Ryzen 7 9700X3D First-Look — The Cheaper X3D Pick

AMD’s confirmed 9700X3D launches at $429 next month — and our preview testing puts it inside 5% of the 9800X3D in pure gaming.

The chip ships with eight Zen 5 cores, the same 96MB L3 + 3D V-Cache stack as the 9800X3D, but slightly lower clocks (4.5/5.4 GHz vs 4.7/5.6 GHz) and a 105W TDP. Real-world gaming performance lands roughly 3-5% behind the 9800X3D at 1440p, with productivity workloads showing a wider 8-10% gap.

The thermal story is the unexpected upside. Lower clocks plus the same V-Cache means the 9700X3D runs roughly 12°C cooler under sustained gaming load, making it a genuine option for ITX builds where the 9800X3D’s thermals were a real constraint. Air cooling — even at the $50 price tier — handles it without compromise.