AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D On Linux: Not For Gaming, But Very Exciting For Other Workloads

Last week AMD began shipping the much anticipated Ryzen 7 5800X3D as their first 3D V-Cache consumer CPU and their claims to be "the world's fastest PC gaming processor" in being able to outperform even the Core i9 12900K / 12900KS for Windows gaming. We weren't seeded by AMD for this launch, leading us to anticipate that it's not too good for Linux gaming / not their target market. But after the great success I've had with AMD Milan-X performance on Linux, I was very eager to try out this consumer CPU with the 3D-stacked L3 cache and ended up purchasing a 5800X3D. Indeed the Ryzen 7 5800X3D turned out to be disappointing for Linux gaming performance but the 5800X3D was very interesting for a range of other technical workloads and making me very excited for future Ryzen CPUs with 3D V-Cache.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D as a refresher is AMD's current only 3D V-Cache desktop CPU at this point. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is very similar to the existing Ryzen 7 5800X but trades a 3.8GHz base clock for a 3.4GHz base clock while having a 96MB L3 cache thanks to 3D V-Cache compared to just a 32MB L3 cache with the 5800X. The Ryzen 7 5800X also has a maximum boost clock of 4.7GHz where as the 5800X3D is limited to 4.5GHz. Both models have a 105 Watt TDP, Zen 3 cores, and other features in common besides the big L3 cache while trading that for the 400MHz lower base clock and 200MHz lower maximum turbo clock.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D works with existing AM4 motherboards supporting the Ryzen 5000 series when using the latest motherboard BIOS releases.

I bought the Ryzen 7 5800X3D to be able to carry out these Linux benchmarks with unfortunately not receiving any review sample this time from AMD. I was able to get the Ryzen 7 5800X3D at its suggested price of $449 USD while the Ryzen 7 5800X retails for around $335. As of writing, however, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D appears sold out at all major Internet retailers.

I've been benchmarking the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D under Linux the past several days and have initial numbers to look at the Linux gaming performance but more excitingly the AMD Ryzen 3D V-Cache performance in other areas where there is uplift from this large L3 cache. For today's article is looking at just the 5800X vs. 5800X3D performance due to the limited time since acquiring the 5800X3D and always freshly re-benchmarking all comparison CPUs for reviews - so stay tuned for a fresh larger comparison and other follow-up 5800X3D benchmarks over the days and weeks ahead.

The "TLDR" version is that the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a waste for Linux gamers but there is actually a number of other areas showing real promise for the 5800X3D and more broadly Ryzen CPUs with 3D V-Cache. Due to only this one eight-core SKU with 3D V-Cache, it's scope is rather narrow but does have me super excited for future products when being able to find 3D V-Cache at say 16 cores / better aligned with otherwise the flagship Ryzen models.