The Ryzen 5 7600X is currently the best offering in the Zen 4 lineup in terms of price-to-performance when it comes to gaming. With additional cache memory, the 7600X3D could be a game changer but that also means the Ryzen 9600X’s existence is in danger unless AMD decides to cut its price significantly.
AMD is reportedly working on the ‘3D’ edition for the Ryzen 5 7600X CPU
This information is still a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt. However, going by the several accurate leaks of the X user @AnhPhuH, this information is more likely to come true. Apparently, AMD is working on the 3D version of the Zen 4-based AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU. @AnhPhuH posted on X that the 7600X3D is coming in early September.
The Ryzen 7600X3D is going to add more L3 cache to the already existing 7600X. The 7600X is a mid-range budget chip from the 7000 series that was launched at a price of $299. Since then, the price has dropped nearly $100 in various retail stores. The 7600X not only outperforms most $200 and sub-$250 CPUs in gaming but also beats most of the latest-gen processors in productivity.
Still, with the introduction of more affordable chips such as the Ryzen 5700X3D and 5600X3D, it can become confusing for users to choose between the two, particularly when the latter two CPUs can be used on the older AM4 platform. With the 7600X3D, things can turn significantly in favor of this Zen 4 chip. On the 3D version, expect AMD to increase the L3 cache from 32MB to 96MB.
With an additional L3 cache, the performance of AMD CPUs is improved drastically in most video games. As the Zen 4 series doesn’t have any other 3D CPU except for the 7800X3D, which costs over $350 at the moment, the 7600X3D will not only be the second in the series but also the most attractive one for its price. While we currently don’t know how much AMD will price the Ryzen 7600X3D, expect it to cost somewhere between $250-$300.
It’s still going to be somewhat difficult for AMD to sell a lot of these at this price range because a lot of great gaming processors with more cores are available in this range. Nonetheless, if AMD reduces the price to less than $250, the Ryzen 9600X may cease to exist. The 9600X is already just marginally faster than the 7600X and if the 7600X3D launches for a lower price, the 9600X won’t see any good sales.
Even right now, the 9600X has failed to impress the buyers at $279. With the 7600X3D, the core/thread count will retain at 6/12 but the clock speeds will be reduced significantly. This means, the boost clock can be around or lower than 5.0GHz, while the base clock will be less than 4.5GHz. This is due to the unusual stacking of the tiles in 3D chips but in most cases, this doesn’t pose any serious problems.
