The Evolution and Impact of AMD 3D V-Cache Technology: From Gaming Performance to Technical Computing

Abstract

The growing gap between processor performance and memory-access speed has made data movement an increasingly important constraint in modern computing systems. AMD introduced 3D V-Cache to address this problem by vertically integrating additional SRAM with the processor’s last-level cache. This review examines the technical development from EPYC server processor to general-purpose Ryzen X3D products. We pay special attention to the change from the initial cache-over-core configuration to the cache-under-core design used in Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The working characteristics such as working-set size, data reuse and cache sensitivity are used to evaluate the performance results of game and technical-computing. According to the results of the review, 3D V-cache has great advantages in the work that is sensitive to cache and the CPU is unable to cope with it. However, in the application that rarely reuses the main work and data, the improvement is very small. Generally speaking, the development of this technology not only increases the capacity of cache, but also shows that the working principle, advanced packaging, working frequency and heat dissipation management of cache are developing in a better direction.