- AMD’s Ryzen 9850X3D has been leaked again
- This time there is photographic evidence of the CPU on a BIOS screen.
- With all the buzz about this Ryzen 9800X3D update, it seems likely that it will arrive soon, possibly with a launch at CES 2026.
AMD’s rumored update to its top gaming processor, the Ryzen 9800X3D, is the subject of yet another leak, as this chip has been a regular on the CPU grapevine lately.
This is the Ryzen 9850X3D, and Wccftech reports that HXL, a well-known X hardware leaker, posted a photo of an Asus BIOS screen showing the processor as an 8-core chip clocked at 5.3 GHz. It runs on an Asus B850 motherboard.
In theory, we’re seeing an engineering sample chip being put to the test, but as with any leak, we should be cautious, although the photographic evidence presented here is more substantial than previous rumors (with the possible exception of one apparent leak, when a page for the Ryzen 9850X3D was accidentally and briefly posted on AMD’s official website in France before being removed).
No spec details were provided in that bug on Team Red’s French site, but we’ve already had multiple rumors insisting on the same thing: that the Ryzen 9850X3D will be essentially the same as the existing 9800X3D, just increasing the boost clock to 5.6 GHz.
Analysis: This should be good news for players, one way or another
While we don’t see that 5.6GHz boost speed in the leaked photo, that doesn’t rule out the idea that the Ryzen 9850X3D will run at that maximum clock speed. Remember, this is an engineering sample under test, so any clock speed is likely to reflect that.
If the Ryzen 9850X3D actually hits a 5.6GHz boost, it will be 400MHz faster than the Ryzen 9800X3D. A recent leak showed the 9850X3D was 5% faster than the base 9800X3D in single-core and multi-core tests on PassMark, but that’s not an ideal benchmark for judging a gaming CPU.
The reality is that the extra boost speed will be nice, no doubt, but it probably won’t be a huge improvement, and in any case, the influence of the CPU on gaming scenarios varies considerably from game to game (and also depends on the resolution, since the GPU is a much bigger factor at high resolutions like 4K).
Still, the Ryzen 9800X3D is widely considered the best gaming processor, so an updated version that’s a little faster will always be welcomed. The problem is that when (well, I should say Yeah) the Ryzen 9850X3D is coming and will likely sell at a pretty high MSRP. And if supplies are tight to begin with, that price could be inflated further due to demand or potentially price gouging.
That said, any initial clamor will no doubt die down, and there’s another positive element to this potential launch: namely that a Ryzen 9850X3D would put downward pressure on the price of the Ryzen 9800X3D, so we could get some more tempting deals on that excellent chip next year, as we saw with the previous 7800X3D. Let’s cross our fingers.
Of course, the Ryzen 9850X3D hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it’s looking increasingly likely now, possibly debuting at CES 2026, which would be an obvious platform for this launch.
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