AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D assessment: The world’s quickest gaming CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

MSRP $450.00

“The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a proof of idea that stumbled into being the world’s quickest gaming CPU.”

Execs

• The quickest gaming CPU available on the market

• Stable thermal efficiency

• Works with AM4 motherboards

• Cheap

• Low energy necessities

Cons

• No overclocking

• Lackluster common CPU efficiency

The previous 12 months has been a decent battle between Intel and AMD to launch the perfect gaming CPU. AMD held the lead with Ryzen 5000 earlier than being leapfrogged by Intel’s Twelfth-gen processors, however Group Crimson wasn’t content material to relaxation on its laurels. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is right here to cement AMD because the champion as soon as once more.

It has the efficiency of a flagship CPU with midrange pricing, far outpacing the rest that AMD or Intel has to supply in relation to gaming. Common CPU efficiency is down, as anticipated, however players who need peak efficiency can cease looking out: The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the perfect gaming CPU you should purchase in 2022.

Specs and pricing

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is generally similar to the Ryzen 7 5800X. It options the identical eight Zen 3 cores, however they’re tuned barely decrease (a 400MHz loss on the bottom clock and 200MHz loss on the max increase clock). It’s not an amazing choice for purposes which might be delicate to core depend or frequency, however that’s not the purpose of the chip.

AMD has made it clear that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a gaming processor. Meaning it doesn’t want 16 cores just like the Ryzen 9 5950X, nor the insane clock speeds of the Core i9-12900KS. These compromises assist the processor hit $450, which is identical record value that the Ryzen 7 5800X had at launch.

As I’ll dig into beneath, the chip gives flagship efficiency on the extent of the Ryzen 9 5950X and Core i9-12900K — each processors that price north of $600. For players, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a steal, even though it’s the final processor that can use AMD’s storied AM4 socket.

Let’s discuss cache

The distinction between the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a further 64MB of L3 cache. That may not sound like an enormous deal — the Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X have 64MB of cache on their very own — but it surely’s a showcase of AMD’s new 3D V-Cache expertise, and it’s fairly essential.

AMD isn’t simply including extra cache. It’s stacking the cache on high of the chip by shaving down the die and passing by way of connections immediately. Meaning the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is ready to entry a large pool of cache at breakneck velocity, all whereas sustaining the scale of an ordinary Ryzen 5000 processor.

It’s billed as a gaming CPU, and cache isn’t normally an enormous dialogue level in relation to video games. However by stacking 64MB on high of the 32MB already on the Ryzen 7 5800X, AMD is giving the CPU much more room to course of directions with out fetching them from system reminiscence. Anybody who has used Ryzen 5000 earlier than is aware of that reminiscence velocity performs an enormous function in gaming efficiency, so it shouldn’t come as a shock {that a} boosted cache represents an enormous efficiency achieve, too.

What’s essential to know is that your OS sees the cache as a shared 96MB pool, not as separate 32MB and 64MB chunks. Including extra cache at all times will increase latency, and as many early Home windows 11 adopters discovered, cache latency is a killer in video games. AMD says that the efficiency positive factors vastly offset that elevated latency, nonetheless, which exhibits up in my take a look at outcomes.

Efficiency

I didn’t focus an excessive amount of consideration on common CPU efficiency as a result of we’ve been right here earlier than. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D isn’t an amazing choice for common processor efficiency. It’s slower clock velocity and eight cores imply it falls vastly wanting the flagships it could possibly compete with in video games.

It’s not a nasty choice, however even the Ryzen 7 5800X can be a better option in the event you’re not involved with gaming. You may see how the 3D-stacked mannequin takes a loss in single-core efficiency in each Cinebench and Geekbench in comparison with the Ryzen 9 5950X. All of AMD’s Ryzen 5000 processors fall inside a sure vary in these benchmarks, however the Ryzen 7 5800X3D’s slower clock velocity imply it trails the pack.

Multi-core efficiency isn’t nice both as a result of there are solely eight cores, they usually high out at round 4.3GHz primarily based on my testing. The one oddball was PugetBench, the place I used to be hopeful the elevated cache would give the Ryzen 7 5800X3D a leg up. It doesn’t.

Gaming efficiency

Now for what the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is all about: Gaming. You may see the Geomean outcomes above, exhibiting how the processor stacks up on common to different flagships. I ran all of my checks at 1080p with an RTX 3090 and 32GB of DDR4-3200 reminiscence, wanting Halo Infinite, which I ran with an RTX 3070. For settings, there’s a mixture of Excessive to Extremely relying on the sport.

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D dominates because the quickest gaming CPU you should purchase. It was 6.4% sooner than the Ryzen 9 5950X, whereas nonetheless sustaining a decent 1.7% lead over Intel’s Core i9-12900K. Remember that each the Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 5950X are $150 to $200 costlier, so it is a severely spectacular feat.

Getting all the way down to specifics, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D maintained a lead in many of the video games I examined. The CPU-intensive Far Cry 6 is one to name out, with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D providing a large 27.8% lead over the Ryzen 9 5950X. The identical is true in Fortnite, which is the kind of sport that ought to profit loads from further cache. That interprets right into a 12.6% lead over the Ryzen 9, however parity with the Core i9-12900K.

The positive factors aren’t at all times as stark, significantly in GPU-limited video games. It appears graphically demanding open-world video games don’t profit as a lot from the extra cache, as evidenced by Crimson Useless Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. Forza Horizon 4 was the odd one out, with a strong 6% enhance over the Ryzen 9 5950X.

In a take a look at like 3D Mark Time Spy, the processor doesn’t present its energy. However in actual video games, like in Civilization VI’s flip time benchmark, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D gives large enhancements. AMD is providing higher gaming efficiency for much less cash, with fewer cores and a slower clock velocity.

If nothing else, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is an indication of what’s to return. Though there are outliers, it’s clear that further cache gives enhancements in video games past the IPC chase that’s been occurring for the higher a part of 30 years.

Energy, warmth, and clock velocity

The additional cache isn’t free on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Though it doesn’t draw practically as a lot energy because the Core i9-12900KS, it will get somewhat toasty. Throughout a multi-core Cinebench R23 run, the chip peaked at 86 levels Celsius beneath a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooler. In the course of the run, nonetheless, it solely pulled 101 watts at its peak.

That’s not a harmful temperature for temporary, intense workloads like Cinebench. Nevertheless, it exhibits why AMD selected to disable overclocking on this chip. The all-core frequency throughout this run was 4.35GHz, and pushing it any increased would bump proper up in opposition to the chip’s most working temperature of 90 levels.

Within the single-core take a look at, the processor reached 4.45GHz whereas consuming considerably much less energy — simply shy of 36W at its peak. Temperatures had been significantly better, too, peaking at 52 levels Celsius. That is extra in step with what it’s best to anticipate out of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, with temperatures nearing 60 levels Celsius with most workloads.

We’re a far cry from the facility and warmth ranges of Intel’s competing processors, however the Ryzen 7 5800X3D nonetheless runs a bit hotter than the remainder of the Ryzen 5000 vary. You don’t have to spend money on a brand new CPU cooler, but it surely’s one thing to remember.

Our take

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D delivers on AMD’s promise of releasing the world’s quickest gaming CPU. It’s uncommon we see a CPU particularly tuned for gaming, however AMD exhibits {that a} design aim like that works. In fact, it loses the race within the Cinebench/Geekbench battle, however for players, that doesn’t matter.

Are there any alternate options?

There’s nothing fairly just like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D resulting from its distinctive packaging expertise and big pool of L3 cache. The closest factor can be both the Ryzen 9 5950X or Ryzen 9 5900X with their 64MB swimming pools. By way of efficiency, Intel’s Core i9-12900K will get shut, but it surely’s round $150 costlier and nonetheless not as quick in video games.

How lengthy will it final?

That is the killer. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the final CPU to make use of AMD’s AM4 socket, so upgrading now implies that you’ll want to purchase a brand new motherboard whenever you swap your CPU sooner or later. It ought to final for a number of years in gaming, but when AMD applies this expertise to its next-gen chips, we’ll doubtless see even bigger jumps in gaming efficiency.

Do you have to purchase it?

Sure, however solely with the understanding that you simply’ll want a brand new motherboard down the road. As spectacular as it’s, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is somewhat robust to advocate merely primarily based on the time it launched and the place future CPU generations are headed.

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