AMD Ryzen 7 "Zen 4" 7800X3D CPU Review

TweakTown's Rating: 96%

The Bottom Line

AMD finally delivers a true gaming masterpiece with pricing that puts it within reach of most.

Pros

• + AM5 socket
• + Efficiency (Perf per Watt)
• + Best CPU for gaming on AMD
• + Gaming performance

Cons

• - Low application performance

Should you buy it?

AvoidConsiderShortlistBuy

Introduction and Pricing

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We were fortunate enough to have the 7950X3D in-house for a launch day review at the end of February. We came away with mixed feelings as the CPU offered lackluster applications performance and gaming performance that was at best even with the 13700KS. A month past that initial launch, AMD is set to release what we expected to be the best gaming CPU - the Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

The 7800X3D shares its core configuration with the 7700X with a single CCD offering 8 cores and sixteen threads. Cache has been expanded to 104M, with 3D V-Cache taking up 64M alone. Clock speeds start with a base of 4.2GHz, while boost can push this CPU up to 5GHz. TDP remains at 120W.

DDR5 memory is supported on any AM5 motherboard platform with default speeds of 5200MHz in 2x1 and 2x2 configurations and 3600MHz when used in 4x1 and 4x2 configurations.

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The above image shows the current 1H 2023 product stack from AMD, with the MSRP of the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D coming in at $449.

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D Desktop Gaming Processor

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$469.99	$469.99	$470.00	$403.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/17/2024 at 11:29 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Test System

For those wanting that information on the Zen 4 Architecture, you can read here.

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Our sample of the 7800X3D arrived in what will be the retail packaging, which includes the new art reflecting the 3D Cache. Down below, the model number can be found.

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Removing the CPU from the box, we have the 7800X3D in its AM5 packaging.

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The bottom of the CPU houses all 1718 pins for the AM5 socket.

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Above, we have the CPU locked in for testing.

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On the bottom, we have a smooth surface with the 1718 pads for AM5.

Test System

Before we get into test results, it's worth noting that there are important performance improvements to be had with newer BIOS versions that have AGESA 1.0.0.5.

• Motherboard: X670 AORUS Elite AX BIOS F8a AGESA 1.0.0.6
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
• RAM: Corsair Dominator RGB DDR5 6000 CL30
• Cooler: 3x140mm Custom Water
• OS Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB
• Power Supply: AORUS GP AP1200PM
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11

Cinebench, Crossmark and AIDA64

Cinebench R23

Cinebench is a long-standing render benchmark that has been heavily relied upon by both Intel and AMD to showcase their newest platforms during unveils. The benchmark has two tests, a single-core workload that will utilize one thread or 1T, and a multi-threaded test that uses all threads or nT of a tested CPU.

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We will start our testing first with raw data from R23. As seen above, the 7800X3D grabbed 1811 in single thread and 18164 in nT.

Crossmark

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CrossMark scored 2123 overall, most of the points coming from creativity at 2397 and productivity at 1967.

AIDA64

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AIDA Memory gave us 63K read, 86K write, and 63K copy. Latency came in at 65.9ns.

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WebXPRT 4 landed a score of 317 for the 7800X3D.

UL Benchmarks

PCMark and 3DMark

PCMark

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PCMark showed a solid overall score of 12528.

3DMark

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CPU Profile picked up a 971 single thread score; at sixteen threads, the 7800X3D landed at 8046.

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Speed Way is our first look at a gaming workload, the 7800X3D pulling a score of 5962.

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Time Spy grabbed a score of 20384, with CPU coming in at 14106.

Comparisons

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Bringing the data from the 7800X3D to our charts, this chip sits between the 7600 and 7700 in single thread R23.

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Switching to nT, we are a touch quicker than the 7600X and right behind the 12600K.

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CrossMark overall lands the 3D just below its 7700 counterparts once again.

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Looking at the workloads, the 7800X3D excels at creativity above all else.

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AIDA64 AES results gave us a score of 177115, which tucks this CPU in just above the 13600K.

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SHA3, on the other hand, landed at 5287 and once again just above the 13600K.

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WebXPRT4 is rather good for the 3D, landing at 325. It's only a touch under the 13700K but beats the original 7950X.

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CPU Profile puts the 7800X3D just above the 7600X.

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Ranking in the 7800X3D to our Time Spy charts, we fit this CPU right above the 7700X.

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Speed Way puts the 3D right behind the 12700K and just above the 7900X.

Gaming, Value, and Final Thoughts

Gaming

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Moving into our gaming workloads, we start with Cyberpunk 2077. In this scenario, the 7800X3D pulled 212 FPS at 1080p and 95 FPS at 4K, just under the 7950X3D and 13900KS.

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider pulled in a massive 286 FPS at 1080p and 128 FPS at 4K.

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Far Cry 5 offered up 223 FPS at 1080p, followed by 183 FPS at 1440p and 116 FPS at 4K; this was good enough to just push by the 7950X3D.

Power and Value

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We measured power draw directly from the dual 8-pin connections on our motherboard. For the 7800X3D, that gave us a peak of 119 watts at load and 29 watts idle.

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Throwing the data into our value charts, the 7800X3D landed at 91.8%.

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Looking at gaming performance against the price, the 7800X3D does quite well, landing at 99.7%.

Final Thoughts

Getting right into our results, application performance is getting better with each AGESA revision. Now with 1.0.0.6 out, we could retest the 7950X3D alongside this 7800X3D for today's launch day review. For anyone not building a pure gaming machine, performance is still relatively low overall in our testing of R23, CrossMark, PCMark, and even AIDA64.

If we push into workloads like Speed Way and Time Spy, the 7800X3D does wake up a little, but it does feel like its clock speeds do hold it back, as we are still middle of the pack in those scenarios as well.

It's when you run actual game workloads that the 7800X3D opens up. We saw this in all three of our workloads, even Cyberpunk 2077, which typically loves high clock speeds and a lot of cores. The 7800X3D was only a few FPS behind the 7950X3D and 13900KS. Tomb Raider offered fantastic performance, landing at 286 FPS at 1080p, a full 10 FPS over the quickest Intel offering, and a few FPS over the 7950X3D.

New Dawn offered more of the same, with the 7800X3D grabbing an average framerate of 223 FPS at 1080p, though we did note a slowdown when we pushed to 4K. That said, it was still nearly 15 FPS quicker than the Intel 13900KS, and if we were looking at the price point, it's 25 FPS faster than the comparable 13700K.

Wrapping this up, the power draw was quite impressive on this CPU, peaking at 119 watts. Coupled with its performance, it allows a solid 91% on our Performance per Watt and 99.7% in our Gaming Perf vs. Price chart. This leans heavily to what we initially thought in our 7950X3D review - this CPU is the one gamers need to look at, though we are still puzzled as to why AMD held it back for that extra month.