AMD launches 16C/32T Ryzen 9 7945HX3D APU: A Ryzen 9 7950HX3D for mobile with 128 MB L3 cache that makes its debut with the Asus Strix Scar 17 X3D

AMD has introduced a new member to its 4 nm Ryzen Zen 4 "Dragon Range" lineup today — the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D. The Ryzen 9 7945HX3D marks the introduction of 3D V-cache in a mobile processor.

AMD's 3D V-cache technology uses an additional L3 cache layer onto the existing topology of the CPU. AMD first tested waters with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The additional L3 cache did give the processor a significant advantage in gaming compared to the Intel Core i9-12900K, but at the cost of limited boost clocks and lack of overclocking.

We also saw AMD release 3D V-cache versions of the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Our tests revealed good gains in gaming and efficiency, although multi-core performance seemed limited compared to a Core i9-13900K.

Now, AMD is bringing the benefits of added L3 cache to mobile. The Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is essentially a desktop chip with 16 cores and 32 threads but with 128 MB of L3 cache. Like its desktop counterparts, the 3D V-cache is limited to only one of the CCDs (32 MB + 64 MB V-cache) while the other CCD sports only a 32 MB cache.

AMD mentions 144 MB cache in the slide below, but that includes 16 MB of L2 cache as well. The

The APU has a base clock of 2.3 GHz (against the 2.5 GHz in the non-X3D variant) and boosts up to 5.4 GHz. Similar to other Dragon Range HX parts, the Ryzen 9 79450HX3D features the Radeon 610M iGPU with 2 RDNA 2 compute units (CUs). 

What's interesting here is that while the Ryzen 9 7945HX is designed to operate at a TDP range between 55 W and 75 W+, the 7945X3D seems to be restricted to a 55 W+ envelope.

AMD showed a slide explaining how the 3D V-cache can help achieving higher fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at native 1080p High even at a constrained 40 W TDP in combination with an RTX 4090 Laptop GPU.

The company also dwelt on how the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is about 15% faster on average compared to the Ryzen 9 7945HX in selected games. 

Back during the Ryzen 9 7950X3D launch, AMD said that its chipset driver enables the Windows scheduler to utilize the CCD with the 3D V-cache whenever a game launch is detected. The Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is, for all intents and purposes, a Ryzen 9 7950X3D with lower clocks and TDP, so expect similar optimizations on mobile as well.

Availability: Starting with the Asus Strix Scar 17 X3D for now

AMD and Asus seem to be having great understanding lately as was evident from the Ryzen Z1 and Z1 Extreme APUs making their debut with the Asus ROG Ally. Once again, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D will only be initially available on the Asus Strix Scar 17 X3D, which is set to launch on August 22 this year.

Not much is officially known about the Strix Scar 17 X3D, but if the footnotes are anything to go by, expect configurations with 32 GB DDR5 RAM, 1 TB SSD, and an RTX 4090 Laptop GPU.

Pricing information is not available yet and neither have other OEMs announced intentions to feature the new Ryzen 9 7945HX3D. Things will hopefully start becoming clearer in the coming months.

Buy the Asus VivoBook Pro 15 with Ryzen 9 7940HS on Amazon