How does the new Ryzen 9 7900 compare to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D? Specs, performance, pricing, and more compared

The Ryzen 9 7900 is a cheaper alternative to the higher-end 7900X and the 7950X processors. It comes with the same 12 cores and 24 threads as its 'X' counterpart and shares the same 64MB L2 cache. However, a few key elements have been altered to fit a lower power budget and price point.

The Ryzen 7000 non-X lineup was showcased at CES 2023. The processors are now available for purchase at leading retailers like Newegg, Amazon, and more. The 7900 has been priced at $429, which makes it much cheaper than the $550 Ryzen 9 7900X and the $700 7950X.

Thus, many users who wish to build a high-end gaming rig will be drawn to this chip instead of the costlier Core i7 13700K. However, at a similar price point, AMD also offers the last-gen Ryzen 7 5800X3D, a processor renowned for its gaming performance thanks to its 3D V-caching technology.

Choosing between these chips might be difficult. Thus, let's analyze which one is a better deal.

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How does the new Ryzen 9 7900 stack up against the Ryzen 7 5800X3D?

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D was launched with a price tag of $449, which would make it almost as expensive as the Ryzen 9 7900. However, these days, the chip has been discounted to $356. This makes it much cheaper than the 12-core Ryzen 9 chip, which is being offered for $430.

The difference in specifications between these two chips is huge, with on-paper data suggesting that the Ryzen 9 7900 should be much faster than the 5800X3D. However, in practice, the results are quite different.

	Ryzen 7 5800X3D	Ryzen 9 7900
Architecture	7nm Zen 3	5nm Zen 4
Socket	AM4	AM5
Cores	8	12
Threads	16	24
Base clock	3.4 GHz	3.7 GHz
Boost clock	4.5 GHz	5.3 GHz
L3 cache	96 MB	64 MB
TDP	105W	65W

It is worth noting that the 7900 is a more power-efficient chip as compared to the 5800X3D. However, based on the reviewed data, the new processor from AMD can boost up to 88W, which makes it quite less power efficient than advertised.

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Performance differences

Upon launch, the Ryzen 5800X3D became a universal recommendation for gaming rigs. The processor comes with an affordable price for high-end rigs and could beat the much costlier Core i9 12900K in the latest and greatest video games.

As compared to the Ryzen 7 5800X, the chip boasts much higher single-core and multi-core performance marks, making it ideal for workstations as well.

However, with Zen 4, single-core performance marks have touched the moon. Most chips, including the Ryzen 5 7600X can hit over 2,000 points in the Cinebench R23 single-core benchmark, which translates to mind-blowing gaming performance. The budget Ryzen 5 chip beats the Core i9 12900KS in video games.

The Ryzen 9 7900 benefits from this as well. However, according to benchmark data from multiple sources, the last-gen 3D V-caching-enabled processor still packs some heat. It beats almost every Ryzen 7000 non-X CPU out of the question at 1080p when video games are mostly CPU bound.

A similar story continues at higher resolutions, with only the high-end Core i9 chips beating the 5800X3D in video games. Thus, for gamers, the Ryzen 7000 non-X chip turns out to be a bad deal.

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Conclusion

3D V-caching is still winning, and the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, despite being almost a year old, beats the latest Ryzen 7000 chips in video games. This proves the potential of the technology. Thus, users who want to solely play games on their system should opt for the $350 chip over the Ryzen 9 7900.