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Assuming the power is reported correctly it looks like an efficiency win:

> While the build times were similar between the 7950X and 7950X3D, with the latter the CPU power consumption was significantly lower.

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I'm assuming the vast majority of that benefit is just from the X3D chips having a lower stock TDP. You could achieve the same efficiency by just reducing the 7950X TDP to 120W in BIOS or Ryzen Master.

Yes, but this would reduce performance. The cache makes up for it whilst being able to run at a lower TDP.

Maybe but at that point you paid more for less

Not really. Chips are mostly factory overclocked these days. They dump in all that power to get the coveted #1 spot in the review charts. Turn on eco mode and you get 99% of the performance at a much nicer power limit.

Just pretend it’s 2013 and you got a chip with some nice overclocking potential you don’t really want to use because you don’t like heat or the noise it brings.

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