Expected release date, price, performance

AMD’s Zen 3 CPUs were groundbreaking when they were released, but it’s time to upgrade. The chip maker has announced that its current CPUs will be modernized with new 3D V-Cache stacking technology, which could make a big difference for gamers.

AMD’s Zen 3 CPU: Expected Performance

The new technology was announced by AMD CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, at Computex 2021. During the presentation, AMD showed off a demo presentation in which the current generation 5900X runs. Gears of War 5 benchmark against the 5900X prototype built using the new 3D V-Cache technology.

Without any other design changes, the updated 5900X is up and running Gears 5 12% faster at 1080p – although there are no other tweaks to power usage and fixed frequency between both CPUs. Other games also benefit from this technology, according to AMD’s presentation, with Monster Hunter World saw a 25% improvement over the new design. (Footnotes in AMD presentations added that, on average, Zen 3 CPUs refreshed 15% faster across 32 separate PC games, although some titles like League of Legends only saw a small increase in performance.)

But what exactly is 3D V-Cache?

To understand the benefits of V-Cache, we need to look at how current Ryzen Zen 3 CPUs work. If you wanted to disassemble a Ryzen 5000 series CPU today, you’ll see a core complex (CCD) underneath.

Each CCD can fit 32MB of L3 cache. If you’re using a 5900X or 5950X in your gaming PC, those CPUs have two separate CCDs, giving them a total of 64MB of L3 cache.

L3 cache can be very useful for gaming, often more than having more cores or threads. While more whatever generally a good thing when it comes to gaming performance, an analysis from Techspot found that more L3 cache can often be more beneficial, as long as the game isn’t completely GPU bound.

“If you upgrade from a Core i7-8700K – essentially a Core i5-10600K – to a Core i7-10700K or something faster and notice an increase in performance, it’s most likely not due to the additional cores, but additional cache,” Techspot concludes.

So, to increase the amount of L3 cache on their CPU, AMD invented 3D V-Cache technology. This design stacks 64MB of L3 cache vertically, allowing up to 192MB of L3 cache. This is more than double what current Ryzen chips can offer, and by linking the new cache directly to the complexes and adding some structural silicon, AMD says the refreshed chips look identical to their Zen 3 counterparts.

“Just the existence of [3D V-Cache] is a giant leap in generational performance,” said Robert Hallock, Technical Marketing Manager at AMD, said in an interview in October.

Do I have to upgrade my PC to refresh Zen 3?

AMD has confirmed that the refreshed Zen 3 chip will be compatible with their existing AM4 platform. So if you have a motherboard today that already runs a Ryzen 3000 series CPU or a Ryzen 5000 series CPU, you will be able to purchase refreshed Zen 3 CPUs as they become available.

AMD’s Refreshed Zen 3 CPUs: Expected Release Date, Price

Hallock confirms that AMD will launch Zen 3 refresh in “early 2022”, although the current expectation is that the chip will be announced in January. AMD previously used their CES keynote as a launchpad for their products, but AMD is currently not listed according to the CES 2022 schedule.

AMD has also not revealed whether their entire Ryzen 5000-series lineup will be refreshed with 3D V-Cache technology or just higher-end CPUs like the 5900X and 5950X.

However, current speculation is that we will have an exact release date around CES. Greymon55, a well-known leaker in the hardware community, has pointed out that the refreshed Zen 3 CPUs could go on sale to the public from February (with the time between production and retail availability). .

They also point out that AMD’s Rembrandt CPUs – also known as their Ryzen 6000 series, which will compete with Intel and Apple in the laptop market – will also be announced in January.

AMD has yet to officially announce pricing for their upcoming Zen 3 refresh, although these are usually released when the chip is fully announced. 5950X is now retail for about $799 US, £749.99 or $999 AUD. AMD’s approach to previous generations has been to lower the price of older CPUs while their newer products are around the same price, and given that Zen 4 is on the rise, it should come as no surprise that AMD also follow the same approach here.

What kind of performance would you like to see from AMD’s new CPUs to convince you to upgrade?