AMD just mentioned an as yet unreleased Ryzen X3D chip that could become the budget gaming CPU of champions

The ultimate gaming chip on a budget? That's what we were hoping for out of the Ryzen 5 5600X3D, which did live up to the hype, except it only launched in a handful of Micro Center stores. Now, it looks like AMD might be launching another promising mid-range chip in the Ryzen 5 9600X3D, though I'm not holding my breath for a global launch just yet.

The Ryzen 5 9600X3D has been spotted in no less than AMD's own driver notes (spotted by MelodicWarrior on X, via WCCFTech). The chip is mentioned within the SI driver for the Radeon AI Pro R9700, included in a list of all compatible processors with this specific driver package.

The driver page notes four CPUs ending in X3D, three that we knew of before today: "AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D / Ryzen 9 9900X3D / Ryzen 7 9800X3D / Ryzen 5 9600X3D".

That 'X3D' suffix denotes the use of AMD's 3D V-Cache technology on the chip. This sees it stack a chiplet containing L3 cache stuffed below (previous versions of 3D V-Cache had this above) the chiplet containing the cores, known as the CCD. The benefit of this extra cache is pretty huge in games, which tend to benefit from rapid access to local cache more so than many other applications.

We cannot totally confirm that this chip exists. Nor if it does, it will actually be released to the public. Nor if it is, it will actually be released to large numbers of the public. There's a chance it only heads out within PCs made by system integrators (SIs), or, like the Ryzen 5 5600X3D, only to the DIY market in specific regions or retailers.

That's because this chip would be manufactured using leftover chiplets from other Ryzen X3D chips that didn't make the grade. Though its spotter on X suggests it will launch to SIs first and later the DIY market, towards the end of the year. At least we can make some assumptions about what a Ryzen 5 9600X3D might look like if it were to see the light of day.

The existing Ryzen 5 9600X contains six cores, honed out of the Zen 5 architecture. It has access to 32 MB of L3 cache, a base clock of 3.9 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.4 GHz.

Existing Ryzen 9000-series X3D chips don't see a dramatic drop in clock speed for the use of 3D V-Cache, unlike their predecessors. This is one of the key improvements with the newer 3D V-Cache chips. In fact, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D maintains the same speeds as its non-3D V-Cache version. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D boosts only 100 MHz lower than the Ryzen 9 9900X.

By that logic, we can expect to see clock speeds largely maintained between the 9600X and the proposed 9600X3D, which is good news for gaming performance. The even better news is that we should expect another 64 MB slice of L3 cache loaded under the existing six-core CCD, for a total of 96 MB.

That's a lot of rapidly accessible L3 cache for a mid-range processor. The impact of which should be huge on gaming performance. Our pals at Tom's Hardware managed to snag a Ryzen 5 5600X3D to test in 2023 and found it easily outperformed the Ryzen 5 5600X in games and very nearly reached the lofty performance of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Our Nick also tested the Ryzen 7 5700X3D, which is an 8-core chip, but recommends it for its affordability and top-tier performance.

All promising signs for the Ryzen 5 9600X3D. Now, if only AMD would give us a more promising sign that this chip is set to launch anytime soon. Lisa Su, Frank Azor—any news you'd like to share?