AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Chip Teardown Reveals Shiny Blue 3D V-Cache Stack Under the Zen 5 CCD

Nov 7, 2024 at 03:00am EST
AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D has been torn apart to reveal its next-generation 3D V-Cache stack which lays underneath the Zen 5 CCD. 1

AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D has been torn apart to reveal its next-generation 3D V-Cache stack which lays underneath the Zen 5 CCD.

Chip Teardown Reveals The 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache Stack On The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU

Update [11/7/2024] - It looks like the shiny blue part of the die is the Zen 5 CCD itself while the gold part is the 3D V-Cache stack.

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The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D launches for retail today, but a brave individual went ahead and done a full chip tear down of his chip to unravel its 3D V-Cache mysteries. The user "万扯淡" on the social media platform, Weibo, posted a video in which he delids the Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU but doesn't stop there. He goes one step ahead and tears the whole CCD apart to see what's underneath.

Image Source: 万扯淡 (Weibo)

While delidding the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU with a delid tool is a pretty easy thing to do, it looks like the individual didn't have access to such a tool and instead resorted to a heat gun to melt away the solder under the IHS and then take it apart. Upon delidding the chip, we can see the CCD & the IO die, which are the only two chiplets used on this specific SKU. We have previously posted a delid shot of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D which looks remarkably similar to the 9700X which is to be expected.

Since you can't see the 3D V-Cache stack or the CCD without removing the protective shield over the die, the user took a screw to rip open the CCD which first revealed the Zen 5 CCD layers. The CCD was further punctured through to reveal the shiny blue 3D V-Cache stack which lays under the CCD this time. The user compared it to an already dissected 7800X3D which has the shiny gold 3D V-Cache stack on top of the CCD.

Image Source: 万扯淡 (Weibo)

With this new 3D V-cache stacking approach, AMD improved the thermal headroom of its Zen 5 X3D CPUs, allowing for higher clock speeds and delivering full overclocking capabilities. There's a reason why the Ryzen 7 9800X3D performs better than the 9700X even though the former runs at lower clock speeds. Now there are reports that AMD might be investigating more advanced X3D packaging techniques, though time will tell if we will see those in action.

With that said, 3D V-Cache has been a game changer ever since it was introduced with the 5800X3D and the 9800X3D continues to live up to its name as the fastest gaming chip on the planet.

About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.

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