Our first look at Ryzen 5 7600X3D performance is here, and it fills me with envy. Curiously, the first review of the processor comes from German rather than American soil. It appears that the CPU is now available exclusively (of course) at retailer Mindfactory for €329. This hopefully indicates potentially wider availability in the future. For the moment, though, PC Games Hardware DE has the scoop on AMD’s latest 3D V-Cache chip.
Blink, and you’ll have missed AMD quietly launching Ryzen 5 7600X3D a week ago. Alongside its large 96MB pool of L3 cache, it boasts six Zen 5 cores and twelve threads. It doesn’t demand a lot of power either, with a TDP of just 65W. All of these qualities on paper would potentially make it the best CPU for gaming, threatening the position of Ryzen 7 7800X3D, if not for its limited availability.
This appears to be the case, according to results collected by PC Games Hardware DE. Pairing Ryzen 5 7600X3D with a GeForce RTX 4090 across ten games, it delivers on average performance within 8% of its sibling. That’s an astonishing amount of value relative to Ryzen 7 7800X3D, a processor that demands 120W and costs significantly more.
AMD’s decision to cap Ryzen 5 7600X3D at 65W is curious. It undoubtedly holds back the performance of the processor, inviting uncharitable comparisons to Ryzen 5 9600X. Will we see BIOS updates increasing the TDP of this 3D V-Cache chip? It’s possible but unlikely, given its niche market presence. However, if Team Red thinks of giving the CPU a wider release, it feels a necessity.
In its current state, it often finds itself scrapping with Core i5-13600K and Core i7-14700K. These are impressive feats, especially factoring in the core and thread count differences. However, they’re somewhat spoiled by the lingering feeling of unfulfilled potential.
Much as I want AMD to make Ryzen 5 7600X3D more widely available, I hope that it isn’t a glimpse at the future of Ryzen 9000X3D. It’s clear that while consumers value the efficiency of Zen 5, it shouldn’t trump performance increases. After all, there’s currently little value in opting for more expensive Ryzen 9000 Series processors over much cheaper Ryzen 7000 Series alternatives.
For more on everything processors, check out our Ryzen 9 9950X & Ryzen 9 9900X review. We also have a rundown of what to expect from Intel Lunar Lake after travelling to the pre-IFA reveal.
