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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D: Two-minute review
So the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D has something of a high bar to clear given the strength of AMD’s first Zen 5 3D V-Cache chip, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but having spent a week testing this chip, I can say unequivocally that AMD has produced the best processor ever made for the consumer market.
Whether it’s gaming, creating, or general productivity work, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D doesn’t suffer from the same hang-ups that held its predecessor, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, from completely dominating its competition among the previous generation of processors.
Like its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D will sell for $699 / £699 / AU$1,349 when it goes on sale on March 12, 2025. This makes it the most expensive consumer processor on the market, so definitely be prepared to invest quite a bit for this chip, especially if you’re upgrading from an Intel or AMD AM4 system. As an AM5 chip, you’ll need to upgrade some major components, including motherboard and possibly RAM.
Unlike nearly all other X3D chips besides the 9800X3D and 9900X3D, however, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is fully overclockable thanks to AMD rearchitecting the way the 3D V-cache sits on the compute die, so there’s a lot more that this chip can do that other X3D chips can’t.
That includes beating out the current champ for the best gaming CPU, the 9800X3D, in most games while also offering substantially better general and creative performance thanks to twice as many processing cores.
That doesn’t mean that the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is flawless, as there are some things to caveat here (which I’ll get into in more depth below), but as an overall package, you simply won’t find a better CPU on the market right now that will let you do just about anything you want exceptionally well while still letting you run a more reasonable cooling solution. Just be prepared to pay a premium for all that performance.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D: Price & availability
- How much will it cost? US MSRP is $699 / £699 / AU$1,349
- When is it available? It goes on sale on March 12, 2025
- Where is it available? It will be available in the US, UK, and Australia at launch
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D goes on sale March 12, 2025, for a US MSRP of $699 / £699 / AU$1,349 in the US, UK, and Australia, respectively, making it the most expensive processor on the market.
It comes in at the same price as its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D when it launched, and costs $100 more than the Ryzen 9 9900X3D that launches on the same day.
This is also just over $200 more expensive than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D which has nearly the same level of gaming performance (and in some cases surpasses the 9950X3D), so if you are strictly looking for a gaming CPU, the 9800X3D might be the better value.
Compared to Intel’s latest flagship processor, meanwhile, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is just over $100 more expensive than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, though that chip requires a whole new motherboard chipset if you’re coming from an Intel LGA 1700 chip like the Intel Core i9-12900K, so it might represent a much larger investment overall.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D: Specs
- 128MB L3 Cache (96MB + 32MB)
- Fully overclockable
- Not all processing cores have access to 3D V-cache
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D |
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D |
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Price |
$699 / £699 / AU$1,349 |
$699 / £699 / AU$1,349 |
$479 / £449.99 / AU$799 |
|
Architecture |
AMD Zen 5 (TSMC N4X) |
AMD Zen 4 (TSMC N4) |
AMD Zen 5 (TSMC N4X) |
|
Cores |
16 |
16 |
8 |
|
Threads |
32 |
32 |
16 |
|
Base clock |
4.3GHz |
4.2GHz |
4.2GHz |
|
Boost clock |
5.7GHz |
5.5GHz |
5GHz |
|
DDR5 memory support |
5600MHz |
5600MHz |
5200MHz |
|
L3 cache |
128MB (96MB + 32MB) |
128MB (96MB + 32MB) |
96MB |
|
TDP |
170W |
120W |
120W |
|
Motherboard socket |
AM5 |
AM5 |
AM5 |
Compared to the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, there don’t seem to be too many changes spec wise, but there’s a lot going on under the hood here.
First, the way the 3D V-cache is seated over the CCX for the 9950X3D differs considerably than with the 7950X3D, specifically that its seated underneath the processing die, rather than above it.
This means that the processing cores are now in ‘direct’ contact with the lid and cooling solution for the chip, allowing the 9950X3D to be fully overclocked, whereas the V-cache in the 7950X3D sat between the lid and the processing cores, making careful thermal design and limiting necessary and ruling out overclocking.
The 9950X3D does keep the same two-module split in its L3 cache as the 7950X3D, so that only one of the eight-core CCXs in the chip actually has access to the added V-cache (32MB + 64MB), while the other just has access to 32MB.
This had some benefit for more dedicated, directy access for individual cores in use more cache. In the last-gen, this honestly produced somewhat mixed results compared to the 7800X3D, which didn’t split the V-cache up this way, leading ultimately to high levels of gaming performance for the 7800X3D.
Whatever issue there was with the 7950X3D looks to have been largely fixed with the 9950X3D, but some hiccups remains, which I’ll get to in the performance section.
Beyond that, the 9950X3D has slightly higher base and boost clock speeds, as well as a 50W higher TDP, but its 170W TDP isn’t completely unmanageable, especially next to Intel’s competing chips.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D: Performance
- Almost best-in-class gaming performance
- Strong overall performance
While the Ryzen 7 7800X3D was indisputably a better gaming chip than the Ryzen 9 7950X3D by the numbers, I was very curious going into my testing how this chip would fare against the 9800X3D, but I’m happy to report that not only is it better on the whole when it comes to gaming, it’s a powerhouse for general computing and creative work as well, making it the best all-around processor on the market right now.
On the synthetic side, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D goes toe-to-toe with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K in multi-core performance, coming within 2% of Intel’s best on average, and chocking up a 10% stronger single-core result than the 285K.
Compared to its predecessor, the 7950X3D, the 9950X3D is about 15% faster in multi-core and single-core performance, while also barely edging out the Ryzen 9 9950X in multi-core performance.
Compared to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the eight-core difference between the two really shows up in the results, with the 9950X3D posting a 61% better multi-core performance, and a roughly 5% better single core score compared to the 9800X3D.
On the creative front, the 9950X3D outclasses Intel’s best and anything else in the AMD Ryzen lineup that I’ve tested overall (we’ll see how it fares against the 9900X3D once I’ve had a chance to test that chip), though it is worth noting that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is still the better processor for video editing work.
The AMD Ryzen X3D line is all about gaming though, and here, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D posts the best gaming performance of all the chips tested, with one caveat.
In the Total War: Warhammer III Mirrors of Madness benchmark, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D only scores a few fps higher than the non-X3D Ryzen 9 9950X (331 fps to 318 fps, respectively), while also scoring substantially lower than the 9800X3D’s 506 fps in that same benchmark. That’s a roughly 35% slower showing for the 9950X3D, and given its roughly where the non-X3D chip scored, it’s clear that Total War: Warhammer III was running on one of those cores that didn’t have access to the extra V-cache.
This is an issue with the Windows process scheduler that might be fixed in time so that games are run on the right cores to leverage the extra cache available, but that’s not a guarantee the way it is with the 9800X3D, which gives all cores access to its added V-cache so there aren’t similar issues.
It might be a fairly rare occurence, but if your favorite game does take advantage of the extra cache that you’re paying a lot of money for, that could be an issue, and it might not be something you’ll ever know unless you have a non-X3D 9950X handy to test the way I do.
With that in mind, if all you want is a gaming processor, and you really don’t care about any of these other performance categories, you’re probably going to be better served by the 9800X3D, as you will get guaranteed gaming performance increases, even if you don’t get the same boost in other areas.
While that’s a large caveat, it can’t take away from the overall performance profile of this chip, which is just astounding pretty much across the board.
If you want the best processor on the market overall, this is it, even with its occasional blips, especially since it runs much cooler than Intel’s chips and its power draw is much more acceptable for midrange PCs to manage.
Should you buy the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D?
|
Value |
While not cheap, this is very much an enthusiast chip, so price isn’t as much of an issue for me, though I’m glad to see they didn’t raise the price over the previous generation. |
3.5 / 5 |
|
Specs |
With 128MB cache, faster clocks, and a more advanced process node, there’s a lot to love about this chip spec-wise, though it does drink a good bit more power as a result. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Performance |
While not the absolute best performer in any one category, it’s performance is nearly best-in-class across categories, something no other competing chip on the market can claim right now. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Final Score |
While it loses some points for being so expensive, given the market this chip is targeting, price really doesn’t mean much here. Enthusiasts will absolutely love this chip is they’re looking for all around performance, but gaming-specific buyers might be better off with the 9800X3D. |
4.5 / 5 |
Buy the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D if…
Don’t buy it if…
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How I tested the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- I spent several days with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- I used the chip as my main workstation processor and used my updated battery of benchmarks to measure its performance
- I used it for general productivity, creative, and gaming workloads
I spent about a week with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D as my main workstation CPU, where I ran basic computing workloads as well as extensive creative work, such as Adobe Photoshop.
I also spent as much time as I could gaming with the chip, including titles like Black Myth: Wukong and Civilization VII. I also used my updated suite of benchmark tools including industry standard utilities like Geekbench 6.2, Cyberpunk 2077, and PugetBench for Creators.
I’ve been reviewing components for TechRadar for three years now, including more than a dozen processor reviews in that time, so you can trust my testing process and recommendations if you’re looking for the best processor for your needs and budget.
- First reviewed March 2025
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John.Loeffler@futurenet.com (John Loeffler)
