AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D announced, the world's fastest gaming CPU levels up

When it comes to picking up a CPU purely for PC gaming, AMD's Zen 5-powered Ryzen 7 9800X3D with its 3D V-Cache technology is widely considered the best choice if all you're looking for is maximizing your frames. Well, at CES 2026, AMD has officially confirmed that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is coming, and it will indeed be faster than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

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The configuration for the new Ryzen 7 9850X3D remains virtually the same, aside from the CPU Boost Clock increasing to 5.6 GHz from 5.2 GHz on the baseline Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The rest of the specs remain unchanged, as the CPU still sports 8 Zen Cores with 16 Threads, 104MB of cache, and a 120W TDP rating.

As part of its CES 2026 presentation, AMD confirmed that the new Ryzen 7 9850X3D is on track for a Q1 2026 release; however, no pricing was given. That said, we should expect it to launch with a higher price than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's $479 USD MSRP.

• Read more: AMD's new Ryzen 7 9850X3D is up to 60% faster in gaming than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
• Read more: Ryzen 7 9850X3D delidded, a closer look at AMD's new gaming CPU

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As part of the announcement, AMD offered benchmarks comparing performance to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, confirming that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is around 27% faster for 1080p gaming. From 5% in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 up to 60% in Baldur's Gate 3. An impressive result; however, for those who already have a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the performance difference between the two CPUs will be only a few percent.

With the Zen 5 Ryzen desktop CPU lineup expanding, here's a look at the specs.