AMD has smashed it out of the park already this year with its recent wave of CPU announcements. Of course, the 9800X3D release was just a few months ago, but even the so-called ‘King of CPUs’ could be getting nervous.

Naturally, we’re curious to see how the 9 9900X3D stacks up against everybody’s previous King of gaming processors, the 7 7800X3D. We think that when it comes to choosing between the two for your PC build, it’s still going to be a little challenging, especially as we have to consider some new architecture too.

We’ve reviewed the 7800X3D, but haven’t yet got a hands on with the 9 9900X3D, so we’re slightly limited to what we can compare from a real world perspective. Don’t worry though, we’ll be coming back to update this article after we’ve put the 9900X3D through the gauntlet in our testing lab…so stay tuned.

But there are a few new leaks that we can look towards for the 990X3D; considering its release date is expected to be soon, it’s about time we heard more about it. Instead, we have leaks about the potential performance from benchmarks and also a potential look at the pricing so we see what that means in comparison of the two.

Specs comparison

Architecture and process

Between the two, you get a jump in generations to choose between. As the 9900X3D is in the 9000 series, it has Zen 5 to enjoy and take advantage of compared to the 7800X3D. Including the change to a smaller process size from TSMC, dropping it another 1nm transistor size to fit even more on the same die space for better processing performance and efficiency.

For an X3D CPU, there’s even more to enjoy regarding changes in structure. As we found in our 9800X3D review, AMD has changed the layering in dies and 3D cache, removing the main limitations of the X3D chips and no longer limiting the power and clocks they can achieve, offering a lot more power and potential, much like the nonstacked processors in the rest of the lineup.

Cores

AMD has a simple tiered lineup of processors, with the Ryzen 7 7800X3D one lower than the Ryzen 9 9900X3D. One of the main differences between the two is the thread and core count. The latter offers up 12 cores and 24 threads, four and eight more, respectively, over the 7800X3D.

These are vital in multithreaded processes, such as rendering, simulations, and plenty of multitasking. Definitely more than just gaming and lighter workloads; something touted towards creators and those needing plenty of beefier processing power. But all that comes at an extra cost that should be considered before jumping on the bigger number immediately.

Clocks

The clock rate is where you can see the improvements in the architecture brought by Zen 5 to X3D. Here, we see the base clock jump to 4.4GHz, just 200 Hz more than the 7800X3D, but it’s in the boost clock that you can see the immediate difference. The 9900X3D gets a 500MHz factory clock higher than the 7000 chip, reaching up to 5.5GHz.

That is, without even overclocking the CPU, as the 9900X3D is capable of doing that and pushing even beyond that number that’s set by AMD by default. That will allow it to run away with the better clock rate and crunch those numbers even faster than the older choice processor.

TDP

Seemingly, by default, there’s not much difference in terms of power between the two. AMD’s default thermal design power is set to 120W on both CPUs. This means their PSU and CPU cooler considerations shouldn’t be that much different between the two.

However, with the 9900X3D having access to PBO and boosting clocks further, it wouldn’t be surprising to find it drawing more power than the 7800X3D, which is a lot more limited in comparison when it comes to power draw and clock rates.

Price difference expectation

When it comes the pricing, AMD has not yet finalized the release of the new 9900X3D, so there is no final price to compare. But looking at previous generations we might be able to get a good guess at what to expect. As the 7900X3D price was set to $599 on its release, and since the 9800X3D increased price from the previous gen, we could see the 9900X3D do the same, potentially pushing it above $600.

In comparison, the 7800X3D was released and can be found for $449, making it a lot cheaper in comparison. It is likely at least $150 less than the 9900X3D, creating quite the difference and quite the impact on your budget and spec list. Considering the latest Newegg leak, it seems to suggest that the 9900X3D will continue at the same price and so end up 25% more expensive than the 7800X3D.

Which one should you go for?

Deciding between the two is quite straightforward. If you need the extra cores and multithreading performance, the Ryzen 9 is the option to go for if you have the budget for it. It also has the potential for overclocking and reaching better performances than the more limited 7800X3D.

However, if you want to put your budget into other parts, like a top graphics card, the 7800X3D is still a great quality CPU to go for when it comes to gaming that won’t utilize the whole core count. Instead, something newer on that level is the 9800X3D, which might be a better comparison instead.

About the Author

Sebastian Kozlowski

With a fascination for technology and games, Seb is a tech writer with a focus on hardware, news, and deals. He is also a tester and reviewer for the site. Contact him @ [email protected]