AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Review - The all-round X3D chip we've been waiting for

TweakTown's Rating: 95%

The Bottom Line

AMD delivers the X3D chip we've been waiting for. It's a true all rounder that will appeal to users looking for an excellent CPU for work and play.

Pros

• Strong multi-threading performance
• All but matches the 9800X3D at gaming
• Good power efficiency
• The $50 premium over the 9950X is reasonable
• Full overclocking support

Cons

• The 9800X3D will better serve pure gamers

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications and Pricing

When it comes to gaming, the AMD Ryzen 9800X3D is the best chip available. However, it can't be considered the best all-around CPU because it lacks the core count required to excel under heavily threaded workloads. The Ryzen 9 9950X and, to a lesser extent, the Ryzen 9 9900X are better suited for these tasks.

Enter the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. It's designed to be the chip to do the lot. It's got a V-cache-equipped Core Complex Die (CCD) and another standard CCD, giving it 16 cores and 32 threads of multi-threading grunt while allowing gamers to take advantage of the extra V-cache, which is what makes the 9800X3D such an impressive gaming CPU. In effect, the 9950X3D is designed to be an all-around wonder chip.

The 9950X3D is a 16-core / 32-thread chip built on the Zen 5 architecture. Only one of its two CCDs comes with an additional 64MB of stacked L3 cache, giving the whole CPU 128MB in total. On paper, that's the same as the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. However, the 9950X3D differs in two key areas: It includes AMD's second-generation V-cache, and it is no longer power-constrained compared to the 9950X, as the 7950X3D was when compared to the 7950X.

AMD's first-generation V-cache chips, including the 5800X3D and 7950X3D, placed the cache die atop the core complex die (CCD). This led to heat concerns as the cores did not have direct contact with the CPU cooler, which affected previous X3D chips in non-gaming workloads.

Those concerns are no longer apparent. The 64MB L3 cache die is now positioned underneath the core complex, giving the CPU cooler direct access to the CPU cores. With heat being less of a concern, AMD was able to increase the TDP of the 9950X3D significantly. It can now run at the same clock speeds as the 9950X, giving it a substantial performance boost under heavy workloads. That was a significant handicap for the 7950X3D, which left it in a kind of no man's land in terms of its overall appeal. With a specification equal to that of the 9950X, the 9950X3D is poised to offer all of the gaming goodness we've come to expect from X3D chips without thermal and clock speed compromises.

The 9950X3D is fundamentally a 9950X with more L3 cache. A 170W TDP is competitive, and even taking into account the 200W PPT limit, it's still far less than what we got used to with the runaway PL2 levels from 13th and 14th Gen i9 chips.

The 9950X3D has a base clock of 4.3GHz and a boost clock of 5.7GHz. On paper, that's hardly a step up from the 7950X3D, but its increased TDP should allow its cores to stay fed for longer. Interestingly, the 9950X3D's 5.7GHz boost clock is some 500MHz higher than the acclaimed 9800X3D. Stay tuned to the benchmark results to see what effect that has, if any.

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The introduction of second-generation V-Cache means AMD now allows manual overclocking. The 7950X3D had untapped potential beyond its very conservative 120W TDP. That constraint is no longer present.

After a BIOS update, the 9950X3D is drop-in compatible with all AM5 motherboards. That gives AMD an advantage over Intel's Core Ultra 200S series when it comes to overall platform cost. Of course, those upgrading from older systems will still require the purchase of a new motherboard and memory, but AM5 is now well established, and affordable B-series and even A-series motherboards are compatible with the 9950X3D. AM5 has the advantage of guaranteed support from AMD for some time yet.

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D's MSRP is $699 US, $50 higher than the 9950X's launch price but the same as the 7950X3D's launch price.

Best Deals: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$544.74 USD	$538.10 USD	$557.99 USD	Buy
	$544.74 USD	-	$564.94 USD	Buy
	$798.98 CAD	$798.98 CAD	$809 CAD	Buy
	$799 CAD	$799 CAD	$809 CAD	Buy
	£548.99	£548.99	£547.02	Buy
	$544.74 USD	$538.10 USD	$557.99 USD	Buy
	$1029 AUD	$1029 AUD	-	Buy
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The Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Test System

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

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The 9950X3D's package is similar to that of previously released Zen 5 CPUs. The package isn't unnecessarily large, as none of the Ryzen 9000 series CPUs released to date include a cooler.

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Call me crazy, but the heat spreader design of the 9950X3D and other AM5 CPUs looks really good. Not that a CPU's look is at all relevant in the grand scheme of things.

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The backside offers 1718 socket pads, the same as all AM5 CPUs.

Test System

The key components of our test system were an MSI X870E Carbon WIFI, G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 2x16GB DDR5-6000, and an MSI RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card.

• Motherboard: MSI X870E Carbon WIFI - Buy from Amazon
• GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo RGB 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30 - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux - Buy from Amazon
• OS Storage: Teamgroup T-Force Z540 2TB - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex Titanium 850W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro - Buy from Amazon

Benchmarks - Rendering and Encoding

Cinebench 2024

Cinebench is a long-standing render benchmark that Intel and AMD have relied on to showcase their newest platforms during unveilings. The benchmark has two tests: a single-core workload that utilizes one thread, or 1T, and a multi-threaded test that uses all threads, or nT, of a tested CPU.

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The 9950X's 170W TDP means it can hold higher clocks for longer and scores on par with the 170W 9950X. That's a good first sign.

Blender

A rendering application like Blender is just one of many reasons a user will consider a high-core-count CPU. We use the Whitelands demo file and record how long it takes to render the image.

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The 9950X3D and 9950X are again neck and neck here. That's a good thing, as one criticism of the 7950X3D was that its lower clocks handicapped it under creative workloads.

Handbrake

Handbrake is a simple-to-use video encoding and transcoding application. Here, we convert a 4K movie trailer to 1080p. The results below show the average FPS, where a higher result means the task will take less time to complete.

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Well, isn't this interesting? Handbrake responds well to improvements in memory bandwidth and reacts favorably to the extra cache offered by the 9950X3D.

Note that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K has done well in the three benchmarks so far. For all the talk of how lackluster Arrow Lake's launch was, it deserves credit for its performance under these heavily threaded workloads.

Benchmarks - File Compression and Memory Latency

7Zip

7Zip is a commonly used free file compression and decompression app. It's susceptible to memory speed and latency changes and scales with the number of CPU threads.

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It's top of the charts here for the 9950X3D. With clock speed parity with the 9950X, that voluminous cache can really benefit certain apps beyond games.

AIDA64 Memory Latency

Memory latency is an area that's traditionally favored Intel and its monolithic designs. AMD's chiplet architecture and the Infinity Fabric link inevitably add some latency compared in comparison. A nanosecond or two here or there is not noticeable, but more significant margins, mainly when the memory is frequently accessed, will result in more undesirable and cumulative idle cycles.

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Surprisingly, the 9950X3D and 9800X3D return relatively weak memory latency results compared to their 9000 non-X3D counterparts. Memory latency can impact gaming performance, but it matters less due to all that L3 cache. V-Cache was designed to reduce memory access. Look at how poorly the Intel 285K and 245K are here!

Benchmarks - PCMark and 3DMark

PCMark 10 Productivity

We'd love to use our PCs purely for leisure, but some of us have to work, too! The PCMark 10 productivity test performs a series of tests using office productivity applications.

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This is another curious result, if in a good way. Some of the subtests are more memory-agnostic than others, and the 9950X3D's high clock speeds certainly help here.

3DMark Time Spy Extreme

Time Spy Extreme is losing favor as a graphics benchmark in favor of Speed Way and Steel Nomad, but its CPU test is still a good measure of multi-core performance.

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The Time Spy Extreme CPU test tends to be friendlier to Intel architectures, which makes this result a strong one for the 9950X3D.

Benchmarks - Gaming

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is brutal on graphics cards, but when things like ray tracing are removed, it becomes more sensitive to CPU and memory performance differences.

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Here, our RTX 4070 Ti Super is still quite GPU bottlenecked. It serves as an example of how virtually all modern CPUs are sufficient for gaming in such scenarios. Still, a bit of CPU grunt makes enough difference to put the 9950X3D in a virtual tie at the top of the list. The minimum frame rate looks good too.

Far Cry 6

Far Cry 6 is an example of a game that exhibits CPU bottlenecking with powerful graphics cards.

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Now, this one looks great! The 9950X3D's second-generation V-Cache trails only the single CCD 9800X3D. The 9950X3D is shaping up to be a solid all-around CPU.

Horizon Zero Dawn

When using the 'favor performance' preset, Horizon Zero Dawn can achieve high frame rates with powerful graphics cards.

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Horizon Zero Dawn loves cache. As a result, the 9950X3D pulls ahead of the 9950X.

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition

Metro Exodus received an update that improved DLSS support, enhanced ray tracing features, and variable rate shading, among other things. Still, with a powerful graphics card, it is affected by CPU and memory performance at 1080p, though less so with a card like the RTX 4070 Ti Super.

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Metro Exodus has historically proved unfriendly when run on dual CCD CPUs, but all that cache, and surely the help of AGESA updates, driver awareness, and Windows scheduling improvements, sees the 9950X3D second only to the 9800X3D.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

I'm a big fan of the Borderlands series and really enjoyed playing Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. At 1080p with the high preset, our RTX 4070 Ti Super still somewhat limits it, so the differences here are not as large as you'd see with an RTX 50 card.

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The difference from top to bottom here isn't as dramatic as some of the other games we tested, but the 9950X3D still takes second place, behind only the 9800X3D. The 1% lows look strong, too.

F1 22

F1 22 is not a particularly demanding title, and it doesn't need a high-end graphics card to enjoy smooth frame rates. We tested at 1080p with ultra settings.

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It's a virtual tie with the 9800X3D again. Our sample of games shows the 9950X3D to be a very capable gaming CPU in its own right. Factoring in its higher core count and superior multi-threading performance, the 9950X3D is a true all-rounder.

Benchmarks - Power Consumption and Temperatures

Power

The 9950X3D has a 170W TDP and 200W maximum socket power (PPT) limit. It's great to see AMD fully unleash the potential of the 9950X3D, giving it clock speed parity with the 9950X. Intel's 13th and 14th Gen CPUs were on the wrong power consumption trajectory, though their idle power consumption characteristics were underrated.

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Though the peak result doesn't provide the full context of a CPU's efficiency under a variety of workloads, a full load reading of 200W is a good result for the 16-core 9950X3D, considering its strong performance.

Temperatures

It goes without saying that temperature results heavily depend on your cooler's capabilities, case airflow, and ambient temperature. For temperature testing, we aim to maintain a constant ambient temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.

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A peak temperature reading of 79 degrees is particularly impressive for a CPU using 200W. Stacked dies will inevitably add some heat, so a result that matches the 9950X is terrific. Perhaps AMD is using binned CCDs for its flagship desktop CPU? It sure seems likely.

Final Thoughts

One of the two problems with the Ryzen 7950X3D was that it was power-constrained. The primary reason for buying a high-core-count CPU is to benefit from its multi-threading prowess. That left the 7950X3D in a bit of a no-man's land in terms of its appeal. The 7950X outperformed it under heavy loads, while the 7800X was more appealing for gamers while costing less.

The 9950X3D completely erases the first reason. It's now on par with the 9950X while delivering strong gaming performance that very nearly matches the excellent 9800X3D. It is the all-around chip we've been waiting for.

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Of course, pure gamers are better served by the 9800X3D. It's cheaper, and its nose is in front of the 9950X3D at gaming. The dual CCD design of the 9950X3D won't suit all games - particularly older ones - but with years of AGESA updates, improvements to Windows scheduling, driver and game engine awareness, dual CCD chips are encountering fewer issues than before. The 9950X3D is a perfectly viable, high-performance gaming CPU.

The 9950X3D is equipped with second-generation V-cache. Now that the cache die is positioned underneath the CCD, it's easier to dissipate heat than it was with prior X3D chips. AMD will now let you overclock it just like all the other 9000 series CPUs, so if your cooling is up to the job, enthusiasts will love playing with the 9950X3D.

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In conclusion, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D comes very close to matching the 9800X3D gaming. However, it's important to remember that its benefits will only apply to those using high-end graphics cards or if you're looking to push hundreds of FPS in competitive shooters. Its appeal still mostly lies with its high core count, but now it's a case of having your cake and eating it, too. It's simply an excellent all-around CPU.

But don't dismiss Intel's Arrow Lake chips. Their strength is their ability to handle creative and heavily threaded tasks. Which chip or platform you opt for will depend on various factors, including your budget, partnering components, and workloads. Heavy loads aside, nothing in Intel's lineup can match the 9950X3D in gaming, though.

It's tempting to say the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is the best CPU on the market. It goes very close, but the 9800X3D is still the smarter gaming-only option. It's also some $220-ish cheaper, and that's enough money to put towards a higher-tier graphics card, which is where the real performance advantages come from.

But if you're looking for a chip for work and play, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is the best if you're willing to pay $699.