AMD has unveiled the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, the world's first laptop processor featuring stacked 3D V-Cache technology, boasting an impressive 128MB of L3 cache.
The Ryzen 9 7945HX3D packs 16 Zen 4 cores and 32 threads, divided into two CPU chiplets, each with eight cores, alongside an I/O die. One of the CPU chiplets is equipped with 64MB of stacked 3D V-Cache, resulting in a total of 128MB of L3 cache. This design closely mirrors the configuration found in the Ryzen 9 7950X3D desktop processor. Sporting a TDP of 55W and boost clocks reaching up to 5.4GHz, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D promises impressive performance for demanding tasks.
AMD's innovative 3D V-Cache technique was initially introduced with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D last year, presenting an additional 64MB of L3 cache on top of the CPU chiplet. This technology enhances gaming performance, with the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D boasting an average performance improvement of over 15% in games compared to the 'regular' Ryzen 9 7945HX, which lacks 3D V-Cache but shares similar specifications.
The Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is set to hit the market on August 22, exclusively featured in the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17. AMD has indicated that this processor will remain exclusive to the laptop "for the foreseeable future," leaving the possibility of its appearance in other laptops uncertain.
Technical Specifications:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D
- Architecture: Zen 4, TSMC 5nm
- Cores/Threads: 16C/32T
- Boost Clock: 5.4GHz
- L2 Cache: 16MB
- L3 Cache: 128MB (64MB on-die + 64MB 3D V-Cache)
- TDP: 55W+
While the original 2023 ROG Strix SCAR 17 came equipped with AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors, the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is truly in a league of its own. It leverages the power of AMD 3D V-Cache technology, a stacking of extra ultra-high-speed L3 cache vertically on top of one of the two core compute dies (CCD). This extra cache enables the eight cores to perform certain calculations quickly and efficiently, notably in gaming. For situations where increasing CPU frequency simply doesn't show significant performance gains, 3D V-Cache technology holds the potential to unlock extra compute power.
When combined with top-tier graphics like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU, the new AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D processor is an average of 20% faster than the Ryzen 9 7945HX across select titles. AMD Precision Boost Overdrive is also fully unlocked on this machine, a BIOS setting that allows gamers to overclock the CPU even further.
This new class of power is supported by the same ROG Intelligent Cooling ecosystem that keeps other Strix laptops performing at the top of their game. Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal has been applied to the GPU to offer up to 17X-better thermal conductivity than traditional pastes, while a full-cover vapor chamber provides next-level cooling performance not just to crucial chips like the CPU and GPU, but other components like the voltage regulator modules (VRMs). With 43.3% coverage of the total motherboard area, the vapor chamber on the 2023 Strix Scar 17 X3D is the best ROG Intelligent Cooling
