AMD is planning to bring the gaming magic of 3D V-Cache to the masses via two new Socket AM4 CPUs, according to the rumor mill. If the leak is to be believed, an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D CPU is being prepped, along with a cheaper Ryzen 5 5500X3D, providing owners of Socket AM4 motherboards a much cheaper upgrade path to a gaming CPU than buying a whole new AMD Zen 4 rig.
The move wouldn’t be without precedent, with AMD releasing the 6-core Ryzen 5 5600X3D by surprise earlier this year, but it was a severely limited run that ended up with there being only one 5600X3D retailer in the world. If these rumored CPUs have wider availability, though, they could be realistic contenders for our best gaming CPU guide, along with their bigger brother, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
The rumor comes from tech leaker chi11eddog, who posted specs of the two new CPUs on X, formerly known as Twitter. According to the leak, the Ryzen 7 5700X3D will have eight cores, plus 16 threads via SMT. Just like the other X3D CPUs, the 5700X3D is rumored to have a 64MB stack of 3D V-Cache on top of its single core chiplet die, giving the CPU a total of 96MB of L3 cache.
The leak post also says that the Ryzen 7 5700X3D clock speed will be 3GHz as the base clock, with a 4.1GHz boost clock. That’s a fair bit slower than the already-low Ryzen 7 5800X3D clock speeds of 3.4GHz and 4.5GHz respectively.
Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 5500X3D is rumored to have six cores, with the ability to execute 12 concurrent threads using SMT. It has the same 96MB of L3 cache as the 5700X3D, and the same 3GHz base clock, but a slightly slower 4GHz boost clock. Again, this is a big drop from the 5600X3D’s 3.3GHz base clock and 4.4GHz boost clock.
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D specs
This is the expected Ryzen 7 5700X3D specs list:
| Base frequency | 3GHz |
| Max boost frequency | 4.1GHz |
| Core | Zen 3 |
| Manufacturing process | 7nm |
| Number of cores | 8 |
| Number of threads | 16 |
| IGP | None |
| Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) | Yes |
| L3 cache | 96 MB |
| L2 cache | 4MB |
| Memory controller | Dual-channel DDR4, up to 3200MHz |
| Packaging | AMD Socket AM4 |
| Thermal design power (TDP) | 65 W |
AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D specs
This is the expected Ryzen 5 5500X3D specs list:
| Base frequency | 3GHz |
| Max boost frequency | 4GHz |
| Core | Zen 3 |
| Manufacturing process | 7nm |
| Number of cores | 6 |
| Number of threads | 12 |
| IGP | None |
| Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) | Yes |
| L3 cache | 96 MB |
| L2 cache | 4MB |
| Memory controller | Dual-channel DDR4, up to 3200MHz |
| Packaging | AMD Socket AM4 |
| Thermal design power (TDP) | 65 W |
This is potentially very exciting news for owners of older Socket AM4 systems. Although the Ryzen 7 5800X3D has dropped in price since launch, it still costs over $300. Meanwhile, upgrading to a new AMD Zen 4 X3D CPU, such as the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, is even more expensive, as it necessitates buying a new AMD AM5 motherboard, as well as DDR5 memory.
However, if AMD gets the pricing of these rumored new CPUs right, and they have wide availability, they will be great low-price gaming upgrade options. While the clock speeds are low, that’s also true for a lot of X3D CPUs, and the cache will still provide a substantial boost to gaming performance, without overloading your PSU or CPU cooler either. We expect the TDP of these CPUs to be around the 65W mark, in line with the clock speed reductions.
Would you be tempted to upgrade an aging Socket AM4 system to a new, cut-price X3D gaming CPU? Let us know your thoughts on the Custom PC Facebook page, via Twitter, or join our Custom PC and Gaming Setup Facebook group and tap into the knowledge of our 420,000+ members.