AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review: The best processor of this generation

Note: This feature was first published on 6 November 2024.

It’s not a stretch to say that AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series has truly beaten Intel’s own Core Ultra 200S series in this generation’s battle for the desktop CPU supremacy, but Team Red still has another ace in its hands for gamers – the Ryzen 7 9800X3D with 3D V-Cache.

First seen with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D (and the follow-up Ryzen 7 7800X3D), 3D V-cache is an amazing AMD technology that enables it to vertically stack cache onto a CPU. This allows AMD to increase the processor’s memory, without having to increase the size of the die or shrink its logic circuits, and thus allowing it to triple the L3 cache of its processors. This has the benefit of improving the CPU’s performance despite retaining the same architecture, and number of cores and threads.

But why is L3 cache so important? Well, more L3 cache allows the processor to stream and store more instructions, decreasing the number of times it needs to pull instructions from RAM. Naturally, this doesn’t provide a performance benefit in all situations. However, in scenarios where the CPU is handling multiple instructions, such as gaming, an additional L3 cache can provide a big uplift (our benchmarks with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and 7800X3D have shown some pretty solid uplifts in selected games).

Yet, the engineers at AMD haven’t been resting on their laurels and have made some notable tweaks to the second-generation of 3D V-cache, which is used in the new Ryzen 7 9800X3D for the first time. This makes the 9800X3D markedly different than its predecessors – and for the better. While previous X3D processors are similar in design, the new reengineered 3D V-cache in the 9800X3D comes with a small but key redesign: the 64MB L3 cache is now placed beneath the core complex die (CCD). This effectively allows the CCD to be closer to the cooling solution, keeping the chip's cores cooler and improving efficiency.

Being cooler and more power efficient also meant that AMD could afford to boost the 9800X3D's base clock higher than its predecessor, the 7800X3D (see the specs table below). And for the first time on an X3D processor, overclocking is fully enabled on the 9800X3D. It is truly an intriguing Ryzen 9000 series chip.

We used the following AMD test rig to benchmark the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which was also used for reviewing the earlier Ryzen 9000 series processors. It comes with the following specifications:

• ROG Crosshair X870E Hero
• Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD
• Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 memory
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition
• Windows 11 OS

I've selected the the current stack of Ryzen 9000 series processors sans the Ryzen 5 9600X. Also in the list are last-gen Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D. 

How did the 9800X3D fare? Read on.

Gaming performance

My game list includes a mixture of old and recent games to test these processors’ performance, and while the list isn’t exhaustive by any measure there are enough different game engines and APIs variety to give us an idea of broader performance trends.

1080p benchmarking is a great measure of a CPU’s prowess, no thanks in part to the high-performance GeForce RTX 4090 card used here. For the uninitiated, at lower resolutions, the GPU can process and transfer data much quicker than at higher resolutions. A CPU bottleneck happens here because the processor cannot keep up with the processing speed of the graphics card. The CPU, after all, is responsible for processing real-time game actions, physics, UI, audio and other complex CPU-bound processes.

So while it’s unlikely that Ryzen 7 9800X3D will be used for playing games at 1080p, the results at this resolution can clue us in the chip’s the raw power when it comes to gaming.

Right off the bat, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D pulled no punches by outpacing the rest of the Ryzens in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The game makes full use of the X3D processors' higher L3 cache but as we can see at higher resolutions that advantage drops until it level out at 4K.

Total War: Warhammer III is a good example of how games that don't take advantage of the X3D's higher L3 cache will still see a small generational uplift with the 9800X3D thanks to a combination of higher clock speed and the Zen 5's IPC (instructions per clock).

The X3D processors do seem to thrive in open-world and expansive games like Metro: Exodus.

Returnal is one of the rare game where all the Ryzens performs pretty neck-to-neck.

Once again, the X3D processors performed really well with another open-world game – this time on Cyberpunk 2077. And once again the Ryzen 7 9800X3D came out top.

In short, the 9800X3D is the fastest gaming processor out today. But it's not just in our gaming benchmarks that the 9800X3D did so well.

Productivity and Content Creation performance

SYSmark 30 is a great benchmark as it measures and compares system performance using real-world applications and workloads – such as office suite-style applications, tasks like web browsing, file compression, and application installation, and photo and video editing applications, including multitasking.

Where previous generations of X3D processors do not gain noticeable uplifts in productivity and content creation workloads compared to their non-X3D equivalent (e.g., the 7950X versus the 7950X3D), the 9800X3D actually surprised us and even exceeded our expectations in the areas of content creation tasks such as photo and video editing.

It's also not too shabby at general productivity and office applications, besting the 7800X3D.

But it does have a weak spot, which we see here with Handbrake, a transcoder for video files. For workloads that requires brute power, the 9800X3D still holds its own when compared to the 9700X but you'll certainly want the Ryzen 9 processors for these tasks instead.

Power and thermal efficiency 

The Ryzen 9000 series processors are great at power and thermal efficiencies, especially the low and mid-range 9600X and 9700X (read our reviews here), and the Ryzen 7 9800X3D does run at almost at the same power as its non-X3D equivalent albeit at a higher temperature in Cinebench.

With games though, such as Metro: Exodus, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D runs a lot hotter than the 9700X but there are some key takeaways here. For instance, taking the results above and comparing with the Ryzen 9 9950X, we can clearly see just how much more power efficient it is to run games on the 9800X3D. From a power-to-performance optic, the 9800X3D is just so much a better choice for gamers.

Final thoughts

The numbers above don't lie. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the best gaming processor you can buy, and as a bonus, it now even performs solidly in non-gaming tasks, such as content creation. However, its limited core count could mean that heavy creatives should still consider the higher-end Ryzen 9 options instead. But if your focus is on both gaming and moderately intensive creative workloads, the 9800X3D is an easy recommendation.

You know what, let me rephrase what I've said above. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D isn't just the best gaming processor; in my opinion, it's the best processor AMD has made in this generation. From my perspective, the 9800X3D solidifies AMD's already notable lead over Intel in gaming performance, while also narrowing the gaps in productivity and creative workloads. This reduced disparity outside of gaming could make AMD a more attractive choice for creators who also enjoy gaming.

That said, the 9800X3D's performance boosts do not come without a cost, as its price tag places it closer to the Ryzen 9 9900X than the Ryzen 7 9700X. I wish AMD had stuck with the same launch price as the previous-generation 7800X3D, but considering the improvements, it's not too difficult to justify the price increase. However, for those who are price-sensitive, there are plenty of more affordable alternatives. You don't have to look far—options like the Ryzen 7 9700X or even the 9600X offer fantastic value for their performance, even if they aren't the best gaming processors. Conversely, if you have a high-end GPU like a GeForce RTX 4080 Super or RTX 4090 and are pursuing 4K gaming or working with applications where time is critical, then a CPU with more cores would be the better option.

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