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

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Application Benchmarks — The TLDR

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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.   

Rendering Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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. 

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