The final Ryzen PC CPU featuring Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD 1.92%) unique 3D V-Cache, to launch as part of the Ryzen 7000 series, is also the best -- at least for gamers. The 8-core Ryzen 7 7800X3D features a whopping 104MB of cache, with a big chunk coming from a 3D-stacked chiplet. That's less cache than the higher-end and more expensive 7900X3D and 7950X3D but blows anything from Intel (INTC -0.58%) out of the water.
Tailor-made for gamers
Raw single-threaded performance is crucial for games, and the number of cores matters to a degree, as well. On both fronts, Intel's Raptor Lake chips hold an edge over AMD. However, the amount of ultra-fast memory that sits right next to the CPU can have an enormous impact on gaming performance.
When an application needs to access a piece of data, the CPU's various levels of cache will be checked first. If the data exists in the cache, it can be accessed extremely quickly. If not, the application must reach out to the system's RAM (random-access memory). RAM is fast, compared to a solid-state drive, but it's much slower than cache memory.
In many types of applications, cache doesn't matter all that much. But for video games, which tend to deal with a tremendous amount of data, cache is critical. That's the premise behind AMD's lineup of 3D V-Cache chips: Maximize the cache while making concessions in other areas to deliver the best gaming experience possible.
AMD's $449 7800X3D certainly delivers. In testing done by tech site Tom's Hardware, the 7800X3D was the top performer in games by a wide margin. It easily beat Intel's pricey i9-13900K, and it even bested the higher-end 3D V-Cache chips. Performance varied game to game, but overall, the 7800X3D is the absolute best gaming CPU available.
One big downside
While AMD's 7800X3D steals the show for gaming applications, it falls well short of the competition essentially everywhere else. That extra cache requires trade-offs, and those trade-offs greatly hinder performance in productivity applications.
Intel's i7-13700K, which sells for around $418 at retail, provided 22% faster single-threaded performance and 51% faster multithreaded performance than the 7800X3D, according to Tom's Hardware. Anyone who uses their PC for a mix of gaming and other activities will find the 7800X3D difficult to justify.
Still, the 7800X3D hands AMD the gaming crown, and Intel won't have an answer until its next-gen PC chips launch. Intel's Meteor Lake chips are expected to launch sometime this year, although it's unclear at this point whether there will be desktop versions in addition to mobile versions. If Meteor Lake is mobile-only, gamers will likely have to wait until 2024 for a new lineup of Intel desktop chips.
Given the state of the PC market -- global shipments plunged 29% year over year in the first quarter, according to IDC -- it would make sense for Intel to be conservative about launching new chips. There's still excess inventory in the supply chain, so waiting until 2024 to launch Raptor Lake's successor wouldn't be a crazy idea.
With the 7800X3D, AMD has reclaimed the top spot in terms of gaming performance. Overall, Intel's Raptor Lake still comes out ahead, but for the subset of customers focused solely on gaming performance, AMD is now the obvious choice.