5700X vs 5800X3D which is better? AMD has released some phenomenal CPUs over the last few years, and these CPUs on the list today are no exception. These two CPUs differ vastly on paper, especially since the 5800X3D features the all-new 3D V-Cache technology. AMD boasts some serious performance gains to be had from this technology. We’re going to find out if those claims are true in our Ryzen 7 5700X vs Ryzen 7 5800X3D article.

If you’d like to know more about AM5 or Zen 4, we have articles on those.

5700X vs 5800X3D: specifications

When comparing PC components or components of any kind, it’s important to take a look at them both comparatively to determine what kind of performance you should expect from them, and what type of use case they fit into. Some examples of CPU specifications would be core count, cache size and core speed.

5700X

The Ryzen 7 5700X is one of the CPUs AMD will release on April 4 2022. This CPU is designed to replace the Ryzen 7 3700X and offer a big step up in performance, but how will it fare against the 5800X3D?

The specifications for the Ryzen 7 5700X are as follows:

8 cores
16 threads
Boost clock 4.6GHz
Base clock 3.4GHz
L1 cache 512KB
L2 cache 4MB
L3 cache 36MB
Default TDP 65W
Socket AM4

5800X3D

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a brand new CPU within the new Zen 3 rehash. The 5800X3D will be bringing with it a 3D cache to help vastly improve the cache capacity whilst retaining access speeds. We have seen projections against AMD and Intel’s current flagship CPUs (5900X and 12900K) and from where we sit it looks like a serious contender.

The specs of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D are as follows.

8 cores
16 threads
Boost clock 4.5GHz
Base clock 3.4GHz
L1 cache 512KB
L2 cache 4MB
L3 cache 96MB
Default TDP 105W
Socket AM4

Ryzen 7 5700X vs Ryzen 7 5800X3D: specification comparison

Here we will compare the Ryzen 7 5700X vs Ryzen 7 5800X3D head-to-head and analyze the on-paper specifications of the two. This should aid you in making a well-informed decision when shopping for your next PC component.

Core count

Both CPUs on our list today have the same number of CPU cores.

A CPU with a higher core count will be better at multitasking natively and will have little trouble chewing through applications that support multi-core processors fully. The more CPU cores you have, the more computations you can handle at any one time. This is especially beneficial to heavy video-editing/workstation applications.

Thread count

Both CPUs on the list have the same number of threads.

Both of the CPUs support SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading). This is AMD’s version of multithreading. This is a technology that allows one CPU core to process and execute two instructions simultaneously. This means that the operating system is able to utilize your CPU as if it had double the number of physical cores. The collection of cores and threads are labelled logical processors by operating systems.

These threads are known as V-cores and are virtual because they do not physically exist or occupy space on the CPU die. These virtual cores have to share resources with the physical cores and suffer from slower processing speeds as a result.

This is only true for applications that can fully take advantage of multithreaded CPUs but in this day and age, most do. However, some older applications may struggle to utilize this technology.

SMT can be complicated, if you want to know more about SMT you can read our in-depth page on SMT.

Core speeds

The Ryzen 7 5700X has a higher boost clock of 4.6GHz.

Core speed is a measure of how many cycles a CPU can complete per second. A CPU cycle is known as an instruction cycle and is comprised of three actions: fetch, decode and execute. These actions are what make up the fundamentals of CPU operations.

Generally, the faster a CPU boost speed, the better the CPU will be (discounting generation). The faster your CPU can complete a cycle then the more cycles you can complete in a second, meaning more calculations.

Not all clock speed was created equally, however, and it all depends on the size of the transistors in your CPU. This is a measurement known as IPC, and we’re gonna skip on the complexities for now, but if you want to know more we outlined IPC in our 5800X vs 5800X3D article.

Cache

The 5800X3D has a much larger cache capacity compared to the 5700X.

A CPU’s cache is essentially an extension of the system’s RAM and it acts as backup storage for memory transference. The cache is arranged primarily into three levels in today’s CPU architecture. These cache levels are arranged as follows:

Level one cache is built into the CPU closest to the CPU’s cores and has blisteringly fast access speeds but also the smallest capacity. This is reserved for vital data that is most frequently accessed by the CPU

Level two cache is a nice middle ground, with median capacity and median speed, reserved for the less vital data

Level three cache is where most of your frequently accessed data is stored such as programs and execution paths. This has the largest capacity in comparison to the other two levels but is also much slower.

2D vs 3D cache

2D cache is the standard cache that comes with today’s CPUs, This is stacked laterally with silicone dies allowing for more space for each cache chiplet. The issue with each cache chiplet being stacked horizontally is the massive surface area requirements, severely limiting the number of chiplets you can fit into a footprint. But with a 3D cache that all changes for the better.

The 3D cache is not stacked laterally but vertically all thanks to new 3D printing technology, hence the term 3D cache. This drastically increases the number of chiplets you can cram into an area of any given size, thus resulting in much larger cache capacities without sacrificing access speeds as they’re part of the same block.

3D Cache is much better regardless of the CPU overclocking limitations it may present.

TDP

The 5700X has a significantly lower TDP.

TDP stands for thermal design power and is the maximum amount of thermal energy a component can output under normal operating conditions. Generally, we like to think of CPUs with higher TDPs as more powerful but sometimes, they’re simply just less efficient. This isn’t the case this time, however.

Lower TDP is better in general for thermals, that’s why we’ve given the 5700X the edge here. If you want to keep your CPU’s temperature under control, you need to get a cooler that is capable of dissipating the same or larger amounts of thermal energy than your CPU’s maximum output.

This is especially true if you plan on overclocking your CPU, as overclocking drastically increases the TDP, this is due to the presence of increased voltage.

Socket

Both CPUs on our list belong to the same CPU socket.

A socket can be thought of as a simple shape, only a CPU matching that socket will fit it.

AMD has kept the AM4 socket in use for over five years now, and with the release of AM5 around the corner, AM4 is starting to show all of its technical limitations.

5700X vs 5800X3D Benchmarks

We’ll cover this section when we get a hold of both the 5700X and 5800X3D

Results

The 5800X3D is clearly the better choice here. AMD attributed a 15% in performance over the 5900X in its proprietary benchmarks. With its advanced 3D V-cache and its much larger cache size, it is way more suited to general day-to-day and heavy gaming applications. If you’re looking at upgrading to any one of these CPUs based on performance alone, we would suggest the 5800X3D/

Price

There’s a significant price difference between the two CPUs

The 5800X3D is said to cost $449 with a cost per core of $56. And the 5700X is said to cost $299, with a cost per core of $37.

The 5700X is obviously magnitudes cheaper than the 5800X3D, and that’s absolutely important if you’re operating on a tighter budget. Is all that money worth it for the 5800X3D? Only time will tell when we get our hands on them and manage to benchmark them both.

You might be better off spending the extra money on more RAM or a GPU upgrade.

Final word

Our 5700X vs 5800X3D article determines that the 5800X3D is the better of the two. It has a larger, faster cache and will be far more suited to gaming and day to day workloads. If you’re on a budget however then the 5700X is a great choice – it’s definitely the new best budget CPU on the market. There are no bad choices here, just different budgets and use cases.

The 5700X is more suited to light gaming and light workloads, whereas the 5800X3D is better suited to heavier workloads and more intensive gaming sessions. Look out for the benchmarks that will be posted as soon as we get our hands on the CPUs in question. This was our Ryzen 7 5700X vs Ryzen 7 5800X3D article.