AMD’s Unreleased Dual-CCD 3D V-Cache CPUs: & Ryzen 9 5900X3D with Up to 192 MB Cache Spotted
During a recent tour at AMD’s test and engineering campus in Austin, Texas, GamerNexus stumbled upon some yet-to-be-released gems. AMD’s Zen 3 and Zen 4 CPUs, specifically the Ryzen 9 5950X3D and Ryzen 9 5900X3D, were showcased, featuring an impressive dual-CCD configuration with 3D V-Cache technology. The highlight of these CPUs is their staggering 192 MB of stacked cache.
While AMD has officially announced four 3D V-Cache CPUs for its client desktop platform, consisting of a single chip for the AM4 socket and three for the AM5 socket, it appears that additional chips were developed during the early prototyping stages. The prototypes exhibited during the tour offered a glimpse into AMD’s unreleased designs, including the Ryzen 7000 series based on Zen 4 architecture.
Ryzen 9 5950X3D
The Ryzen 9 5950X3D and Ryzen 9 5900X3D belong to the Zen 3 lineup and boast 16 and 12 cores respectively. The standout feature of these chips lies in their CCDs, with both CCDs equipped with a 3D V-Cache stack. This configuration allows each CPU to house a whopping 128 MB of L3 cache within the stacks, while an additional 64 MB is divided as 32 MB of standard L3 cache per CCD, shared across all cores. Notably, the presence of 1 MB of L2 cache confirms that these CPUs belong to the Ryzen 5000 series.
Clock speeds for the Ryzen 9 5950X3D are set at a base frequency of 3.5 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.1 GHz. On the other hand, the Ryzen 9 5900X3D operates at a base frequency of 3.5 GHz and a boost clock of 4.4 GHz. It’s important to note that these clock speeds are lower compared to non-V-Cache variants, reaching up to 4.9 GHz and 4.8 GHz for boost clocks. However, it’s crucial to bear in mind that these are early prototypes and their lower performance can be attributed to voltage and thermal limitations.
AMD later determined that a single CCD stack strikes the optimal balance between performance and efficiency. While users interested in a dual-CCD setup may experience a slight performance boost, the difference is not substantial enough to outweigh the advantages of a singular 3D V-Cache CCD.
Currently, the Ryzen 9 7900X3D series represents the ideal combination of value and performance. It’s plausible that as cache-intensive bottlenecks are identified and the technology evolves, a dual-CCD solution may emerge. Nonetheless, for now, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D serves as an excellent example of the impressive gaming capabilities offered by 3D V-Cache technology.