AMD Ryzen 5 9600X3D leak shows 3D V-Cache coming to budget gaming CPUs

If you’ve been waiting for AMD’s 3D V-Cache magic to hit a more affordable CPU, your time might be coming soon. The Ryzen 5 9600X3D recently showed up unexpectedly in the support list for AMD’s new Radeon AI R9700 graphics card.

First spotted by MelodicWarrior on X, the leak suggests AMD is prepping a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 5 chip built on “Granite Ridge” that includes the company’s second-generation 3D V-Cache.

That’s 64 MB of vertical cache stacked on top of the usual 32 MB, for a total of 96 MB of L3. It’s the same performance-boosting tech seen in higher-end chips like the 7800X3D, just at a likely lower price point.

A mainstream gaming CPU with serious cache

Expected specs point to boosting clocks up to 5.4 GHz and a 65-watt TDP. That balance of speed and efficiency could make it a solid pick for budget builds, especially with DDR5-5600 support and compatibility with AM5 motherboards.

Let’s not forget that Intel’s Core Ultra 7 265KF just dropped to $229, and AMD’s rumored 9600X3D could directly challenge chips like the i5-14600K and Core Ultra 5 245K.

There’s still the question of how long a 6-core chip will hold up as more modern games lean toward 8-core recommendations. But AMD is betting that the extra cache will give it an edge in today’s gaming workloads even if the core count isn’t top-tier.

Speaking of launch, AMD’s Ryzen 5 9600X3D will likely see retail launch later this year. There’s no official word just yet.