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Ryzen 7 9800X3D vs 7800X3D: Should you upgrade?

When it comes to gaming, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D has been the favorite of PC gamers the world over since its release in April of 2023. With a laissez-faire attitude towards productivity in favor of gaming, the praise and sales are not surprising, and now, there’s a new version. So, lets see how the upstart Ryzen 7 9800X3D fares vs the stalwart 7800X3D.

Ryzen 7 9800X3D vs 7800X3D: Specs

Specs, as ever, tell just one part of the story, albeit a significant one. If you’re in the know, you might not need anything more than the raw numbers, so here you go. (We’ll get into more detail afterwards.)

	7800X3D	9800X3D
Architecture	Zen 4	Zen 5
Cores	8	8
Threads	16	16
Base Clock	4.2 GHz	4.7 GHz
Max Boost Clock	5 GHz	5.2 GHz
L1 Cache	512 KB	640 KB
L2 Cache	8 MB	8 MB
L3 Cache	96 MB	96 MB
Default TDP	120W	120W
CPU Socket	AM5	AM5
Max Memory Capacity	128 GB	192 GB
Max Operating Temperature	89°C	95°C
Supported Chipsets	A620, X670E, X670, B650E, B650, X870E, X870, B840, B850	A620, X670E, X670, B650E, B650, X870E, X870, B840, B850

Ryzen 7 9800X3D vs 7800X3D: Price

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the 9800X3D is more expensive than the 7800X3D. Gee willikers.

Ryzen 7 9800X3D launch price: $479
Ryzen 7 7800X3D launch price: $449

However, a $30 increase really isn’t that bad. Though, the current US pricing on the older 7800X3D is up to $200 higher than the launch price, so at time of writing, the newer CPU is more affordable. We don’t expect this strange pricing to continue indefinitely, .

What we can expect is that after a while, the 7800X3D, which is still a fantastic choice for gamers, will get cheaper now that it’s been dethroned.

Ryzen 7 9800X3D vs 7800X3D: Power and Performance

Refreshingly, we see a big uplift in performance here, which is impressive given the 7800X3D’s already somewhat legendary output. It appears that the primary reason for this large performance bump is that the re-structuring of the physical design of the CPU itself.

The 3D V-Cache (the extra L3 memory cache) is now positioned below the processor cores. This means that the cores have closer contact with the IHS, and thus better contact with your CPU Cooler. According to AMD this means that those cores can run 500MHz faster than before. Faster cores = better performance.

With the base clock increased by 500MHz and the boost clock increased by 200MHz, it's impressive that the TDP hasn't changed. Additionally, we see that the 9800X3D can get 6°C hotter before thermal throttling, which is interesting. All this is to say that you can expect a noticeable performance increase if you upgrade from the 7800X3D to the 9800X3D. Even moreso if you've been holding out for longer.

The 9800X3D isn’t quite as efficient as the 7800X3D, but this is not hugely surprising. It is a wise choice to lose some efficiency in favor of higher performance when it comes to a gaming-focused CPUs. After all, gamers care not for efficiency when frame rates are at stake.