AMD Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs: ASUS Teases Next-Gen Processors with 3D V-Cache

Asus microsite confirms Ryzen 9000 X3D chips are on the way

The URL and metadata of an Asus motherboard site confirms 9000 series CPUs with AMD's celebrated V-cache are coming. AMD's X3D processors, outfitted with extra V-cache that can boost performance for 3D games, are all the rage with system builders. In fact, the existence of these souped-up chips might be part of the reason that sales for the initial Ryzen 9000 CPUs are less than spectacular. Well, here's good news for gamers who are waiting for the X3D versions: Asus says they're coming... thanks to a bit of a leak. Frequent Twitter leaker @momomo_us (via PCGamer) dug into the support pages for the latest Asus motherboards. Though there's no mention of 9000-series processors with X3D V-cache on the public-facing page for X870 and X870E mobos, the URL for the page specifically mentions "9000-X3D". Sure, "X3D" alone isn't much to go on -- an AM5 socket supports the newest Ryzen 9000 processors as well as the older 7000 series, which includes variants like the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. But "9000-X3D" definitely implies that X3D chips are in the pipe. Metadata beneath the site's public-facing front, spotted by VideoCardz.com, mentions the new chips by name: "Asus AMD X870E & 870 motherboards are designed to get the most out of AMD Ryzen 9000 series X3D processors and are ready for Advanced AI PCs." When will we see them? That's the more interesting question. The Ryzen 7000 series kicked off the current AM5 socket with the first CPUs launching in September of 2022, then the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and 7900X3D followed in February of 2023. That seems to imply that Ryzen 9000X3D chips won't be hitting store shelves before 2025. But speculators think they might be coming a lot sooner than that. AMD knows the X3D variants are a hit with gamers, who are the primary audience for sales of high-end desktop components at retail. In fact, they've gone back to the original Ryzen 7 5800X3D well twice, with the latest being the 5700X3D released in February of this year. Gamers can't get enough of that V-cache special sauce, even at performance levels well below the flagship Ryzen 7 and 9 categories. So, combined with slumping sales of the newest Radeon graphics cards and a tepid response for the standard Ryzen 9000 CPUs, AMD might be looking to get those X3D versions of the chips on shelves as soon as possible. Asus' little URL slip-up could be an indication that it's prepping a marketing push for just that... or it could be a simple mistake that means nothing, and we'll have to wait until next year proper. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I haven't seen any concrete evidence of an accelerated release for new X3D processors. Speaking as someone who's running a 7800X3D right now, with an AM5 socket that should be compatible with a newer version, I'd love to be mistaken.

AMD Ryzen 9000X3D 3D V-Cache CPUs Teased By ASUS

ASUS might've given us a tease of AMD's Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs featuring Zen 5 cores and 3D V-Cache technology ahead of their official unveiling. ASUS recently revealed several X870E & X870 chipset motherboards, which included all different sub-series but what went unnoticed is the hidden mention of Ryzen 9000X3D chips. The first four Ryzen 9000 CPUs have already been launched a few days ago, which we have covered in detail in our reviews but the new information sheds light on Ryzen 9000X3D with 3D V-Cache technology. Since AMD took great interest in producing X3D versions of its existing Zen 3 and Zen 4 CPUs, X3D chips in the Ryzen 9000 series based on Zen 5 shouldn't surprise us. It was Momomo_US, who first saw the Ryzen 9000X3D listing by going through the source code of the ASUS microsite page for its latest motherboards. Apparently, the X870E & X870 chipset motherboards aren't the only ones that are mentioned on the page as the URL also reveals more chipsets and mentions 'Ryzen 9000X3D'. On further investigation by ComputerBase, the page description in the source code says, ASUS AMD X870E & X870 motherboards are designed to get the most out of AMD Ryzen™ 9000 series X3D processors and are ready for Advanced AI PCs. Featuring exclusive AI technologies, PCIe® 5.0, DDR5 support with NitroPath DRAM and AEMP technologies, USB4® 40 Gbps Type-C support, WiFi 7 and EZ PC DIY designs. This confirms that AMD's partners such as ASUS definitely know what's coming soon to the markets and AMD's Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs with extra L3 cache memory are inevitable. However, the launch or the availability of the processors hasn't been revealed yet nor AMD has talked about these processors. With 3D V-Cache technology, Ryzen 9000 CPUs will get additional L3 cache onboard, which will provide significant performance uplifts in video games. This has been the case with the previous generation processors as well and to this day, AMD hasn't stopped releasing newer 3D CPUs for Zen 3 and Zen 4 lineups. A few days ago, Ryzen 5 5500X3D appeared in the EEC filing, and just yesterday, a leak mentioned that AMD is preparing Ryzen 5 7600X3D. AMD Ryzen 9000 lineup at the moment doesn't have a single released 3D CPU but it looks like AMD has already made preparations for the newer 3D CPUs batch for the near future. Previous rumors mentioned an October release date which is around the timeframe we will see the launch of AMD's 800-series motherboards. We also previously reported that Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs will offer full overclocking support and feature very similar cache sizes as the existing lineup but translate into bigger gains since they will offer performance on top of the Zen 5's IPC uplift. With a 3D cache chiplet, expect the L3 cache to increase by at least 64MB, which means processors like Ryzen 9600X and 9700X will have 96MB of L3 cache. At the same time, this will introduce lower clock speeds due to the unusual stacking process. X3D chips are usually power-efficient and can do a better job in gaming for less power. That said, Ryzen 9000X3D chips must provide a significant boost in performance to make them appealing for users to consider them over the 7800X3D or the upcoming 7600X3D.

Asus provides another clue that AMD's Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs could be here soon - which would be seriously bad news for Intel

3D V-Cache for Zen 5 has already been rumored to get an earlier launch than expected Asus has prematurely listed AMD's Ryzen 9000X3D processors on its microsite for incoming 800 series motherboards, in what's another hint that next-gen 3D V-Cache CPUs might be here sooner than expected. As VideoCardz noticed, the site lists X870 (and X870E), B850 and B840 motherboards for Ryzen 9000 (second-gen AM5 boards still based on the same socket that was introduced with Ryzen 7000). However, the telling bit here is that the site mentions 'Ryzen 9000X3D' in numerous places, or it did anyway - that no longer seems to be the case. That said, Ryzen 9000X3D is even listed in the URL and that's still present. So, the theory - and it is stretching things somewhat, admittedly - is that AMD's 800 series motherboards are definitely going on sale soon, possibly within a matter of weeks, and so maybe, just maybe, Ryzen 9000X3D is looking at a similar timeframe for arrival. If so, that could seriously interfere with Intel's Arrow Lake launch, Team Blue's next-gen CPUs which are expected to debut on October 10 going by the latest chatter. Or at least it'd pour some very cold water on the chances of Arrow Lake grabbing the title of the fastest gaming processor, as 3D V-Cache CPUs are excellent for PC games thanks to that cache. All this might sound like a wild punt of a guess, but it's not just guesswork from out of nowhere, as there have previously been rumors that AMD could be shooting for a surprisingly early release for X3D chips for the Zen 5 range. Typically, we'd expect these 3D V-Cache processors to pitch up early in 2025. However, a past rumor suggested a September launch, alongside clues in AMD's own drivers - and this apparent slip-up from Asus backs all this up to some extent. Or at least it suggests that even if Ryzen 9000X3D chips may not be ready next month - which seems rather unlikely at this point - they could still be inbound soon enough. VideoCardz further points out that there's an AMD event on October 10 - funnily enough - but it seems unlikely that would include an X3D launch, as it's focused on business products (including Ryzen AI 300 Pro, and Epyc chips for servers). So, 3D V-Cache would not fit in there, but it's entirely possible Team Red could be planning a separate launch event for these X3D processors - they're important enough, after all. As ever with rumors, we'll just have to wait and see what happens, but it's an exciting prospect that a Ryzen 9800X3D could be in the offing in the near future (the other expected debut launches are the 9950X3D and 9900X3D). Given some of the reaction to Ryzen 9000 in general - which has been a bit flat - it could even be argued that AMD needs to get these CPUs out sooner rather than later, and as mentioned, this would definitely hurt Intel's chances on the gaming front.