AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D is making its debut today, but expert overclockers have already started testing its limits—pushing it to clock speeds nearing 7GHz and achieving incredible frame rates in high-performance gaming and intense workloads.
In case you missed it, a notable feature of this new 3D V-Cache CPU is that it’s unlocked for overclocking, a feature absent in previous X3D processors.
Additionally, its clock speeds have seen an improvement, thanks to AMD’s decision to position the 3D V-Cache beneath the CCD, the die containing the cores.
This arrangement facilitates better cooling, compared to previous models where the cache was positioned on top.
Asus China’s General Manager, Tony Yu, shared a significant overclock achievement of the Ryzen 9800X3D on Bilibili, where the chip was pushed to operate between 6.7GHz and 6.9GHz using liquid nitrogen cooling across multiple tests.
Naturally, an Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Gene motherboard was used to host the CPU, alongside an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU for gaming benchmarks.
In these tests, Yu ran Counter-Strike 2 at 1080p on maximum settings, hitting an impressive 1,262.9 frames per second (fps).
This is near the performance level of Intel’s Core i9-14900K, which managed to reach over 1,300 fps—but with a significant difference in power usage.
The Ryzen 9800X3D reached this frame rate at a power draw around 100W, while the Intel CPU consumed considerably more power—up to 360W during heavy usage, and potentially higher with aggressive overclocking. It’s worth noting that the 14900K was running at faster clock speeds of 7.5GHz to 8GHz.
Valorant was also used to test the gaming capabilities of the Ryzen 9800X3D, where the CPU averaged close to 1,100 fps at 1080p on maximum settings, even peaking over 1,500 fps at times.
The Ryzen 9800X3D also underwent a Cinebench R23 test, where it scored 30,513, which is over a third faster than Wccftech’s result using PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) with standard cooling, rather than the exotic methods employed in these tests.
Gaming Excellence with Impressive Efficiency
It’s remarkable that the Ryzen 9800X3D achieves these frame rates at clock speeds approximately 15% lower than Intel’s Core i9-14900K, with much lower power consumption at only 100W.
This CPU is an efficient powerhouse for overclockers, coming close to matching the 14900K in performance even under exotic overclocking conditions with liquid nitrogen—while maintaining stability long enough for brief gaming sessions.
While these extreme overclocking results aren’t practical for everyday use, they highlight the potential for substantial gains with more standard overclocking on robust air or liquid cooling. Additionally, AMD’s rumored “X3D turbo mode” could further enhance performance.
The Ryzen 9800X3D is shaping up to be a strong contender (our full review is on the way), and rumors suggest that stock levels will be ample.
However, there’s a slight downside: AMD has introduced a price increase of just over 5% compared to its predecessor’s MSRP.
While the Core i9-14900K still holds the crown as the absolute fastest gaming CPU, it’s currently a bit cheaper than the 9800X3D due to discounts on last-gen Intel models, some part of early Black Friday deals.
The trade-off, though, is Intel’s much higher power consumption and, potentially, stability concerns.
Although Intel has addressed stability issues, the lingering memory of these problems may still be on the minds of some in the gaming community.
