AMD’s purported Ryzen 5 7600X3D has again been mentioned on the rumor mill, and the theoretical 3D V-Cache addition to what’s now Team Red’s last-gen CPU range has been given a potential price that sounds tempting – but there’s also some disappointing news for would-be buyers.
In the latest ‘Broken Silicon’ episode from Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), the YouTuber backs up a previous rumor aired on X last week that the Ryzen 7600X3D (six-core CPU) is due in early September. (As an interesting sidenote, the 7600X3D was bubbling around the grapevine as far back as 2022 – so it may have been in the works for a long time, and we’ll come back to that).
MLID believes (add salt now) that the Ryzen 7600X3D is set to release inside a month, probably in the first half of September, and a source at a distributor indicated that it’ll have a 65W TDP and a price tag of $249 in the US (and presumably in line with that elsewhere).
However, there are a couple of things to note here, the first of which is that price is not yet finalized – this is just what AMD is planning at the moment. So, it could be subject to some last-minute tuning, by the sound of things – and the MSRP might end up higher, but it’s likely to come in under $300, whatever happens.
The second point of interest is the source suggests that, at least initially, the Ryzen 7600X3D will be mostly supplied to PC makers, rather than sold directly to consumers as a standalone chip (referred to as the DIY market). So, if you’re hoping to buy one as an upgrade – and not part of a new PC – then stock might be thin on the ground, but as ever, sprinkle seasoning aplenty with everything we’re talking about here.
A bucketful of (plausible) theorizing
The fact that two leakers have suggested AMD is about to spring the Ryzen 5 7600X3D on us lends weight to this speculation, and MLID seems fairly convinced based on talking to that source at a distributor. A further notion advanced is that the plan may be to discontinue the Ryzen 5800X3D, so the 7600X3D would be a replacement, perhaps, with production of the 5800X3D possibly winding down already, paving the way for a budget Zen 4 X3D chip instead.
As the YouTuber also acknowledges, this brings up another possibility here. Remember that Ryzen 9000X3D processors were rumored to be coming out early, maybe in September 2024? Well, the latest gossip on that front is AMD has pushed back these 9000X3D chips to early 2025, and so – theorizing cap on again – the result of this ‘delay’ of Ryzen 9000X3D silicon may be the need to push something 3D V-Cache-related out, so that might be said Ryzen 7600X3D.
To extend the theorizing, a temptingly affordable price point is being mulled as a kind of ‘peace offering’ to placate those disappointed with Ryzen 9000’s gaming performance, which is plenty of folks. (Although a freshly arrived patch for Windows 11 does help with this – just not with Zen 5’s generational uplift for frame rates in PC games, where it barely moves the needle).
Furthermore, we must remember Intel’s Arrow Lake launch is coming soon, as these next-gen desktop processors are rumored for October, and so AMD might feel it must counter that in another way, if not 9000X3D. (Also note that Team Blue has its own problems with placating consumers right now – much bigger ones it has to be said).
Ryzen 9000X3D may have been delayed to give Team Red more time to ensure it offers enough of a generational uplift for gaming, in order to remove any bad taste left in the mouths of PC gamers after the vanilla Ryzen 9000 launch. This seems a distinct possibility, particularly considering that X3D chips are all about gaming, and specifically designed to be performant in PC games – so the importance of the 9800X3D in particular can’t be understated.
The worry is that the Ryzen 9000X3D delay may be more substantial, given the need to draft in the Ryzen 7600X3D – possibly from off the backburner from way back, as we mentioned before – as a kind of emergency measure, to keep things ticking over after the Ryzen 9000 launch stumbled and fell (certainly for gamers). However, it’ll be a real shame if the 7600X3D is mostly OEM-only, and the average consumer struggles to find one on the shelves – but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Time’s going to tell pretty swiftly if these leakers are right, as we’ll be hearing about the Ryzen 7600X3D in the next couple of weeks if it’s real – and finding out if this really will be one of the best gaming CPUs you can (hopefully) buy in 2024.
