X3D hexa-core coming to market, and not just in the US this time
We reported that AMD is planning to release a cheaper gaming CPU with V-Cache – the Ryzen 5 7600X3D. AMD has released such affordable models (mainly Ryzen 7 5700X3D) for the older AM4 platform, but this time it’s a CPU with Zen 4 architecture for the AM5 socket. And this rumored 7600X3D model has been officially released. Unfortunately the availability is not global.
The Ryzen 5 7600X3D really does exist, but AMD has confirmed to Tom’s Hardware that it will only be available at select retailers, which will be the Microcenter chain in the US. In addition to the USA, the latter has stores in Canada, but not in Europe.
The Ryzen 5 7600X3D has six Zen 4 cores (12 threads) and 96MB of L3 cache – so at the full capacity possible in the design. According to AMD, the TDP is 65W, lower than the officially stated 120W for Ryzen 7 7800X3D (however, the processor usually doesn’t consume this much during a gaming load). The base clock speed of the processor is 4.1 GHz and its maximum boost 4,7 GHz. The clock speeds have been significantly reduced, with the 7800X3D clocked at 4.2 GHz base and 5.0 GHz in boost. Fortunately though, they’re still quite high compared to just 4.0 GHz on the Ryzen 7 5700X3D, so gamers won’t lose as much application performance with this new CPU, and the processor remains more versatile.
The price is officially 299.99 USD (in our country, with VAT it would be 328 EUR), which is less than for the 7800X3D model, although not dramatically. Realistically, however, this hexa-core is cheaper, as Microcenter is not currently selling it at this price on its own, but bundled with a 32GB DDR5-6000 CL32 memory kit and an Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WiFi board, for a total of 449.99 USD (493 EUR with VAT). The list price of these items is 630 USD, so after factoring in this difference, the amount for the processor comes out lower.
In any case, this is probably the lowest price availeble currently for a gaming “X3D” processor on the AM5 platform, but unfortunately only for North American customers with this retail chain in reach.
Update (6 Sep 2024): The 7600X3D also available in Europe
The exclusivity is not as high of an obstacle as it initially looked, after all. AMD has also released this model for the German etailer Mindfactory, which now has the Ryzen 5 7600X3D on offer. So if you shop in Germany or have the option of forwarding, that could be an avenue for you, although not as convenient as eshopping locally.
Mindfactory has the processor priced at 329 EUR including VAT. The cheapest price for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is around 400 EUR, so it’s a saving of about 17%, but then the higher shipping costs will probably take a bite out of it. It has to be said that the eight-core 7800X3D processor ultimately has more value, however, because in addition to more cores, it also has higher clock speeds, so it’s up to debate if the savings 7600X3D offers are really worth it.
However, this exclusivity of the 7600X3D does not necessarily mean that no cheaper processors with 3D V-Cache for the AM5 platform will be released for the global open market. When this happened a year ago with the 5600X3D model, also exclusive to Microcenter, the cheaper eight-core model 5700X3D went on sale as a globally available SKU, only a little later. And now again there’s even a talk of the Ryzen 5 5500X3D processor.
So it’s possible that although the Ryzen 5 7600X3D will be a limited-volume product, perhaps something like aRyzen 7 7700X3D SKU will come after it and we’ll get the opportunity to buy a cheaper processor with 3D V-Cache that way (and eight cores instead of six could be worth the longer wait).
Source: Tom’s Hardware
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
⠀
