AMD just expanded its lineup of gaming CPUs, but it’s not a Zen 5 chip. Instead, AMD launched a new Zen 4 CPU, the Ryzen 5 7600X3D. Once again a Micro Center exclusive, the CPU could be an interesting budget offering … if not for the fact that it still costs a pretty penny. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D seems to be disappearing from the market. What’s going on?
The fact that AMD revisited the Zen 4 lineup is not surprising, as it still continues to release Zen 3 chips. It’s also not shocking that the Ryzen 5 7600X3D is a Micro Center exclusive, as the Ryzen 5 5600X3D was also only available at that one retailer. In the case of the 7600X3D, though, it’ll also be available in Germany through Mindfactory.
The thing that might make or break this launch is the fact that the Ryzen 5 7600X3D arrives with a $300 price tag. That’s a lot to spend on a six-core CPU, especially if you consider that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is not that much more expensive. Although unavailable online at Micro Center right now, the 7800X3D costs $400 in stores. On Amazon, you used to be able to find it at $350, but it’s sold out. On Newegg, it costs a staggering $600.
Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 7600X3D is a downgrade from the 7800X3D. It comes with six cores, 12 threads, a maximum boost clock of 4.7GHz, and 96MB of L3 cache, as well as a modest TDP of 65 watts. Compared to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which is the best CPU for gaming right now, the 7600X3D is ever-so-slightly worse. The 7800X3D sports two more cores and boosts up to 5GHz; this comes at the cost of almost twice the TDP — 65W versus 120W.
On paper, it sounds like the Ryzen 5 7600X3D could be a great entry point to gaming. The extra 3D V-Cache is bound to do the job, and the X3D version sports an extra 64MB of L3 cache than its non-X3D counterpart. Micro Center’s benchmarks also show that the CPU stands its ground in gaming, although it’s important to wait for third-party tests to get a better idea of how the CPU performs.
In Micro Center’s benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 7600X3D fell within 2% of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Some games showed greater wins for the 7800X3D chip, such as Total War: Warhammer III, where the 7800X3D outperformed the new Micro Center exclusive by up to 7%. Those aren’t big gains, though, so the two CPUs look pretty similar. Note that these results were achieved with the new Windows Update that boosts the performance of many Ryzen CPUs by up to 10%.
It’s hard not to wonder what’s going on with the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, though. The Ryzen 5 7600X3D might be an OK replacement at a lower price point, but six-core CPUs aren’t ideal for many. Besides, it’s not much of a replacement if it’s a Micro Center exclusive. Could the 7800X3D reappear soon, but at a higher price? We’ll have to wait and see.