AMD likes to construct to a crescendo. As it’s proven since 2016, when its first Ryzen CPUs launched, the corporate progresses incrementally however steadily—till Team Red sits all the way in which on the high.
That time has come for its 3D V-Cache processors, which sport further L3 cache to spice up gaming efficiency. When AMD launched its first variant into the wild, that AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D shot previous Intel’s finest in gaming—however solely gaming. Ryzen 7000X3D chips pulled extra even with Team Blue, however nonetheless couldn’t pull forward in some key benchmarks.
But now, with the discharge of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, AMD can take the crown for finest chip for each gaming and productiveness duties. This $699 16-core, 32-thread slots above final August’s Ryzen 9 9950X, which beforehand served as the corporate’s premier chip. Accompanying the 9950X3D onto retail cabinets immediately is the $599 12-core, 24-thread 9900X3D.
This consequence appeared seemingly when the primary Ryzen 9000X3D processor dropped final November, with the $479 8-core, 16-thread 9800X3D simply trouncing Intel’s finest chips (each present and final gen). But now, because the benchmark numbers present, it’s confirmed.
Because the run-up to this March 12 launch has been full of {hardware} releases, we on the PCWorld crew have solely had a short while in our labs to provide the 9950X3D a spin. But between my colleague Adam Patrick Murray’s preliminary numbers and different opinions from across the internet, the story’s fairly clear—this chip slaps exhausting, as my boss Brad Chacos mentioned in his 9800X3D write-up.
Let’s dive into the highlights.
(For an extended dialogue in regards to the 9950X3D, try this week’s episode of our {hardware} present, The Full Nerd, embedded beneath.)
1. It’s a productiveness beast (and nonetheless a gaming monster)
For this third technology of 3D V-Cache CPUs, AMD’s top-tier X3D processor totally ties collectively the perfect in gaming and productiveness efficiency. Productivity duties have been a standing weak point for this subset of Ryzen CPUs, even with final gen’s enhancements. This time round, no qualifiers are wanted.
We’ll begin with a take a look at how the Ryzen 9 9950X stacks up in opposition to its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. For productiveness, our benchmarks confirmed enhancements as excessive as 19 %, with the typical about 14 %:
If you’re a Premiere Pro particular person, you’ll see the smallest achieve in comparison with last-gen’s finest X3D chip—just a bit beneath 5 %. But for different hefty workloads, you’ll see as a lot as 11 % in Cinebench 2024’s multithreaded check, 16 to 19 % in Blender, and 16 % in Photoshop.
Meanwhile, in video games, our preliminary benchmarks confirmed round a 10 % common throughout the 4 titles we ran. While that will sound lackluster, websites with a broader range of games benchmarks present a mean nearer to 16 %, with some notable variance between titles.
But how about in comparison with the 9950X, AMD’s finest non-3D V-Cache chip? This new 9950X3D holds even with the 9950X in productiveness benchmarks. For concrete numbers, you possibly can pop into Paul Alcorn’s assessment over at Tom’s Hardware. At inventory settings, the 9950X3D exhibits an average improvement of about 1.5 percent throughout Cinebench’s multithreaded check, POV-Ray, V-Ray, Blender, Handbrake, and y-cruncher over the usual 9950X, or nonetheless inside the margin of error. So the 2 ship related content material creation efficiency.
As for gaming, evaluating the 9950X and 9950X3D exhibits the latter coming in with an enormous leap in efficiency at 1080p. (Reminder: Reviewers check at decrease resolutions to raised consider CPU efficiency, as decrease resolutions shift the workload from the GPU to the CPU.) Tom’s Hardware places these good points at a mean of 30 % throughout 16 video games. It’s a giant win.
All in all, for those who’ve been trying to get excessive efficiency throughout the board, the 9950X3D is actually AMD’s flagship client half—no caveats.
2. The 9950X3D continues the Intel beatdown
As we lined in our overview of the 9800X3D final November, AMD’s mid-range X3D chip put the ache on Intel’s finest client chip, the Core Ultra 9 285Okay. My boss Brad Chacos sums it up nicely right here:
“In the 4 video games we examined, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D runs a mean of 25 % sooner than the 285Okay at 1080p decision. That’s an enormous unheard-of gulf, and it’s really being dragged down by the ends in Total War Warhammer 3, which runs equally on each processor we examined. If you are taking that out, the 9800X3D runs a whopping 30 % sooner than Intel’s greatest canine. It’s 45 % sooner than the 285Okay in Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing off.”
While reviews across the web present almost equal efficiency between the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the combination of superior gaming and productiveness efficiency is what catapults the 9950X3D above different CPUs. In truth, Intel’s present flagship half isn’t just outdone by AMD’s finest components, however its personal last-gen processor, the Core i9-14900Okay.
The Core Ultra 9 285Okay solely manages to carry its personal in choose productiveness benchmarks, the place it ekes simply previous the 9950X3D—so you probably have particular workloads, it might nonetheless be the higher alternative. But for uncooked numbers, the distinction is small when the 9950X3D is left at inventory settings—and it just about disappears once you flip on PBO for the 9950X3D, which supplies it an added enhance.
3. But you do pay much less for Intel…and the AMD 9800X3D
Intel does have one benefit, which is value. The MSRP for the 285Okay is $589, or $110 lower than the $699 9950X3D. That’s a large chunk of money that might be put towards a greater motherboard, nicer energy provide, or extra RAM.
However, it’s not the one chip with a value benefit. AMD’s personal Ryzen 7 9800X3D sports activities an MSRP of $479. As an 8-core, 16-thread CPU, it punches exhausting for its weight, provided that its gaming efficiency is aggressive with the 9950X3D and typically even beats the dearer CPU. For its half, the usual Ryzen 9 9950X has a brand new record value of $549.
So whereas the 9950X3D doesn’t value greater than its predecessor at launch, you’re paying a premium for its high-end efficiency throughout the board.
PCWorld
As for avenue costs—as of March 11, the day earlier than the brand new Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s launch, the calculus seems like this on Newegg:
- $539 – AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
- $479 – AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- $445 – Intel Core i9-14900Okay
- $620 – Intel Core Ultra 9 285Okay
Unless you want the Intel Core Ultra 9 285Okay for particular productiveness duties that favor Team Blue, those that are predominantly productiveness centered will get essentially the most bang for his or her buck from AMD’s 9950X. Gamers looking for high efficiency can lean on Ryzen 7 9800X3D, except they actually wish to save money and drop all the way down to the older Intel Core i9-14900Okay.
Basically, in order for you no limits on client CPU efficiency, you’ll pay extra for it—however you get loads to your cash.
4. More energy, extra efficiency
For Ryzen 9000X3D, AMD tucked the additional L3 cache on the backside of the die, slightly stacking it on high—and that allowed the corporate to run extra electrical energy by means of the chips.
Accordingly, this new 9950X3D has a 170W TDP, up from the 7950X3D’s 120W TDP. The further juice does assist its efficiency, however as you may guess, it boosts total energy consumption, too. At least, throughout use.
Adam Patrick Murray / PCWorld
When we ran Cinebench R24’s multi-threaded benchmark, the overall system energy draw rose on common by about 70W, or 27 %.
But at idle, we noticed decrease complete system energy draw with the 9950X3D, which coasted about 10W beneath the 7950X3D PC. So whereas this chip is extra environment friendly, it nonetheless will take extra energy.
Adam Patrick Murray / PCWorld
For individuals who want this sort of efficiency, that distinction in power use seemingly gained’t hit too exhausting—even with immediately’s kilowatt-hour charges. But that plus potential further warmth generated must be thought of by patrons, if these are issues.