If two new hardware leaks are to be believed over the last few days, there’s a brand new AMD Threadripper CPU on its way with 3D V-Cache. If true, that would mean that AMD is combining its most powerful high-core, high clock speed processors with the game-changing cache memory that has helped the company dominate the gaming CPU market.
Dominance is the right word, too. The best gaming CPUs that you can buy from AMD right now, like the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, include the 3D V-Cache technology that beats the best from Intel. That includes the latest Intel Arrow Lake CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K which underperforms for gaming.
This particular rumor was sparked by a report on Videocardz, who received a tipoff from a reader showing a manual for an Asus Pro motherboard, disclosing a previously undocumented setting for enabling 3D V-Cache on Threadripper CPUs. Right now, there isn’t an AMD Threadripper that has a 3D V-Cache, so this would point (if it were correct) at a brand new release.
Off the back of that report, a post on the Chiphell forums (in Chinese) seemed to confirm that an AMD Zen 5 Threadripper CPU with 3D V-Cache is coming, with user zhangzhonghao “checking the supply chain” themselves. There’s no other detail, but zhangzhonghao has got form for correctly predicting AMD releases in the past, popping up just last week with some brand new AMD Radeon GPU leaks.
According to zhangzhonghao, AMD is also planning on integrating 3D V-Cache into future AMD Halo Strix processors, at least for laptops. Laptops are typically unpowered for gamers compared to a typical gaming PC, due to the restricted thermal potential. Introducing 3D V-Cache could offer huge advantages, freeing up bandwidth and reducing latency to help deliver smoother frame rates and allow gamers to play much more demanding games.
Right now, this is all just rumor – AMD hasn’t said a thing about introducing new Threadripper CPUs or Halo Strix APUs with 3D V-Cache, at least for the moment. If the company is planning to, however, it’d further add to Intel’s problems. Intel’s latest Arrow Lake CPU launch hasn’t gone quite to plan, and off the back of a bad year, an Intel buyout might be its next big story, especially if yet another hugely capable, high-end AMD CPU that Intel can’t seem to beat reaches the market.
We’ll wait and see what launches in the next few months. In the meantime, check out our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D guide, as AMD’s latest gaming CPU is launching in imminently, and it already seems well placed to beat Intel’s brand new Core Ultra 9 285K flagship.