AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Review: 3D V-Cache Powers a New Gaming Champion

96MB of L3 cache goes Brrrr

Ryzen 7 5800X3D
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AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Application Benchmarks — The TLDR

We can boil down productivity application performance into two broad categories: single- and multi-threaded. These slides show the geometric mean of performance in several of our most important tests in each category, but be sure to look at the expanded results below.

These results clearly show that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a chip designed specifically for gaming, not for leading-edge performance in application workloads. We've highlighted the 5800X3D beating the 12900K in gaming, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the 12900K is 29% faster in single-threaded work and 62% faster in threaded applications. That chasm grows even larger with the Core i9-12900KS.

In fact, even the newly-released Ryzen 7 5700X, which feels like a deep price cut for the 5800X in the disguise of a new product, beats the 5800X3D by 2.5% in threaded work, a byproduct of its 100 MHz higher boost speed. However, the 5700X's 65W TDP is lower than the 5800X3D's 105W, hampering its performance in multi-threaded work, giving the 5800X3D an 11.3% advantage.

The 5800X3D's lower clock speeds obviously take a toll, as the Ryzen 7 5800X is 7% faster in single-threaded work, but only 1% faster in threaded work. 

Given its $409 price point, the Core i7-12700K really shines in comparison to the 5800X3D. The Core i7-12700K is 28.8% faster in single-threaded work and 40% faster in multi-threaded work, showing that it is the best all-rounder in this price range. Yes, that's even after the Ryzen 9 5900X's recent deep price cut to $450. 

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D clearly isn't focused on performance in applications outside of gaming, so the below results are fairly predictable. As such, we'll limit our commentary throughout the application benchmarks.   

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Application Benchmark %age Relative to 12900KS with DDR4
Tom's Hardware - Application BenchmarksSingle-ThreadedMulti-Threaded
Core i9-12900KS DDR4100%100%
Core i9-12900K DDR493.4%95.9%
Core i9-12700K DDR90.9%82.6%
Ryzen 9 5900X77.9%80%
Ryzen 7 5800X77.3%59.3%
Ryzen 7 5800X3D72%58.9%

Rendering Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is capable but underwhelming compared to like-priced competitors throughout this spate of both single- and multi-threaded rendering tests. 

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Blender 3.1.0 Rendering Benchmarks - Samples Per Minute - Higher Is Better
Tom's Hardware MonsterJunkshopClassroom
Ryzen 7 5800X3D106.9766.6751.13
Core i9-12900K186.16106.0787.30
Ryzen 7 5800X110.1967.1952.43
Ryzen 9 5900X157.7996.2874.32
Ryzen 7 5700X95.46045.19

We've used the Blender command-line utility to automate our performance and power testing for four Blender scenes, building out an extensive library of results over the course of a year...and now the online utility doesn't work and returns an error. We've seen leaked reports of Blender speed-ups from the 3D V-Cache, so we ran a selection of tests with the manual GUI to suss out the differences.

We don't see any tangible benefits over the Ryzen 7 5800X here, and the 5800X3D trails all but the Ryzen 7 5700X. 

Encoding Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

It's easy to spot the lightly-threaded encoders in this lineup — the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is at the bottom of the chart for each of them. Without fail, the chip beats the Ryzen 7 5700X in all of the threaded tests. It also exhibits an advantage over the higher-clocked 5800X in the HandBrake tests, implying that the 3D V-Cache confers a slight advantage.

Web Browsing, Office and Productivity on AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

The ubiquitous web browser is one of the most frequently used applications. These tests tend to be lightly threaded, so a snappy response time is critical. Again, the 5800X3D lands near the bottom of the test pool in lightly-threaded apps. 

Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom on AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

We've integrated the UL Benchmarks Procyon tests into our suite to replace the aging PCMark 10. This new benchmark runs complex Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom workflows with the actual software, making for a great real-world test suite. 

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D rises to the middle of the pack in the Lightroom and Photoshop benchmark, but it's clear that video editing in Adobe Premiere Pro is not its forte. 

Compilation, Compression, AVX Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

This grab bag of various tests finds the Ryzen 7 5800X3D largely trailing its similarly-priced competition, though the increased performance in the threaded y-cruncher test almost certainly results from the 3D V-Cache. However, the 5800X3D's lower clock speeds mean that the same trend doesn't carry over to the lightly-threaded y-cruncher benchmark. 

Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

  • Kamen Rider Blade
    Depending on what applications you're using, there are potentially HUGE performance gains, even on non common workloads.

    Level1Techs & Hardware UnBoxed has shown that the 5800X3D is a good value compared to the 12900KS or 12900K
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    Tom Sunday said:
    The 5800X3D on the surface looks good. Not the $449 price tag to be sure as many of us given our ongoing dilemma at the gas pumps leaves little or no cash available for higher-end PC fares. Besides AMD being a latecomer to the party with a practically outdated and niche CPU and especially with an all new CPU and hardware generation sitting virtually on our doorstep! At this point in time I would think that many will ‘hold and fold’ until better economic times are in sight and mind. At the latest local computer show the 5800X3D came up in discussion and it was said: “Looks like a very nice chip, but at this late time it’s not a good investment!”

    I see this the other way its a fantastic upgrade for those on AM4 that may still be on Zen+ or Zen 2 and will prolong the life of those systems a few more years. Leaving time for pricing to go down on DDR5 when its time to upgrade.
    Reply
  • M42
    Clearly, something is wrong with the 12900ks sample used (or the setup) if it can't be overclocked at all, and especially if it is not faster than an overclocked 12700k.

    Also, how could any conclusion be made without including 12900k/ks + DDR5 tests?

    For example, from a TechSpot review, 12900k FarCry 6 performance was the following (no overclocking):
    157 frames/sec - 12900k DDR4-3200
    170 frames/sec - 12900k DDR5-6400

    Details can be found in the "Gaming Benchmarks" section here:
    https://www.techspot.com/review/2443-intel-core-i9-12900ks/
    Even after benchmarking the 12900k/ks with DDR5, the 5800X3D might still be ahead in the geometric mean. But since DDR5 prices are dropping I think most people buying a 12900k/ks may end up using higher-end motherboards with DDR5 to squeeze out every last drop of performance. So, can you add some Alder Lake + DDR5 results, please? (thanks!)
    Reply
  • sizzling
    Makaveli said:
    I see this the other way its a fantastic upgrade for those on AM4 that may still be on Zen+ or Zen 2 and will prolong the life of those systems a few more years. Leaving time for pricing to go down on DDR5 when its time to upgrade.
    This is me. I just upgraded from a 3700X to a 5800X3D. I’m going to get a couple more years out my B450 Tomahawk Max and 2x16gb DDR4. This is paired with a 3080 and 1440p 240Hz monitor. By the time I need to upgrade cpu DDR5 will hopefully be more mature, cheaper and actually bring beneficial improvements for games.

    The only thing that I have noticed is my RAM seem to run hotter on the 5800X3D than the 3700X. It now runs at about 45-49c on stock XMP, previously 40-43.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    While it may be the best in gaming for AMD's current offerings, other reviews, such as Techpowerup's, which use an RTX 3080, show the 5800X3D to lead by only 7.4% on vs the 5900X in gaming at 1920x1080 on average. Assuming you aren't using a ~$1500 3090 but a ~$900 3080, are you really telling us that you should buy the 3080X3D instead of spending, currently, $80 more on the 5950X, for twice the number of cores and a much better all around system?
    Reply
  • sizzling
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    While it may be the best in gaming for AMD's current offerings, other reviews, such as Techpowerup's, which use an RTX 3080, show the 5800X3D to lead by only 7.4% on vs the 5900X in gaming at 1920x1080 on average. Assuming you aren't using a ~$1500 3090 but a ~$900 3080, are you really telling us that you should buy the 3080X3D instead of spending, currently, $80 more on the 5950X, for twice the number of cores and a much better all around system?
    The 5950X is outperformed by the 5900X for gaming, so if gaming is the main concern then it makes sense to compare to a 5800X or 5900X.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    sizzling said:
    The 5950X is outperformed by the 5900X for gaming, so if gaming is the main concern then it makes sense to compare to a 5800X or 5900X.

    True, but not in applications, which is half of this test, and the 5950X beats the 5900X quite handily due to having more cores. And since they compared it against an Intel processor with 16 cores, the 12900K, as well as the 12900KS variant, then they should have included a 16 core AMD processor as well for good measure, even though the 12900K and KS are quite a bit faster anyway.
    Reply
  • sizzling
    Alvar Miles Udell said:
    True, but not in applications, which is half of this test, and the 5950X beats the 5900X quite handily due to having more cores. And since they compared it against an Intel processor with 16 cores, the 12900K, as well as the 12900KS variant, then they should have included a 16 core AMD processor as well for good measure, even though the 12900K and KS are quite a bit faster anyway.
    True, but this review is about the 5800X3D which is being pushed as a gaming cpu, nothing more. Therefore it’s reasonable to compare on that basis. If you are not after a purely gaming cpu the 5800X3D probably does not make sense.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    The biggest winners with the 5800X3D are AM4 owners; the people that actually trusted AMD and, well, they have fully delivered, I'd say. I personally didn't go with the 5800X3D, because the 5900X dropped to under $400 and that's just way too good as an upgrade (I got it for £370). I've gone through 3 Zen generations (2700X, 3800XT and now the 5900X) and while I still think the 9K gen from Intel is still good, I can't help but feel kind of sorry for them. Almost the same for 10K gen owners, but the 10700K is still a great CPU in my eyes and let's not talk about 11K gen.

    Also, this thing is still 8 cores and 16 threads, it's not like it suddenly got degraded to a 4 core 8 threads CPU. I'm sure it should be fairly similar to the 11700K or at least 10700K and those you wouldn't say are slouches, no? Perspective is as common as the common sense, innit?

    Regards.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    The biggest losers are people like me who bought a high end X370 motherboard trusting AMD to support all AM4 processors on all AM4 motherboards like they said at the beginning, then bought a X570 motherboard after they said no Zen 3 support on X370 motherboards only for them to then change their minds and actually support Zen 3 on X370 motherboards...
    Reply