AMD sells CPUs with model numbers ending in “X3D” that have something called “3D V-Cache.” These CPUs very literally have an extra piece of silicon stapled to them that adds another 64 megabytes of L3 cache. This, in turn, radically improves performance in some applications—particularly complex games. There have been 3D V-Cache CPUs in the Ryzen 5000 and Ryzen 7000 families, but technically speaking, AMD hasn’t announced any based on its Zen 5 architecture. You’d have to be a fool to assume they aren’t on the way, though.
Now, the source of many previous “possibles” about AMD’s new chips has come forward with another such story. Our fellow tech news site WCCFTech says its sources have stated that AMD’s next-generation 3D V-Cache parts will not come with additional cache compared to the currently-available chips.
In other words, on the single-CCD Ryzen 9800X3D, you’ll get one chiplet with 64MB, and then on the dual-CCD 9900X3D and 9950X3D, you’ll have an asymmetric configuration where one set of cores has V-Cache and the other can clock considerably higher, just like with the Ryzen 9 7900X3D and 7950X3D. Of course, those model names aren’t confirmed, so keep that in mind. In fact, the whole story isn’t confirmed, but it makes sense; AMD’s 3D V-Cache strategy has been quite successful to this point, so why fix what ain’t broken?
Some people may be disappointed by this news, though after a story broke that AMD was “working actively on really cool differentiators” to “improve” 3D V-Cache in unspecified ways, some people assumed that this must mean extra cache or new SKUs, like a successor to the 5600X3D. Sadly that doesn’t appear to be the case, at least based on this rumor, but you never know.