AMD announced its latest
The two new chips, which replace the current Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 9 7900X3D processors launched in early 2023, are a big step up from the only other Ryzen X3D chip in the 9000 series, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Unlike the 8-core/16-thread 9800X3D, the 9900X3D and 9950X3D chips will feature 12 cores/24 threads and 16 cores/32 threads, respectively.
The flagship 9950X3D will feature a 5.7GHz Boost clock and a massive 144MB L3 cache at a 170W TDP. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D will feature a 5.5GHz Boost clock and L3 cache. of 140 MB at a much lower 120 W TDP.
While the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the current champ in gaming processors, the two newest chips aren’t strictly aimed at gamers like the 9800X3D. The 9950X3D, especially, is being touted as a creative processor on par with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Intel Core i9-14900K.
It remains to be seen whether the new chips will strike that balance correctly, but given that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D’s gaming performance was much better than the higher-end Ryzen 9 7900X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D, it’s entirely possible that these latest chips will also be come up short. of the 9800X3D’s gaming prowess while also succeeding in other areas like video editing.
A pleasure for players or a blessing for creators?
AMD’s latest chips were widely anticipated for an announcement at CES 2025, so today’s news isn’t a huge surprise, just as comparing these two chips to the current crop of processors is inevitable.
With Intel’s major stumbles with the Intel Core Ultra 200 series desktop processors, as well as the lackluster reception of the non-X3D AMD Ryzen 9000 processors, AMD has managed to score the only real victory for this generation of processors with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
Following that chip will be difficult, so expectations are naturally quite high for these new processors. Personally, I wouldn’t bet on these being better gaming processors than the 9800X3D, but AMD claims about 13% better performance than its predecessor for the 9950X3D, and about 10% better performance in creative workloads for the 9950X3D vs. to the Intel Core. Ultra 9 285K.
So it looks like the 9950X3D chip will indeed be a more creative-focused chip, and it remains to be seen to what extent the additional 3D V-Cache helps differentiate the 9950X3D from the Ryzen 9 9950X, and whether it’s worth the performance boost. the highest final price.
