AMD might finally have an advantage over Intel.
The company recently posted the official benchmarks of its new AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (via Tom’s Hardware), where it directly compared the CPU against Intel’s flagship Core i9-13900K processor. According to AMD, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D beats the Core i9-13900K by up to 24% in selected games. Considering how Intel’s $579 CPU is more expensive than the $449 7800X3D, this is impressive.
Given how these are AMD’s own benchmarks, we have to treat them with some skepticism. It’s not unreasonable to assume the testing was tailored to make the 7800X3D look better than the Core i9-13900K. We need to wait for independent benchmarks to truly see if AMD’s new processor is superior to its rival’s silicon. But if these benchmarks are anywhere near accurate, Intel might have reason for concern.
This excites me.
AMD’s official Ryzen 7 7800X3D benchmarks
AMD’s benchmarks include games like Rainbow Six Siege, Watch Dogs Legion, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn. AMD’s graphs (provided to Tom’s Hardware), compares the 7800X3D to the Intel Core i9-13900K. For good measure, they also compare the new CPU to its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
As you can see above, AMD’s CPU beats Intel’s by an average of 20 percent in gaming. The biggest is Horizon Zero Dawn, where AMD's chip outperforms Intel's by 24 percent. Red Dead Redemption saw a 23% win while Total War: Three Kingdoms and Rainbow Six Siege won by 18 and 13 percent, respectively. As Tom’s Hardware notes, these games tend to benefit from the 3D V-cache technology the 7800X3D and 7950X3D employ.
The aforementioned AMD processor shows up in the next graph. The two AMD chips are equal in Rainbow Six Siege but the 7800X3D is slower by 3 percent. This is important to keep in mind since the $699 7950X3D costs $250 more than the $449 7800X3D. But as we said up top, take all of these results with the proverbial grain of salt.
The new 7800X3D trounces the last-gen 5800X3D. Across the board, we see gains in the lower 20s. In DOTA, the new CPU won by up to 30 percent.
Outlook
I want to see independent benchmarks for the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D before rendering a verdict. If we see something close to AMD’s benchmarks in real-world testing, it could be a huge upset for Intel — and a big win for gamers. After all, 7800X3D not only costs less than Intel’s flagship CPU, it’s almost as powerful as the $699 7900X3D.
I’ve been impressed by the strides AMD has made with its Ryzen CPU series. My gaming rigs have always had an Intel processor, but I’m willing to purchase an AMD CPU in the future if the company continues on its current trajectory. Intel is expected to release its 14th Gen Core processors later this year and these CPUs might trounce AMD’s current offerings. But if Intel ever starts falling behind innovation-wise, I may join Team Red. We’ll see what happens.
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D releases on April 6, 2023. We’ll let you know if this CPU is worthwhile after we’ve seen independent testing.
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