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AMD confirms Ryzen 7 5800X3D won’t support overclocking

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The rumors have now been proven true — the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor will not support overclocking.

AMD has revealed in an interview that traditional overclocking will not be available on the upcoming CPU. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t support any kind of adjustments.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D chip.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The information was shared by Robert Hallock, AMD’s director of technical marketing, in an interview with HotHardware. Hallock confirmed that AMD had to apply a hard lock for overclocking on the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D chip. He then went on to detail why exactly AMD chose to take such measures with a high-end gaming CPU that would likely be purchased by a fair number of potential overclockers.

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In the interview, Hallock clarified that Ryzen 7 5800X3D will not allow users to adjust the frequency or the voltage of the CPU. However, adjusting Infinity Fabric and DRAM clocks will be possible. This should still result in a performance increase, but it’s not the kind of overclocking most users are used to.

The lack of overclocking is unfortunate, but Hallock explains that it was necessary. The voltage of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D does not scale above 1.35V and as of now, there is no way around that. Stacking a large L3 cache on top of the 8-core chiplet is a new thing for AMD, especially in consumer CPUs, and as the architecture is still being worked on, allowing overclocking could be dangerous. Instead of completely dropping the chip until it can be overclocked, AMD chose to release the 5800X3D without overclocking support. However, when AMD revisits this architecture in future chips, it’s not impossible that it may find a workaround for this issue.

AMD representative in front of a photo of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D gaming CPU will have lower clock speeds than its predecessor, and there will be no way to change them. The 5800X3D has a base clock of 3.4GHz and a boost clock of 4.5GHz, which is 400 and 200MHz less than the Ryzen 7 5800X.

Despite that, AMD claims that the innovative (and enormous) 96MB L3 3D V-Cache will deliver superior results in gaming. AMD expects performance gains of up to 15%, and that’s compared to the Ryzen 9 5900X, not the Ryzen 7 5800X. It seems that Intel Alder Lake will have a new Zen 3-based rival. AMD continues to expand its Zen 2 and Zen 3 ranges by adding new budget and mid-range CPUs into the mix.

Aside from the clock speeds and the cache, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D delivers 8 cores and 16 threads with a TDP of 105 watts. It’s set to release on April 20 with a retail price of $450 USD. AMD is most likely hoping to compete against the upcoming Intel Core i9-12900KS, also set to launch soon. With two beastly processors launching so close together, the gaming CPU scene is bound to be interesting for the next couple of months.

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Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
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