AMD, already a leader in gaming processors, has further solidified its position with the announcement of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D at CES 2025. These new CPUs, slated for release in Q1 2025, promise significant performance gains and reinforce AMD’s commitment to high-end gaming.
AMD boasts an average 8% performance uplift over the previous generation Ryzen 9 7950X3D across 40 tested games. While graphically demanding titles like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Black Myth: Wukong show marginal improvements, games like Counter-Strike 2 see a staggering 58% increase in performance.
Generational performance for AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D vs Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: A Gaming Showdown
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D demonstrates a considerable performance advantage over the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, boasting a 20% average improvement at 1080p resolution. Even in graphically intensive games, AMD claims significant gains, with titles like Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 and Watch Dogs: Legion showing boosts of up to 40% and 64%, respectively.
Performance of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D compared to Intel.
AMD’s 3D V-Cache: The Key to Gaming Supremacy
The incorporation of AMD’s second-generation 3D V-Cache technology is a key factor in the impressive gaming performance of these new CPUs. Unlike the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which focuses primarily on gaming, the 12-core 9900X3D and 16-core 9950X3D are designed for both gaming and productivity workloads.
Productivity Performance: A Closer Contest
While AMD’s gaming dominance is clear, the productivity performance comparison is more nuanced. AMD claims a roughly 10% advantage over Intel across various productivity workloads. Although Intel’s latest CPUs excel in rendering applications like Blender and Cinebench, AMD demonstrates a 14% lead in Premiere Pro and an impressive 47% lead in Photoshop.
Productivity performance of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D versus Intel.
Compared to the previous generation, the new X3D chips offer a 13% performance increase across productivity applications. This improvement, while consistent, is less dramatic than the gains seen against Intel’s offerings. This aligns with the performance trends observed in the Ryzen 9 9950X, where consistent, albeit modest, gains were seen over the Zen 4 architecture.
Productivity performance for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
Performance Claims and Real-World Results
It’s important to approach these performance claims with caution. Previous AMD releases, such as the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X, have sometimes shown discrepancies between claimed and real-world performance, although these were later addressed through updates. Independent testing will be crucial to validate these new performance figures.
Specs for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
Release Date and Availability
While a specific release date remains unconfirmed, AMD anticipates the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D will be available in the first quarter of 2025. Given their clear performance advantages, these CPUs are likely to be among the first AMD products to launch in the new year.
