AMD's best gaming CPU ever will be released on February 14! Oh... Wait... No, that was a mistake. But good news, the new 3D V-cache chip will inexplicably support overclocking! Oh... Wait... No, that was a mistake too.

In other words, this is getting ridiculous. We've been waiting for AMD to announce their new gaming-focused AM5 processor (open in new tab) ever since we sat down with the design team in a Texas hotel and asked them when they were going to fuse a bunch of extra cache into the new chip.

And as you know, AMD doesn't seem to be taking this announcement seriously at all.

A few weeks ago, there was talk of a February 14 release date on AMD's website (opens in new tab), but that turned out to be wrong and was quickly removed. Then yesterday it was discovered that all three of the new Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs are listed as "Unlocked for Overclocking" on the product page. [This was surprising, given that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D (open in new tab) was launched with a lower clock than the previous model in the Ryzen 5000 series and was completely shut out of the overclocking fun. Well, not completely.

We saw people overclocking to 5.14 GHz with the BCLK (opens in new tab) setting on very expensive motherboards, but traditional overclocking is still locked in. According to our review, the $450 CPU (recently on sale for $335) is "a technically elegant and efficient CPU that delivers on its promise: the fastest gaming processor you can cram into an AM4 motherboard and the relative ubiquity of the AM4 platform. Given the relative ubiquity of the AM4 platform, it is still a very effective chip.

Yes, this was a bit of a red herring.

It would have been theoretically possible for AMD to enable some overclocking with the Ryzen 9 7950X3D (open in new tab) and 7900X3D (open in new tab). One CPU would have a 3D V-cache (which would reduce voltage and clock speed), and the other would be exactly the same as a non-X3D Zen 4 chip.

Apparently the way it works with dual CCD CPUs is that the Windows and AMD drivers are smart enough to recognize the appropriate compute chip for the main application being run (opens in new tab). Does software favor higher clock speeds? Choose a standard CCD. Does a huge cache memory provide greater benefit?

The fact that CCDs are so isolated in OS thinking means that, in theory, if you overclock a standard CCD to a high clock speed, you can get more benefit from that die to the associated software without touching the 3D V cache die. [However, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D (open in new tab) uses a single CCD, as does the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, so overclocking outside of BCLK chicanery is not expected.

It remains to be seen when these new processors will be available, but I myself expect a February release. I just hope that the next announcement will include the correct date.