Ryzen 9950X3D review roundup: (currently) the best CPU for everything
AMD is finally sending its flagship with X3D cache into the race. Initial tests show that the Ryzen 9950X3D takes the crown in apps and is only marginally inferior to the gaming king Ryzen 9800X3D.
Although the 9800X3D CPU has only been on the market since last November, it’s considered one of the best of all time. So it’s not surprising that AMD is now also giving its flagship the X3D treatment. It packs a punch. Gone are the days when the X3D model was inferior to its non-X3D counterpart in applications. Quite the opposite. In most tests, the 9950X3D even beats the 9950X.
Gaming: narrowly admits defeat to the current king
In Computerbase’s (site in German) gaming test, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D outperforms its 7950X3D predecessor by 12 per cent on average. AMD, however, only cites 8 per cent. It’s rare for a manufacturer to underestimate, but it’s also no bad thing. Despite this excellent result, the 9950X3D is 3 per cent behind the 9800X3D.
Tom’s Hardware has similar praise for the Ryzen 9 99950X3D. That review only reports the 9950X3D lagging 0.4 per cent behind the 9800X3D. It also shows a greater lead over the 7950X3D predecessor, with the 9950X3D 20 per cent ahead. However, tester Paul Alcorn points out that his test suite is geared towards CPU-heavy games, most of which really benefit from the X3D cache.
Techpowerup also attests to the 9950X3D’s impressive gaming performance. Compared to Intel’s processors, the new AMD chip is 10 per cent faster than the 14900K or 22 per cent faster than the 285K. Reviewer W1zzard points out that the differences become smaller at higher resolutions because the bottleneck shifts from the CPU to the GPU.
All reviewers note that you need to do a few software adjustments for maximum performance. For example, Microsoft’s Game Bar needs to be installed and up to date.
Productivity: faster than the non-X3D version
Computerbase (site in German), Techpowerup and Tom’s Hardware all come to the conclusion that the 9950X3D is faster in applications than the 9950X – albeit by different margins. They attribute this to better binning, in other words, chip selection. AMD probably only releases the best chips for X3D.
According to Computerbase, the 9950X3D is 3 per cent ahead of the 9950X and 15 per cent ahead of its 7950X3D predecessor. In Tom’s Hardware tests, the lead over the predecessor is as much as 20 per cent, but it’s virtually a tie with the 9950X. Techpowerup, on the other hand, sees the new AMD chip 7 per cent ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 13 per cent ahead of the Intel Core i-9 14900K.
Efficiency: the weak point
However, this CPU has one drawback: its power consumption during gaming. All testers noticed that this was high. Techpowerup mentions an average of 144 W, while Computerbase cites 129 W. If we take Techpowerup’s results, that’s almost twice the power consumption of a 9800X3D.
In terms of applications, Tom’s Hardware ranks the 9950X3D in the mid-range in terms of power consumption. This is to be expected for a chip with 16 cores. Computerbase also points out that, as with all newer AMD chips, the power consumption on the Windows desktop is comparatively high. Intel has a better grasp of this.
Price: recommendation with a caveat due to high price
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is AMD’s most expensive consumer chip at the moment. As a result, the reviewers agree you’ll only want to use this CPU if you need maximum performance in apps and games. If you mainly focus on gaming, the 9800X3D offers the better overall package. Meanwhile, if you’re only interested in productivity, there are cheaper chips on the market, such as the 9950X or a 285K, which also aren’t far behind when it comes to gaming.
All in all, the 9950X3D is the greatest processor available right now. If you want the absolute best, there’s no way around it.
Availability in store: you can order the 9950X3D and 9900X3D from 12 March at 3 p.m. As always, stock at launch is limited, so there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to snag them or get a delivery date within a few days. But as soon as they’re live in our store, you’ll see a link at the end of this article.
Header image: Screenshot YouTube / Tech Notice
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Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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