AMD is already in good shape when it comes to extending the longevity of the AM4 CPU socket, as seen with the Ryzen 9 5900XT and Ryzen 7 5800XT chips announced in June. Now comes the news that a modern 3D V cache is headed to the socket.
A modern variant of the Ryzen 5 5500X3D processor has reportedly been spotted Eurasian Economic Commission goods register (through Sweclockers). The listing doesn’t provide any details, but it’s believed the modern CPU model will offer six cores and 12 threads, with base and turbo frequencies of 3 GHz and 4 GHz, respectively.
As for how this fits in with the existing Ryzen 5000X3D line, well, the narrow edition Ryzen 5 5600X3D released at MicroCenter last summer has the same core count but hits 3.3GHz and 4.4GHz base and turbo speeds. It was priced at $230 last summer, but availability seems elusive at the moment.
Then we have the eight-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 5700X3D processor clocked at 3 GHz and 4.1 GHz, yours for about $210. Finally, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the OG 3D V-cache model, again with eight cores and 16 threads, but with clock speeds of 3.4 GHz and 4.5 GHz. This quite steep, around $340.
For that to make sense, the modern 5500X3D will have to be priced below the $210 5700X3D by a hefty margin. At current prices, that means it could be the first AMD 3D V-cache chip to drop below $200.
If so, this will be a very welcome option for owners of computers with AM4 motherboards. The X3D V-cache chip under $200 could be a pretty affordable option for gamers.
Of course, whether that will happen, and if it does, what the availability of the chip will be, remains to be seen. Hopefully, it will be a general launch that will be relatively effortless to get your hands on, rather than a much more narrow launch like we saw with the 5600X3D.
As far as we can tell, this chip is currently tough to obtain or even impossible to purchase, except by going to the appropriate MicroCenter in person.
Perhaps the 5500X3D rumor is a consequence of a narrow supply of eight-core X3D chips with a few broken cores, and therefore supply may be narrow. But let’s hope AMD has a mountain of them ready to go, with a wide rollout that would suggest so.
