AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D vs Intel Core i7-6700

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a high-end desktop processor from the Raphael series with 8 Zen 4 cores and SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading), allowing it to handle up to 16 threads simultaneously. After its announcement in January 2023 at CES in Las Vegas, it was launched in April 2023. Following the launch of the two top models, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, the third model was introduced, which offers significantly more gaming performance with the 3D V-Cache.

The CPU cores have a base clock of 4.2 GHz and can be boosted up to 5 GHz (single-core turbo). The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D features a CCD with 8 cores, which includes the fast 3D V-Cache. This differs significantly from the two Ryzen 9 models, as they have two CCDs, but only one of them can utilize the 3D V-Cache.

The performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is consistently good, although its multi-threaded performance suffers a bit due to the eight native compute cores. However, the real strength of the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D lies in gaming performance, where it excels. In tests, we see consistently high gaming performance, even surpassing that of an Intel Core i9-13900K.

In terms of power consumption, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D aligns with the other two models featuring 3D V-Cache, making the 8-core processor extremely power-efficient. In numbers, this means that the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is specified with a TDP of up to 120 watts. The PPT (Package Power Tracking) is also rated up to 162 watts. For comparison, an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is specified with 170 watts (TDP) or 230 watts (PPT).

Intel Core i7-6700

The Intel Core i7-6700 is a high-end quad-core desktop processor based on the Skylake architecture, which was announced in August 2015. The CPU, which is manufactured in a 14 nm process, runs at 3.4 up to 4.0 GHz (2 cores: 3.9 GHz, 4 cores: 3.7 GHz) and can execute up to 8 threads simultaneously thanks to Hyperthreading. Contrary to the Core i7-6700K, the i7-6700 does not have a free multiplier and can hardly be overclocked. 

Architecture

Intel uses Skylake to replace both Broadwell and Haswell and therefore once again uses one core design for all TDP classes. Several improvements of the Skylake architecture include bigger Out-to-Order-Buffer, optimizations for pre-fetching as well as bigger gains by Hyperthreading. However, the changes are small for a "Tock" – a new micro architecture – in general, so the per-MHz performance is only between 5-10 % (compared to Haswell) or less than 5 % higher (compared to Broadwell), respectively.

Performance

Even though the Core i7-6700 has a slightly lower clock than the old i7-4790 (3.6 GHz - 4.0 GHz), the performance is slightly better compared to the Haswell predecessor. Another 7 % faster is the top model i7-6700K. Even the most demanding applications and games are no problem for the high-end CPU.

Graphics

Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel HD Graphics 530 with 24 EUs (Execution Units), which is clocked at 350 - 1150 MHz. Compared to the HD Graphics 4600 (Haswell, 20 EUs), the performance is increased by around 25 percent. The overall GPU performance is still low-end, so modern games can, if at all, only be played smoothly with low settings. 

Power Consumption

Intel specifies the TDP with 65 Watts.