AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X3D, the 12-core processor that benefits from 3D V-Cache, has never been cheaper in the US, and it appears to be dropping in price elsewhere.
VideoCardz found that the Ryzen 9 7900X3D was marked down to $389 at Newegg and Amazon in the US (although in both cases, a code or coupon must be applied).
The regular MSRP of the 7900X3D is $599, to give you some perspective on how far the price of this 12-core chip has dropped. Of course, in recent times it has been seen at $400 or just above, but this is the first time it has slipped below that level.
Since the price cut applies at the same time for Amazon and Newegg, at exactly the same level, it appears that this is a discount officially orchestrated by AMD (although we don't know for sure).
Priced at $389 in the US, the Ryzen 9 7900X3D is now 35% below its MSRP and in fact just $20 more than the 7800X3D on Newegg (at the time of writing) . All of which makes the 7900X3D look quite attractive, especially considering the price of a high-end Intel processor (the Core i9-14900K is 40% more expensive, again at the time of writing).
Outside the US, the 7900X3D also appears to be considerably discounted, although not to the same extent (with a 20% discount in the UK, for example). Therefore, further price drops are possible in other regions, perhaps…
So for those opting for AMD, given that the Ryzen 9 7900X3D is a 12-core CPU compared to the 7800X3D's 8 cores, and has faster clock speeds to boot, it's now a no-brainer to buy the beefier part of the Ryzen 9., okay?
Well, no, and if you're just interested in PC gaming in general, the typical advice is to stick with the 7800X3D, but let's dig into that a little further.
Analysis: For AMD gamers, cache settings are important
Well, firstly, there's no denying that the Ryzen 9 7900X3D's strengths (four extra cores, faster clocks) mean that if you're going to use the CPU for tasks other than PC gaming, it's the best option for just $20 more compared to the 7800X3D.
The problem for gaming lies in the way the 3D V-Cache is configured with these two AMD processors. In the 7900X3D the cores are divided into two chiplets, with six cores each, and only one chiplet has 3D V-Cache. But with the 7800X3D there are only eight cores, and without a multi-chip design, the eight cores get the benefit of cache, which is two more cores than the 7900X3D.
So conventional wisdom and benchmarks have shown that the 7800X3D is better for gaming, and it's cheaper (not by much, mind you). However, lately we are seeing some claims, and indeed benchmark tests on YouTube, showing that the 7900X3D is overall very competitive with the current 7800X3D. The theory is that it has been better refined so that its multi-chip configuration is not an inconvenience, and that is certainly a sentiment expressed on some forums of late.
That said, we obviously need to be careful not to put too much weight on that idea (this is not a test we've performed ourselves). However you look at it, the 7900X3D isn't that far off from the 7800X3D in most games realistically, and given how much better the chip is for everything other than gaming, the 7900X3D looks like a great choice in this current price level. Especially for anyone who uses their PC for productive or creative purposes of any kind.
If you pull the trigger on a Ryzen 9 7900X3D, just make sure your drivers are up to date (chipset, motherboard) to get the full benefit of the latest (apparent) tweaks and refinements for this CPU. But the 7800X3D is still one of the best processors for its price and is still rated as our best gaming CPU currently.
