Skip to main content

AMD, please don’t make the same mistake with the Ryzen 7 7700X3D

AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D launched about six months ago. I gave it a rare Editors’ Choice badge in my Ryzen 7 5800X3D review, and I stand by that assessment. But AMD made a big mistake with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, and I hope it doesn’t repeat that mistake with the Ryzen 7 7700X3D (or whatever name AMD ends up going with).

Next-gen 3D V-Cache processors are on the way; AMD has already confirmed that. It’s no secret that AMD’s 3D-stacked cache is a winning strategy to top the charts of the best gaming processors, but if AMD holds the Ryzen 7 7700X3D as long it held last gen’s version, it’s going to be tough to recommend.

Related Videos

Outclassed in an instant

Someone holding the Ryzen 7 5800X3D in a red light.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The Ryzen  7 5800X3D launched on April 20, 2022, and six months later, it’s not the gaming champion it once was. Launched at $450, it was the go-to processor for gaming, outperforming chips that ran almost twice as much. Now that Intel’s Raptor Lake and AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors are here, however, it doesn’t look as enticing.

Sure, the flagship Core i9-13900K and Ryzen 9 7950X offer better gaming performance, but that’s not the problem. The Core i5-13600K and Ryzen 5 7600X also outclass last gen’s 3D V-Cache chip in most games, all while costing around $150 less. At launch, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D claimed the second-highest result we’d recorded in Forza Horizon 4, only surpassed by Intel’s Core i9-12900K. Now, the Ryzen 7 7600X is nearly 16% faster, while the Core i5-13600K is 20% ahead.

Intel Raptor Lake performance in Forza Horizon 4.

In Far Cry 6, where the Ryzen 7 5800X3D showed a dominating lead of 28% over the Ryzen 9 5950X, it now only shows about a 4% lead over the Core i5-13600K and Ryzen 5 7600X. And in titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 where the Ryzen 7 5800X3D struggled, the current-gen AMD and Intel midrange options are some 17% ahead.

In short, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D has become obsolete. It’s not a bad processor — I actually have one in a small form factor PC for gaming on the couch — but there’s little reason to pick one up now. It’s more expensive than newer processors that offer better performance, plain and simple. At launch, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D was a massive value win for gamers, but it only stole the limelight for a brief time.

And that’s a shame for gamers. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D was never a great processor overall, taking a clear backseat to its competitors in basically every task but gaming. Still, it offered a huge boost in gaming performance at a price that Intel and even AMD itself couldn’t match with processors in the main lineup. I hope the Ryzen 7 7700X3D arrives sooner, so it can have the time to shine that it deserves.

All eyes on CES

Dr. Lisa Su presenting AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D.

Hopefully, we’ll have a clearer view of AMD’s 3D V-Cache plans soon. Rumors say that the company will announce two 3D V-Cache processors at CES, while we previously heard rumors that AMD planned to launch three chips. It doesn’t matter if we get two or three processors; I just hope we see Ryzen 7000 3D V-Cache processors at all.

Ryzen 5000 launched in November 2020, and the Ryzen 7 5800X3D was the last processor to launch in the range (a year and a half after the first processors rolled out). AMD’s current roadmap suggests it will release next-gen Ryzen processors sometime in late 2023, but that’s unconfirmed at this point. Regardless, one thing is clear: The clock is ticking for the Ryzen 7 7700X3D to not be trumped by the generation that follows.

Hopefully, the extra time the Ryzen 7 5800X3D took in the oven was to refine 3D V-Cache, and we’ll get the Ryzen 7000 versions soon. Right now, it’s tough to recommend the processor with the Ryzen 5 7600X and Core i5-13600K floating around, especially for those who aren’t focused solely on gaming.

Although the Ryzen 7 7700X3D could top gaming charts like its last-gen counterpart, we still don’t know at this point. It’s important to wait for third-party testing before making any assumptions about the chip.

Editors' Recommendations

AMD quietly slashes the prices of some of its best CPUs
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D socketed in a motherboard.

AMD has just quietly lowered the prices of several of its best processors, including the gaming champion Ryzen 7 5800X3D.

With these price cuts in mind, the CPUs are now an even more attractive option if you're looking to build a solid rig without spending too much.

Read more
Head-to-head: Intel Core i7-12700H vs. AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS
Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X front view showing display and keyboard deck.

Two of the top laptop processors in 2022 are the Intel Core i7-12700H vs AMD Ryzen 6900HS, but with so many other factors impacting laptop performance, it's hard to compare them head to head. So, when Lenovo offered me the opportunity to run the Intel version of its excellent Slim 7 Pro X laptop, which I had previously reviewed in its AMD incarnation, I jumped at the chance to pit two very similar laptops against each other.

I say "very similar" because, unfortunately, they're not identical. Importantly, they both used the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, which means we're directly comparing the CPUs themselves. The most important difference, beyond the processors, was that the AMD version running the Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU enjoyed 32GB of 6400MHz LPDDR5 RAM. The Intel Core i7-12700H version was loaded with "just" 16GB of slower 5200MHz LPDDR5 RAM. That means that while our benchmark results are likely to be close enough to gauge the performance differences, we can't be truly scientific. And the Ryzen 9 6900HS is a lower-power version of that chip while the Core i7 is full-power.

Read more
AMD 7000X3D V-Cache CPUs could challenge Intel at CES 2023
AMD 3D V-Cache chip is shown over a coppery background.

New AMD 7000X3D V-Cache CPUs could be shown as early as January 2023 at next year’s CES, promising big gaming performance gains and potentially wrestling the title of best gaming chip from Intel once more.

The latest news comes from a supposedly leaked internal road map that reveals AMD is planning to unveil its next-generation 3D V-Cache CPUs based on the Zen 4 architecture at CES 2023. This information comes from Wccftech which has a good track record of uncovering insider information. The report goes on to suggest that there will be two 3D V-Cache chips announced at the event, which is notable.

Read more