Recently, new screenshots have revealed the existence of an upgraded version of the Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor. These CPUs are already well known for their 3D V-cache, which can bring a notable boost to gaming performance.
As seen in the screenshot shared by HXL, Windows Task Manager and CPU-Z both show a variant of the Ryzen 9 7950X3D with an extra 64MB of L3 cache, bringing the total up to 192MB. While some speculated that this might be a Windows issue or a problem with the supply chain, others suggested that the CPU could be an early engineering sample that AMD was experimenting with.
192MB L3 Cache 7950X3D??https://t.co/hof4XNRGYH pic.twitter.com/CuKyehpebf
— HXL (@9550pro) May 4, 2024
Interestingly, before AMD announced the Ryzen 9 7950X3D in 2023, Gamers Nexus visited the company's facility in Austin, Texas. During their visit, the team discussed the various setups tried by AMD, including samples with multiple 3D stacked cache dies. AMD even showed off an unannounced Ryzen 9 5950X3D with 192MB L3 cache, indicating that at least one such CPU exists.
As such, we wouldn't discard the possibility that this is an engineering sample that has somehow found its way outside of AMD labs. These prototypes are designed to be discarded or destroyed, but errors occur. Alternatively, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D with 192MB L3 cache could be a a misnamed engineering sample for AMD's future EPYC 4004 series, which are server-grade Zen 4 processors with 3D V-Cache for the mainstream AM5 socket.
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KitGuru says: In the end, we may never know if this is a prototype, the result of a bug, or the product of an accident.