache than the 9700X, but it surely’s additionally price noting that the TDP has climbed to 120W – versus 65W and optionally 105W – for the 9700X. Increase speeds are nonetheless 300MHz slower on the X3D chip, however versus the 7800X3D it is clear that the new on-bottom V-Cache location has delivered some good beneficial properties – plus 500MHz (!) in terms of base clock and plus 200MHz in terms of enhance. For context, we solely noticed a 100MHz leap in enhance clock when going from the 7700X to the 9700X, in order that new design does make itself recognized.

That is additionally the costliest Ryzen 7 X3D chip ever shipped, with a $479 RRP versus the $449 7800X3D and 5800X3D – although (probably deliberate) provide points have meant that the 7800X3D is way from the cut price it as soon as was.

A really clear and by no means dusty take a look at rig, that includes a Ryzen 9000 processor, RTX 4090 Founders Version, ASRock Taichi X670E and the Alphacool Aurora Eisbaer 240mm AiO. | Picture credit score: Digital Foundry

All testing was carried out on contemporary installs of Home windows 24H2 with the newest chipset drivers, BIOS updates and Nvidia’s 565.90 graphic drivers put in (to permit us to reuse the mountain of information we collected for our Core 285K and 245K opinions). Resizable BAR and core isolation have been enabled on every system.

Our CPU take a look at platform is predicated round the Nvidia GeForce Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Version graphics card and Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM. Every CPU is accompanied by a 1000W+ energy provide from Corsair or NZXT, a high-end 240mm or 360mm AiO and an appropriate premium motherboard: the ASRock X670E Taichi for AMD Ryzen 7000 and 9000, the MSI Z890 Meg Ace for Intel Core Extremely 200S, the Gigabyte Aorus Z790 Master for twelfth and 14th-gen Intel Core and the Asus ROG Crosshair 8 Hero for AMD Ryzen 5000 – with Trident Z Royal DDR4-3600 CL16 as DDR5 RAM is just not supported on this platform.

Storage duties are dealt with by a spread of PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 5.0 SSDs, together with the 4TB Lexar NM790 for our AMD Ryzen 9000 system.

Now, let’s transfer onto the content material creation benchmarks to get a greater sense of how the 9800X3D advances on its predecessors. Even in the event you do not plan to make use of the 9800X3D to crank out movies or do 3D modelling, this kind of testing additionally units out the most uptick we’re prone to see in gaming workloads and provides you a extra normal sense of all-core efficiency.

Beginning with our Cinebench take a look at outcomes, together with the in style R20 and more moderen 2024 launch, the 9800X3D exhibits a small uptick in single-core efficiency (130 vs 134) and a a lot bigger ramp up in multi-core efficiency (1342 vs 1172) versus the 9700X, most probably attributable to its greater energy limits or the additional L3 cache. Notice that we examined the 9700X at its inventory 65W setting, although a 105W mode was made obtainable later and in our 9700X overview we noticed it ship comparable efficiency to the 9800X3D – 136 single, 1280 multi.

The larger differential comes when inspecting the 9800X3D versus the 7800X3D. Right here, scores are up round 20 % for single and 25 % multi-core in the two Cinebench variations, placing the 9800X3D half-way between the eight-core 7700X and 12-core 7900X – not dangerous.

Whereas Cinebench is supposed to mirror a 3D modelling and animation activity in Cinema 4D, our Cinebench take a look at displays an actual use case for us: transcoding a Patreon video file into H.264 and H.265 (HEVC). Right here, we measured the 9800X3D sucking down a wholesome 259W at full tilt, versus the 191W-max 9700X, however the new CPU additionally turns in a powerful 59.59fps H.264 and 27.44fps HEVC common transcode frame-rate. That is 15 % quicker than the 9700X, admittedly whereas drawing 35 % extra energy.

Comparisons versus the 7800X3D are additionally spectacular, with a 27 proportion level benefit in the HEVC take a look at. We’re nonetheless a way from the likes of the 12-core and 16-core AM5 designs, but it surely’s nonetheless a powerful exhibiting for a gaming-focused half and one which proves the efficacy of AMD’s new bottom-cache design.

Now let’s get into the turkey and Yorkshire puddings of our testing, the gaming benchmarks. We have now 11 video games in all.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D evaluation

• Introduction, take a look at rig and content material creation benchmarks [this page]
• Gaming benchmarks: Dragon’s Dogma 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield
• Gaming benchmarks: Flight Simulator 2020, F1 24, Forza Horizon 5
• Gaming benchmarks: Counter-Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Crysis 3 Remastered
• Gaming benchmarks: Far Cry 6, Hitman World of Assassination
• Energy evaluation: Counter-Strike 2, Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5
• RAM gaming benchmarks: Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, Flight Sim 2020
• AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: the Digital Foundry verdict