AMD stealth launches the Ryzen 5 5500X3D, a less expensive downclocked model of its oldest 3D V-Cache CPU structure
With out the slightest fanfare, AMD has added a brand new “X3D” mannequin with 3D V-Cache to its CPU lineup. Give it up, girls and germs, for the brand new Ryzen 5 5500X3D (due to X consumer MEGAsizeGPU for recognizing it).
It is a six-core, 12-thread chip with 96 MB of L3 cache reminiscence, which makes it a {hardware} doppelgänger for the prevailing Ryzen 5 5600X3D, which launched again in 2023. The distinction with the brand new chip is all about clockspeeds.
The previous 5600X3D runs 3.3 GHz base and 4.4 GHz Enhance clocks. The “new” 5500X3D makes do with rounding these numbers down to three GHz and 4 GHz respectively.
Each chips share AMD’s first-gen 3D V-Cache tech, which stacks a slab of cache reminiscence atop the CPU die. The thought is that the added on-package cache means the CPU cores have much less want to tug knowledge from essential system reminiscence. Accessing knowledge from on-package cache is way sooner than going out to RAM.
The true-world efficiency advantages of the added cache fluctuate based on software kind. Duties like video encoding do not see a lot of an uptick from including cache. Nonetheless, video games can run fairly a bit sooner, typically as a lot as 30 to 40% sooner than a comparable CPU with out the 3D V-Cache, albeit the upside is often extra within the 10% vary. Which is why AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D is at present our gaming CPU of alternative.
Other than the 3D V-Cache, the principle enchantment right here is compatibility with legacy rigs operating ye olde AM4 socket. Arguably, in case you’re constructing a brand new rig from scratch to in the present day, it could make extra sense to go along with a more moderen AM5 non-X3D CPU, as an example a Ryzen 5 7600X or 9600X. That manner it is best to have extra drop-in improve choices down the street.
However in case you’ve already obtained an AM4 rig and the time is not fairly proper to go for a full system improve, the brand new 5500X3D may very well be fascinating. That can, in fact, hinge on worth to an incredible extent.
For now, pricing and availability is not clear. The Ryzen 5 5600X3D was a Microcenter unique and is not obtainable. Proper now, the closest different is the Ryzen 7 5700X3D, which works for round $260.
That is an eight-core chip with larger clocks, so the 5500X3D would most likely are available round $200. For context, a Ryzen 5 9600X is at present round $180 and hits 5.4 GHz, although clearly is not a drop-in possibility for AM4 motherboards. So, we’ll have to attend and see how the 5500X3D is priced and the way extensively obtainable it’s.