One of the key announcements from AMD’s CES 2025 presentation, held on January 6, was the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Both chips include two CCD chiplets with computing cores. However, contrary to gamers’ expectations, only one of the CCDs is equipped with additional 3D V-Cache memory, like previous generations of X3D processors. AMD explained why it did not provide each crystal with an additional cache.
Image Source: AMD
In a conversation with the HardwareLuxx portal, an AMD representative noted that using 3D V-Cache in two CCD units at once is not economically feasible. Moreover, such a solution would not bring significant benefits in gaming performance to justify the significant increase in the cost of such processors.
AMD has improved the design of the Ryzen 9000X3D chips in a different way. Additional cache memory is no longer placed on top of the CCD crystal, but below it. This approach ensured better heat removal from the cores, which had a positive effect on the chip’s clock speeds and also opened up opportunities for overclocking.
According to AMD representatives, there are no technical restrictions for creating chips with two 3D V-Cache cache memory crystals. The company even conducted internal tests of such processors. However, the manufacturer did not see significant practical advantages from such a configuration. Perhaps in the future, when 3D packaging technology becomes more affordable, AMD will return to the idea of using two 3D V-Cache crystals.
The Ryzen 9 9900X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D will go on sale in March. However, the company has not yet disclosed their cost.