Digital hardware enthusiasts know that there is a niche category of “engineering sample processors” on the market. When it comes to engineering sample processors, novices often shy away, thinking they must be unstable or defective.
This perception is somewhat biased. Some late-stage engineering samples are almost identical to the final retail versions, and they often perform even better while being cheaper. As a result, these processors are popular among tech enthusiasts.
Here’s some good news related to this topic: a Ryzen 9 7950X3D engineering sample has recently been spotted, boasting a higher L3 cache than the final retail version.
Let’s briefly look at the specifications of the retail version of the Ryzen 9 7950X3D:
Released on January 4, 2023, and manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process, it has 16 cores and 32 threads. The L1 cache is 1MB, the L2 cache is 16MB, and the L3 cache is 128 MB. Its base clock is 4.2 GHz, and it can boost up to 5.7 GHz, with a TDP of 120W. Its suggested retail price is $699.
The retail version has an L3 cache of 128MB (see the image from AMD’s official website), but a recent engineering sample version reportedly has an L3 cache of 192MB, a full 64MB larger than the retail version. See Figures 2 and 3 for more details.
The reasons for this situation are currently being debated. One view is that this is a bug in the Windows system that caused a recognition error, but this possibility is relatively small. Apart from the Windows system, the CPU-Z detection results also show that the L3 cache of this processor is 192MB, not the 128MB of the official retail version.
Of course, this only indicates that the possibility that the L3 cache of this Ryzen 9 7950X3D engineering processor is 192MB due to software errors is relatively low, but it still cannot be completely ruled out.
Another possibility is that the L3 cache of the Ryzen 9 7950X3D engineering processor is indeed 192MB, which is the most anticipated situation. If this version becomes available for purchase, it would be a huge win.
So, is this possibility real? How likely is it? I think it’s quite likely because last year a Ryzen 9 5950X3D engineering processor was revealed, and its L3 cache was also 192MB, as shown above.
Therefore, this Ryzen 9 7950X3D engineering processor with a 192MB L3 cache is likely an early backup plan developed by AMD, which ultimately did not make it to mass production. This possibility is high.
Another possibility is that this processor could be an engineering sample of AMD’s upcoming server-grade EPYC 4004 series processor, equipped with a larger L3 cache.
Reading this, some friends, especially gamers, may be very excited, hoping to get their hands on this Ryzen 9 7950X3D engineering processor with a 192MB L3 cache. However, based on the information disclosed so far, the actual situation isn’t that optimistic.
- Although the possibility that the L3 cache of the Ryzen 9 7950X3D engineering processor is indeed 192MB is high, the information revealed is minimal and not fully confirmed.
- There are no disclosed productivity or gaming performance tests yet.
- Theoretically, a larger L3 cache is not always better. In most games, multiple cache pools can increase latency, which could result in reduced gaming performance rather than improved performance.
Therefore, everyone should hold a conservative and cautious attitude, as this information remains unverified with many doubts. I will share more relevant updates and leaks soon, so stay tuned.
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