AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D now official, here’s the release date, price, and specs

The new eight-core gaming CPU is coming soon, with a faster clock speed than the 7800X3D, and AMD says it's faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D release date has just been officially announced, along with the price and specs of the new chip. This eight-core gaming CPU is set to be the first new Ryzen 9000X3D chip to be released, picking up from where the Ryzen 7 7800X3D left off, and AMD says it’s on average 20% faster than the new Intel Core Ultra 9 285K in games.

If this new AMD chip delivers as promised, it’s very likely to be the best gaming CPU when it comes out. The new 9800X3D not only has a faster clock speed than the acclaimed Ryzen 7 7800X3D, but AMD has also changed the position of the 3D V-cache chip, meaning it can run cooler. Meanwhile, the move to the new AMD Zen 5 architecture looks set to improve its performance further.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D release date

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D release date is Thursday, November 7, 2024, which comes just a couple of weeks after the Intel Arrow Lake launch, and arrives just in time for the holiday season.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D price

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D price is $479, which is $30 higher than the original 7800X3D launch price, showing that AMD is confident it can charge a premium for this CPU, despite it only having eight cores. This is expensive for an eight-core CPU, so it will really need to deliver the gaming performance that AMD promises.

Comparatively, the eight-core Ryzen 7 9700X, which doesn’t have 3D V-cache, costs $325 right now, which is significantly cheaper. Meanwhile, the nearest competition from Intel is the new Core Ultra 7 265K, which costs around $400 at the moment, and the Core i9 14900K, which currently goes for around $439.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D specs

These are the Ryzen 7 9800X3D specifications:

Rather than mounting the 3D V-cache chip on top of the CPU cores, as with previous AMD X3D chips, the new 9800X3D positions the 2nd Gen 3D V-cache underneath the CPU cores, and this time the cache chip is the same size as the core chiplet too.

The idea is that this means the CPU cores are nearest to the heatspreader, and the contact plate of your CPU cooler, enabling AMD to keep the CPU cores running cooler and increase the clock speed. The capacity of the cache remains the same, however, at 64MB, meaning the 9800X3D has a total of 96MB of L3 cache.

Speaking of which, the 9800X3D clock speed is 5.2GHz at peak boost, which is 200MHz higher than the 7800X3D’s 5GHz boost clock. Meanwhile, the 9800X3D base clock is 4.7GHz, a 500MHz increase over the 7800X3D. AMD says the 9800X3D will be 8% quicker than the 7800X3D in games, on average. Unlike the new Intel Arrow Lake CPU range, the 9800X3D has SMT enabled, meaning it can execute 16 concurrent threads from its eight cores, rather than just eight.

If you’re planning to build a gaming PC based on the new 9800X3D when it comes out, check out our guide to the best gaming RAM to partner with it, where we run you through all our favorite options right now. AMD says the sweet spot for this chip in terms of price and performance will be 6,000MHz.