AMD Silently Releases the Ryzen 5 5500X3D CPU

A little over a year has passed since we last heard rumors about AMD releasing a sub-$200 chip for price-conscious gamers, the Ryzen 5 5500X3D for AM4. Well those rumors recently became reality as leaker @Zed__Wang on X spotted it on AMD’s website. The “new” AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a six-core, twelve-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture using TSMC’s 7 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3 GHz with boost speeds up to 4 GHz (the old 5600X3D runs 3.3 GHz base and 4.4 GHz boost clocks), with a 105 W power budget. The processor features 384 KB of L1 cache, 3 MB of L2 cache, and a substantial 96 MB of L3 cache.

The 5500X3D’s main selling point is its 3D V-Cache technology combined with AM4 socket compatibility for existing systems. If you already have an AM4 system and aren’t ready for a complete upgrade, the 5500X3D could be worth considering as a drop-in performance boost. The decision will largely depend on pricing when it becomes available since currently it isn’t yet listed on any e-commerce websites. For new builds, a modern AM5 processor like the Ryzen 5 7600X or 9600X would be a better choice, offering more future upgrade paths.