AMD's newest "3D V-Cache CPU", the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, gets de-lidded by ASUS's Tony Yu, giving us a look at the elegant CPU die and the CCD configuration.
AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D Is The Fastest Consumer CPU In The Market, Featuring A Higher L3 Cache & Much More
Team Red's top-notch X3D CPUs are officially launching tomorrow, and it won't be wrong to say that these models will likely disrupt the market due to their impressive on-paper specifications and, of course, the improved 3D V-Cache technology, which has been a fan favorite. Interestingly, ASUS's Tony Yu, in a video on the Chinese social media platform Bilibili, has showcased the CPU die design of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, revealing that AMD has adjusted the CCD configuration to squeeze in the extra L3 cache count.
The die design of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D was compared against the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, and here, the clear difference is how the 3D V-Cache is positioned, with the newer model having it mounted on dual CCDs. The 144MB cache count comes from 64 MB from the Zen 5 CCDs and 64 MB from the X3D stack, including an additional 16 MB L2 cache. This hybrid core/cache configuration makes the 9950X3D much more powerful compared to its counterparts in the market, and this is why the CPU is set to dominate the market, at least for a while now.
Interestingly, AMD did talk about mounting 3D V-Cache tiles on both CCDs, but they said that the implementation won't be financially viable, given that it would raise prices and bring in performance that won't be worthwhile. Tony also decided to test the CPU out in multiple titles, including mainstream ones like Counter Strike-2 and Cyberpunk 2077, and the results clearly show that X3D CPUs dominate the segment, but gaming performance relative to the 9800X3D is questionable.
AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D features 16 cores and 32 threads with two CCDs and a single IO die. It will feature a maximum boost clock of up to 5.7 GHz while retaining its overclocking capabilities in a 170W TDP package. However, when you talk about gaming performance, it is expected that the 9950X3D won't deliver much in comparison to the 9800X3D, given that the 3D V-Cache configuration is similar in both processors. But for other workloads, the newer Zen5 model will dominate.
