AMD admits the Ryzen 9 9950X3D may not be faster than the 9800X3D in gaming

[DragonSlayer101]

The big picture: When AMD announced the 9900X3D and 9950X3D earlier this month, many gamers anticipated that these processors would deliver even better performance than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which was widely hailed as the best gaming CPU upon its release last year. However, Team Red has since confirmed that the new chips may not outperform last year's model in most gaming scenarios.

In an interview with VideoGamer, AMD's product and business development manager, Martijn Boonstra, revealed that the 9950X3D and 9900X3D will deliver "similar overall gaming performance" to the 9800X3D.

Boonstra explained that while the new chips will be slightly faster in some games that can take advantage of the additional cores, they may lag behind the older chip in other titles. Overall, the experience will be "comparable" to that of the 9800X3D, he added.

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D features 16 cores, while the Ryzen 9 9900X3D has 12 cores. On paper, this compares well with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which offers just eight cores. While the extra cores give the new chips an advantage in certain games, the 9800X3D can outperform them in others because it processes everything on a single CCD.

In addition to the extra cores, the new Ryzen 9 CPUs also feature higher clock speeds than the 9800X3D. The 9950X3D has a boost frequency of up to 5.7GHz, while the 9900X3D offers a maximum boost speed of 5.5GHz. In comparison, the 9800X3D tops out at 5.2GHz. However, the 9800X3D holds an advantage in terms of TDP: it is rated at 120W, like the 9900X3D, whereas the 9950X3D is rated for a significantly higher 170W.

AMD unveiled the 9900X3D and 9950X3D earlier this month at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, touting a 20 percent gaming performance uplift compared to Intel's flagship Core Ultra 200S Arrow Lake processors.

According to benchmarks released by AMD, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D outperforms Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K by 20 percent in 40 popular games. These include Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy XIV, Far Cry 6, Hogwarts Legacy, Starfield, Space Marine 2, Watch Dogs: Legion, and more.

AMD has yet to disclose the retail prices for the 9950X3D and 9900X3D. However, rumors suggest they will be priced at $729 and $629, respectively. At those price points, they may struggle to compete with the older Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is currently available for just $479 at retailers like Best Buy and Microcenter.

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AMD admits the Ryzen 9 9950X3D may not be faster than the 9800X3D in gaming

 

[Puiu]

I guess it depends on well the game takes advantage of the higher clocks and if the second CCD lowers the overall FPS.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Not a surprise in the slightest; the 7950x3d is basically the same speed in games as the 7800x3d too. Very few games can make effective use of more than 8 cores. The 9950x3D makes sense to buy if you do both gaming & productivity work on your PC, for pure gaming then yes you are better off with the 9800x3d.

 

[kiniku]

Not a surprise in the slightest; the 7950x3d is basically the same speed in games as the 7800x3d too. Very few games can make effective use of more than 8 cores. The 9950x3D makes sense to buy if you do both gaming & productivity work on your PC, for pure gaming then yes you are better off with the 9800x3d.

Yup. They won't be. Yes, if you are 70% a gamer a 9950X3D is throwing money away along with more power consumption, heat, and AMD's weak fragmented method on core parking. Hype (from gamers) sells these CPUs. But all the X3D CPUs are niche usage cases for people that game at 1080P with a 4090(5090).

 

[Vulcanproject]

I would hope for their next generation they have a 12 or 16 core CCD. I kinda expect it. Then the 3D cache will have improved access for more than 8 cores. A 12 core might be a good sweet spot in a couple more years.

 

[bviktor]

No way, I thought it will render extra frames for me

 

[maxxcool7421]

This is not news... of course in many situations it will be slower,,, anytime you run a prog across 2 ccds you loose latency

 

[GodisanAtheist]

AMD has been pretty straightforward about X3D being most relevant for the 8 core / 16 thread gaming crowd.

If someone is buying a 99xx series processor, it's primarily for productivity work first. Only reason a gamer might be looking for a x3D 99xx core processor is because they associate "most expensive" with "best".

 

[nitebird]

I run the game on the X3D CCD so that the other CCD does Discord, browsing, stream watching etc... Unless you game with no taxing background apps (like benchmarkers) there is a benefit to more cores. Currently using 7950X3D.

 

[wiyosaya]

At least AMD is admitting this ahead of time rather than trying to build people's hopes and disappointing them later.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Lucky I have a life and don't just game, so more than 8 cores for productivity is a must. This time though it looks like 9900X3D won't be useless like the 7900X3D which was frankly the bastard stepchild of Zen 4 that no one wanted.

 

[Watzupken]

Ryzen 9 with 12 and 16 cores are never meant for gaming only kind of workflow. But that does not mean it is useless, depending on the workflow/ use case.

 

[Puiu]

Yup. They won't be. Yes, if you are 70% a gamer a 9950X3D is throwing money away along with more power consumption, heat, and AMD's weak fragmented method on core parking. Hype (from gamers) sells these CPUs. But all the X3D CPUs are niche usage cases for people that game at 1080P with a 4090(5090).

All you have to do is enable upscaling at 1440p or 4K to see the benefits of using these CPUs. You can also upgrade your GPU in a year or two. Going from an RTX 3080 to a 5080/6080 is not an unrealistic upgrade path for a PC.

 

[LimyG]

Anyone who games on PC will already pretty much know this. I still use an i9-9900KS {8+8 - 16 threads}
@ 5.2Gz (no HT) - HT on can just reach 5GHz, plus no benefit of the extra HT threads.

8 real cores vs 8+8 for GAMING is a no brainer.

I like that AMD are being honest about this...well I guess they have to be, it's fairly obvious overall.

Do you think Intel would say a similar thing about their new/any chips??

 

[LimyG]

Lucky I have a life and don't just game, so more than 8 cores for productivity is a must. This time though it looks like 9900X3D won't be useless like the 7900X3D which was frankly the bastard stepchild of Zen 4 that no one wanted.

Your reply about productivity is true. But are you really saying that people who game, don't have a life?