The Technical Workloads Where AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D/7950X3D CPUs Are Excellent

One of the most compelling technical computing applications for these AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D/7950X3D processors outside of gaming is for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) work such as with OpenFOAM. As we saw with the prior generation Ryzen 7 5800X3D and the AMD EPYC Milan-X server processors, OpenFOAM and other CFD software love the large CPU caches. The 7900X3D easily flew past the 7950X even for the OpenFOAM performance with the project's "drivaerFastback" model.

On a performance-per-dollar basis with current retail pricing, the 7900X provided the most value while the Ryzen 9 7950X3D proved to deliver the better performance-per-dollar over the 7950X.

The Ryzen 9 7900X3D and 7950X3D were not only providing much better performance for this CFD software but doing so in a much lower power envelope. The Ryzen 9 7900X3D had a 105 Watt peak compared to 162 Watts with the 7900X and the Ryzen 9 7950X3D peaked at 125 Watts compared to 189 Watts with the (slower) Ryzen 9 7950X! For those engaging in heavy repeated CFD workflows, the power-savings with the X3D provide for additional consideration in the value of these 3D V-Cache processors.

With larger mesh sizes for drivaerFastback, the Ryzen 9 7900X3D/7950X3D continued to perform much better than the 7900X/7950X with OpenFOAM. For hobbyists or those not wanting/able to make the leap to a Milan-X or Genoa server platform, these new AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D/7950X3D processors drive a nice bargain for having a performant desktop experience dealing with CFD workloads.

It's crazy with the Ryzen 9 7950X3D being by far the fastest and it pulling just around 73% the power of the Ryzen 9 7950X.