The Best Budget Gaming Chip For AM4

Who would have thought that almost a year after the release of the AM5 platform, AMD would go back and give something fresh to the AM4 audiences? Meet the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, a CPU that takes the same game-boosting 3D V-Cache that we have come to love since its first introduction on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D CPU can be seen as a last hoorah for the AM4 platform that servers to give the budget audiences one more reason to stick to their older platforms before moving to the new AM5 platform. The most intriguing part about the 5600X3D is that it’s a chip that’s exclusive by Microcenter in the United States.

Although AMD has much faster 3D V-Cache CPUs out in the market with their new Ryzen 7000X3D parts, the Ryzen 5000 and AM4 platform is still seen as the value king & there’s nothing better than pulling your old CPU out of your existing PC setup & simply installing a new chip that offers better performance. You don’t have to worry about the hassle to upgrade every other component & you also don’t have to worry about the pricing in the case of the 5600X3D. The 5800X3D still offers good competition against Intel’s mainstream 12th & 13th Gen Core i5 offerings so the 5600X3D could be a great option for gamers. We intended to find this out and the folks over at Microcenter helped us get a sample unit of the chip for this review!

AMD Ryzen 5000 X3D CPU Lineup & Specifications

The AMD Ryzen 7000 3D V-Cache CPUs are the 2nd generation consumer V-Cache parts featuring stacked cache. While the Zen 3 lineup featured just one 3D V-Cache SKU, the Zen 4 lineup is getting three SKUs at vastly different prices.

The main features of AMD’s Ryzen 5000X3D Desktop CPU include:

• Up To 8 Zen 3 Cores and 16 Threads
• Up To 64 MB 3D V-Cache (L3)
• Up To 96 MB Total Cache (L3)
• TSMC 7nm process node
• Support on the AM4 Platform
• Compatible With 300/400/500-Series Motherboards
• Dual-Channel DDR4 Memory Support
• Up To DDR5-5600 Native (JEDEC) Speeds
• 24 PCIe Lanes (CPU Exclusive)
• 105W TDP

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D – 16 Cores With 144 MB Cache

In terms of specifications, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D will offer 8 cores and 16 threads within a single CCD. It will rock a base clock of 3.4 GHz & a boost clock of 4.5 GHz which is slightly slower than the 4.7 GHz of the Non-3D Ryzen 7 5800X. The CPU will feature a TDP of 105W which is the same as the Ryzen 7 5800X. The CPU is also not expected to offer any overclocking support and this is due to the fact that the SRAM cache can only operate up to 1.35V so overclocking the processor beyond this can damage it permanently.

The main difference between the two chips is the amount of cache. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D will carry 32 MB of L3 cache on-die and 64 MB of cache off-die within the vertical stacks. The CPU will feature a single 3D V-Cache stack that incorporates 64 MB of L3 cache and sits on top of the TSV’s already featured on existing Zen 3 CCDs. This will give a total of 96 MB L3 cache directly to the Zen 3 cores.

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D – 12 Cores With 140 MB Cache

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D has the OPN “100-000001176” and features the 7nm Zen 3 core architecture. The CPU is going to feature 6 cores and 12 threads. The CPU features 3 MB of L2 cache and a massive 96 MB L3 cache. There will be 32 MB of L3 & 64 MB of SRAM stack on the singular CCD which will be purely optimized for gaming workloads.

The 5600X3D will also be the first 6-core 3D V-Cache CPU when it launches and that opens up the room for a possible Ryzen 5 7600X3D CPU for the AM5 platform in the future. As for the clock speeds, the chip will be rated at a base clock of 3.3 GHz and a boost clock of 4.4 GHz. These are slightly slower than the standard Ryzen 5 5600X which features a 3.7 GHz base & 4.6 GHz boost clock. Just like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D will come with a default TDP of 105W and would carry no overclocking support due to its fragile cache which isn’t too fond of higher voltages.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Serie & Ryzen 4000 CPU Lineup (2023)

Buy for $229.99 US from microcenter

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