AMD Ryzen Threadripper gaming CPUs could get 3D V-Cache, says a leak

If you believe two new hardware leaks in the last few days, there is a brand new one AMD Threadripper CPU on the go with 3D V-Cache. If true, that would mean AMD is combining its most powerful, high-clock-speed, high-core processors with the groundbreaking cache memory that has helped the company dominate the gaming CPU market.

Dominance is also the right word. The best gaming CPUs you can buy from AMD right now, like the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, feature 3D V-Cache technology that outperforms Intel’s best. These include the latest Intel Arrow Lake CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, which performs below average for gaming.

This particular rumor was sparked by a report on Videocardz, which received a tip from a reader who showed a manual for an Asus Pro motherboard and revealed a previously undocumented setting for enabling 3D V-Cache on Threadripper CPUs. There is currently no AMD Threadripper with 3D V-Cache, so this would (if correct) indicate a brand new version.

Following this report, a post on the Chiphell forums (in Chinese) appeared to confirm that an AMD Zen 5 Threadripper CPU with 3D V-Cache is coming to market, with user zhangzhonghao himself “checking the supply chain.” There are no further details, but Zhangzhonghao has the wherewithal to correctly predict AMD releases in the past, and just surfaced last week with some brand new AMD Radeon GPU leaks.

According to Zhangzhonghao, AMD also plans to integrate 3D V-Cache into future AMD Halo Strix processors, at least for laptops. Compared to a typical gaming PC, laptops are typically unpowered due to limited thermal potential for gamers. The introduction of 3D V-Cache could provide huge benefits by freeing up bandwidth and reducing latency to deliver smoother frame rates and enable gamers to play much more demanding games.

For now, this is all just a rumor – AMD hasn’t said anything about introducing new Threadripper CPUs or Halo Strix APUs with 3D V-Cache, at least for now. However, if the company plans to do so, it would further exacerbate Intel’s problems. Intel’s latest Arrow Lake CPU launch didn’t quite go according to plan, and after a bad year, an Intel buyout could be the next big story, especially if it’s another extremely capable high-end AMD CPU that Intel can’t seem to beat reaching the market.

We’ll wait and see what comes out in the next few months. In the meantime, check out our guide to the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, as AMD’s latest gaming CPU is coming soon and already looks well positioned to beat Intel’s brand new flagship Core Ultra 9 285K.