Friday, June 20th 2025
AMD Readies Ryzen 5 9600X3D to Spice Up the Mid-range
AMD is giving finishing touches to the Ryzen 5 9600X3D processor, which could improve the company's standing in the mid-range, against Intel's Core i5-14600K and Core Ultra 5 245K. This came to light when AMD inadvertently leaked the SKU in its processor support list for the recently launched Radeon AI R9700 graphics card. The Ryzen 5 9600X3D will likely be a 6-core/12-thread processor based on the "Granite Ridge" silicon with 3D V-Cache memory. The processor is based on the latest "Zen 5" microarchitecture.
3D V-Cache is 64 MB of stacked cache on top of the 32 MB on-die cache, for a total of 96 MB last-level cache. Clock speeds of the 9600X3D could end up similar to those of the 9600X, given that AMD has changed the way the L3D (3D V-Cache die) stacks with the CCD (CPU complex die), inverting them, such that the L3D serves as a base tile for the CCD on top, giving the 9600X3D similar thermal and overclocking characteristics to the regular 9600X. The introduction of 3D V-Cache could significantly improve the gaming performance of the 9600X3D over the 9600X, giving gamers in the sub-$300 processor market segment a compelling alternative to the i5-14600K and the 245K.
Sources:
MelodicWarrior (Twitter), AMD
3D V-Cache is 64 MB of stacked cache on top of the 32 MB on-die cache, for a total of 96 MB last-level cache. Clock speeds of the 9600X3D could end up similar to those of the 9600X, given that AMD has changed the way the L3D (3D V-Cache die) stacks with the CCD (CPU complex die), inverting them, such that the L3D serves as a base tile for the CCD on top, giving the 9600X3D similar thermal and overclocking characteristics to the regular 9600X. The introduction of 3D V-Cache could significantly improve the gaming performance of the 9600X3D over the 9600X, giving gamers in the sub-$300 processor market segment a compelling alternative to the i5-14600K and the 245K.
47 Comments on AMD Readies Ryzen 5 9600X3D to Spice Up the Mid-range
But it is nice that AMD still providing this
Don't let DYI fool you, the bulk of CPU sales are with OEMs.
The reason for launching a X3D hexa-core (in limited quantities) is that obviously the stacking process generates its share of defective dies. AMD is putting an end to something that was accumulating unused, no problem in my opinion.
They release Ryzen 3 APUs to close this gap, but I think it's limited to OEMs and MSRP looks pretty bad. What fills this low-end space is AM4 tbh.
We're still at the point where 6 cores is enough for most games, but depending on the selection of games tested, the 9600X3D gaming advantage over models with less cache and more cores could be dwindling.
I'm interested not because I'm trying to build a 6-core gaming rig, but to see which games are using >6 cores. It's an indicator of how soon we need Zen 6 and the equivalent single-CCD 12-core X3D variant.
For instance, the Ryzen 5 5600X matched the Ryzen 7 3700X in multithreading benchmarks, despite having two less cores. The IPC improvement from Zen 2 to Zen 3 more than made up for it. Same thing happened from Zen 3 to Zen 4 (Ryzen 5000 to Ryzen 7000).
With the minimum specs being a Ryzen 7 2700X and the recommended being a Ryzen 7 5800X, a Ryzen 5 5600X or up will be more than enough.
Also, system requirements should always be taken with a grain of salt. Game devs typically don't have 15 different CPUs and 20 different GPUs of different generations they can test their game on.
I used to saturate a non 3D 5800x before swapping to a 12900k combo that I got for a really good price brand new back in 2023.
5800X would end up dipping FPS with multiple programs open. Feel like it was due to single CCD memory data path and single rank config. The 3900X I had prior was more stable (dual CCD sharing memory) but obviously less FPS. More akin to a Skylake CPU.
If I go back to AMD, its 100% going to be dual CCD.
www.techpowerup.com/338191/intels-core-ultra-7-265k-and-265kf-cpus-dip-below-usd-250
I get that these are the fastest gaming cores, and for only gaming on only games available today it's a reasonable value, but outside of gaming the Intel cores compete pretty well and it's likely future games will try to use more cores. This is 6/12 cores threads, against the much cheaper 245K with 6+8 P+E cores or the 265K with 8+12 P+E cores. Below $300 it'd be very difficult to sell me an AMD CPU. Even the 9700X is $305 and without V-cache it doesn't have a single-threaded edge over Intel to make up for the lack of multithreaded performance.
I've been on entry AM4 since 2019. The 3600 is still a 6c/12t champion for everything multithreaded.
So my only real urgency to upgrade is another bandage to unoptimized single threaded nightmares.
Since 2025 is very much a solid gaming year, nobody is doing this for bad games. They're just moving on.
If I really need to jump over to AM5 it will be because something at entry level like X3D becomes exciting.
This one probably isn't it but I'll put a pin in this one for cheap future AM5 builds.