Some pretty interesting admissions were made about the 9800X3D’s 3D cache Updated: Dec 5, 2024 12:07 pm WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more Table of Contents Table of Contents As we state in our review, the 9800X3D is one of AMD’s biggest successes. Usually, I’d be tempted to say the biggest, but I feel the 5800X3D from Zen 3 deserves that title. Without it, there probably wouldn’t be a 9800X3D to begin with. We recently conducted an interview with a key AMD employee following the recent success of the 9000 series launch (as rocky as it was at the start). We spoke to Martjin Boonstra (business development and product manager at AMD) about the latest developments inside AMD. He was pretty tight-lipped about what the future holds for the company and its upcoming tech (as expected, but you have to ask), but one thing that interested me greatly was what was said about the 9800X3D and the location of its 3D cache die. Moving the 3D V-cache die was a really good idea You might know the ins and outs of the structural changes that the 9800XD underwent compared to its predecessors, but if you don’t, here’s a quick rundown from Martjin: “So without becoming too technical, I would say for this version of second generation 3D V-cache, we’ve also gotten rid of the structural die that’s basically needed to fill up the difference between the lateral, you know, placement of the cash on top of the CCD on the previous generation.““We’ve now extended the 3D V-cache to the full size of the CCD and put that below the CCD, so there is less structural die required. So that means also better heat dissipation because then you’ll have more lateral heat dissipation instead of vertical.”Martjin Boonstra Essentially, the 7800X3D’s 3D V-cache die was placed on top of the CCD, with supporting silicon at the edges of the die to make it the same size as the Core Complex Die so the CPU could be assembled. This created an insulating barrier at each end, hindering the heat dissipation potential. However, on the 9800X3D, the cache die was made the same size as the CCD and relocated under the CCD in direct contact with the CPU substrate, which helps the cache die to stay cooler – because it’s both larger and non-insulated. This isn’t news to us, as this structural change was identified shortly after the CPU was handed to reviewers. What interested me is what Martjin had to say about heat dissipation directly. AMD reveals that the biggest issue on prior X3D chips The point that interested me the most was what Martjin considered the “biggest issue” with X3D chips. He said: “But overall, I’d say with moving the 3D V-cache below the CCD that tackled the biggest issue, which was heat dissipation and then obviously enabling overclocking as well.“Martjin Boonstra This is a huge admission from AMD, even if it looks minute or obvious. With heat dissipation issues out of the way, AMD can further define its 3D V-cache system and (someday) possibly end up with X3D chips that behave just like regular CPUs (only faster for gaming). The 9800X3D has overclocking enabled, and its capabilities are on par with standard models. However, it is much easier to use PBO, as the feature is pretty well-tuned to increase performance automatically. The 9800X3D still doesn’t quite match the stock clock speeds of its non-X3D counterparts, but this could very well be another efficiency play (AMD went pretty hard on that with the recent Ryzen 9000 release). Having said that, the 9800X3D is allowed to drink a little more power than the 7800X3D, which has a lot to do with its wins over its predecessor. It’s not quite as ‘power capped’ for lack of a better made-up term. What does this mean for the future of AMD CPUs? Obviously, Martjin wasn’t about to give away the secrets of AMD’s future, but nothing is stopping us from speculating. First of all, will all AMD CPUs eventually have 3D V-cache? Though it’s unlikely, we can’t rule it out. AMD will likely keep the standard and X3D models separate to appeal to different market areas. If you don’t care about gaming performance, you can grab the 9700X for $325 right now. It’s an 8-core, 16-thread CPU, just like the 9800X3D, but you’ll pay $479 for the same configuration with the inclusion of the X3D cache. If all CPUs included the cache, it’d likely drive up the price, which is pretty much against what AMD has tried to achieve for a long time: big performance, little money. Other than that, we hope to see X3D CPUs with the same or perhaps better clock speeds than the standard models. The future could hold non-multithreaded CPUs to preserve efficiency, and AMD is looking to turn up the clock speeds of future X3D CPUs, similar to what Intel has done with its recent Core Ultra series CPUs. AMD already has a Turbo Game Mode option that disables SMT, but I don’t think it is yet at a point where it can forgo Simultaneous Multi-threading altogether.
AMD reveals moving the 3D V-cache below the CCD tackled the “biggest issue” with X3D CPUs
