If you needed more rumor spillage around AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D, well, dig in, because now we have a full high-res product shot of the box for the chip.
The leaked pic comes from VideoCardz, which regularly picks up GPU and CPU-related rumors, and the photo of the packaging clearly shows it’s a Ryzen 7 CPU.
As a quick refresher, the rumors around AMD’s next-gen 3D V-Cache processors have insisted for a long time now that we’ll only get the Ryzen 7 9800X3D to kick off, even though Team Red has another pair of Ryzen 9 CPUs as part of this first clutch of Zen 5 X3D releases.
They are the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and while typically you might expect the latter flagship to come out first, this time around, AMD is apparently pushing out the mainstream Ryzen 7 workhorse as the initial launch. (It was the other way around with Ryzen 7000X3D, with the Ryzen 9 processors arriving first, followed by the top-notch Ryzen 7800X3D later).
According to VideoCardz, the only packaging shot AMD is circulating is this pic for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, so the conclusion (add salt, naturally) is that this really is the only CPU due to be launched early in November by Team Red.
AMD recently confirmed that next-gen Ryzen X3D is arriving on November 7, so we can theoretically expect the Ryzen 9800X3D to go on sale then – in just two weeks’ time. We may see a reveal of the processor as soon as tomorrow, October 25, if other rumors are right.
Analysis: Boxing clever against Intel
It’s still possible that AMD could have a triple X3D launch up its sleeve, perhaps – or maybe something entirely different, even – but the odds seem to have very much settled on the initial offering being the Ryzen 9800X3D. Indeed, this isn’t the first time the Ryzen 7 box has been leaked, but this time we’ve got a very clear shot of it – complete with the assertion that there aren’t any Ryzen 9 box photos floating around.
AMD’s timing is notable if it is indeed set to reveal the Ryzen 9800X3D tomorrow, as is the word from the grapevine, mainly because Intel’s Core Ultra 200S (Arrow Lake desktop) processors go on sale later today.
Team Red looks to be doing a traditional bit of extracting the wind from its rival’s sails, and from that perspective, it also makes sense that the Ryzen 9800X3D should be first off the 3D V-Cache diving board. This is the CPU that most PC gamers are interested in, and the one that’ll make the biggest splash, and indeed dent in Intel’s hopes. The Ryzen 9800X3D is an excellent candidate to become the new best CPU for gaming – a title currently held by the 7800X3D, we should note – certainly based on some of the spec and performance leaks we’ve seen so far, anyway.
Not all of those leaks are positive, admittedly, but VideoCardz also highlights a post on X from leaker Hoang Anh Phu which claims that AMD is calling 9000X3D the ‘2nd-generation’ of 3D V-Cache. To clarify, it’s actually the third series of X3D chips, but this suggests the architectural changes are enough to qualify as a whole new generation compared to 7000X3D – and that we can anticipate major reworkings and presumably impressive gains as a result.
