It’s official — AMD’s best gaming CPU is coming to laptops
AMD is bringing its 3D V-Cache tech to laptops, arriving first in the monstrous Asus Scar 17 gaming laptop.
MikeTyes
AMDWe don’t see a ton of innovation in the world of gaming CPUs, but AMD’s 3D V-Cache tech catapulted Team Red to the front of the best gaming CPU pack. And now, AMD is bringing that tech to laptops.
The AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is the first mobile processor sporting AMD’s 3D V-Cache tech, packing 144MB of cache on top of the chip to improve gaming performance. In addition, the processor comes with 16 cores, up to a 5.4GHz boost clock speed, and a 55-watt power design.
AMDAccording to AMD, 3D V-Cache shines even more in a mobile processor. We’ve seen it previously on chips like the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and more recently, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D. However, AMD claims that 3D V-Cache provides a 23% boost with a 40W power limit and only an 11% boost with a 70W limit, benefiting mobile processors more.
For gen-on-gen improvements, AMD claims the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is 15% faster than the base Ryzen 9 7945HX on average. That includes some minor jumps, like 7% in Final Fantasy 14 and 4% in DOTA 2, but also some massive gains, including a 44% improvement in both Cyberpunk 2077 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
AMDWe’ll have to wait for our own testing to see in AMD’s claims hold water, but even a 15% uplift on average would be welcome. We saw the base Ryzen 9 7945HX in action in our Asus Scar 17 review, and it managed to beat just about everything (including the monstrous 24-core Core i9-13980HX from Intel). Paired with a mobile RTX 4090, that laptop provides desktop levels of gaming performance, offering well over 100 frames per second (fps) in the most demanding games at 1080p.
No coincidence, AMD is debuting the new Ryzen 9 7945HX3D inside the Scar 17, which is slated to launch on August 22. Unfortunately, leakers spilled the beans a bit early on the processor and the laptop it’s arriving in. Now confirmed, the leak claims the updated Scar 17 will include similar specs as the model we saw earlier this year, including an RTX 4090.
With any new component announcement, it’s important to wait for third-party benchmarks to verify marketing claims. Although the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D may provide a 15% jump over the base processor, AMD conducted its testing at 1080p. Based on our testing of 3D V-Cache, it provides less of a benefit at higher resolutions, and in some games, it provides no benefit at all. It’s also worth noting that AMD mentioned Intel’s Core i9-13980HX in its marketing materials provided to the press, though it didn’t offer any comparative performance. We’ll have to see how the new chip stacks up once it’s available.
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Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn't run on a laptop, he…
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