AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology may not be exclusive to the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and the rest of the company’s “X3D” processors. Tom Wassick, a semiconductor engineer, recently looked into the GPU die of one of AMD’s latest graphics cards, the Radeon RX 7900 XT, and discovered the same type of 3D V-Cache connection points that can be found in X3D products. The inclusion of 3D V-Cache will presumably enable greater gaming performance in future Radeon products, but some publications have pointed out that heat could be a worry, if AMD’s X3D chips are anything to go by.
From a Tom’s Hardware report:
We have no idea how 3D V-Cache would operate in a GPU application. But in theory, the main principles of 3D V-Cache should still apply. Having more cache capacity would enable faster processing of cache-sensitive workloads since the GPU has to make fewer trips to its slower GDDR6 memory.
Another problem AMD will have to deal with is thermals. We’ve seen this issue extensively on AMD’s Ryzen X3D processors, where the additional slab of cache hinders thermal dissipation, resulting in lower CPU frequencies and higher temperatures at the same time (in comparison to a non-X3D part). There’s a high likelihood AMD would deal with the same issues on 3D V-Cache GPUs, and be forced to reduce clock speeds to keep temperatures in check.
What else can you see? A linear array of "spots" that look remarkably like the keep out zones on X3D, and that are on the same 17-18 um pitch. Could they be considering stacked MCD functionality (or maybe they're something else)?
— Tom Wassick (@wassickt) January 27, 2023