AMD is 'working actively on really cool differentiators' to make the next generation of 3D V-cache 'even better'

HardwareProcessorsAMD is ‘working actively on really cool differentiators’ to make the next generation of 3D V-cache ‘even better’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: AMD)

Render of AMD 3D V-Cache technology

While at Computex 2024 in Taiwan, we chatted for a while with Donny Woligroski, AMD’s senior technical marketing manager. When we got around to talking about plans for3D V-cacheversions of Zen 5 chips, he was especially enthusiastic about the technology.

“The X3D stuff, we have a lot to say about it. The best part about it is we’re not just resting on laurels. We’re improving what we can do with X3D, it’s really exciting and I’m super looking forward to talking to people about that.”

Woligroski couldn’t go into any specifics, but he did continue talking about what AMD is doing regarding 3D V-cache. “It’s not like, hey, we’ve also added X3D to a chip. We are working actively on really cool differentiators to make it even better. We’re working on X3D, we’re improving it.”

While that might all sound like bluster about nothing, one can’t expect AMD to say “Nah, we’ll just use the same stuff as last time” or anything like that. At least, it’s said that it’s working on making it better. The obvious questions to ask are what could those differentiators be and how can the current 3D V-cache be made better?

One possible answer to the first question is that AMD could be working on implementing different sizes of 3D V-cache, to increase the level of differentiation between the various X3D models. At the moment, no matter whether it’s aRyzen 5 5600X3D,Ryzen 9 7950X3D, or anEPYC 9684Xwith 1GB of L3 cache, the 3D V-cache slice is always 64MB in size.

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3D V-cache gets bonded to one or more CCDs in AMD X3D models(Image credit: AMD)

A delidded AMD Ryzen 9000 series processor held in a hand, showing the two CCD and one IOD chiplets

Or it might be a case that AMD is considering bonding smaller L3 slices to lower-tier Ryzen X3D chips, just to make the Ryzen 9 versions stand out even more.

But how to make it better, in general? Well, in Ryzen and EPYC CPUs, the additional slice of L3 cache is bonded to the surface of one or more CCDs (Core Complex Dies). Not only do the extra transistors in this cache increase the power consumption, but they also increase the thermal resistance of the whole chip, forcing AMD to reduce the boost clocks on X3D versions of the regular CPUs.

Computex 2024

(Image credit: Jacob Ridley)

The Taipei 101 building and Taipei skyline in Taiwan.

Doing so could potentially allow for a greater amount of cache to be stuffed into the same area or possibly still have 64MB but in a thinner die. That would trap less heat, meaning the boost clocks could be set a little higher than normal.

Whatever AMD has up its sleeves for the third generation of 3D V-cache, we probably won’t hear anything about Ryzen X3D models until much later in the year. Zen 4 was first announced in August 2022 and the first X3D model, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, made an appearance almost six months later, in February 2023.

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