AMD exec reveals Ryzen 9 9950X3D, Ryzen 9 9900X3D gaming performance — similar to Ryzen 7 9800X3D

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Why would you spend extra for the same gaming performance?

X3D 1
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

AMD’s top-of-the-line Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D chips are expected to have the same gaming performance as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, one of the best gaming CPUs on the market. AMD Product and Business Development Manager Martijn Boonstra told VideoGamer that the two chips will “provide similar overall gaming performance to the 9800X3D.”

“There will be some games that perform a bit better, and some games will perform a little worse,” added Boonstra, “but on the whole the experience is comparable.” The former will be noticeable for titles that favor more cores and threads, especially as the Ryzen 9 9900X3D will have 12 cores while the Ryzen 9 9950X3D will have a whopping 16 cores versus the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s eight cores. However, it's a rare case since not many games utilize more than eight cores. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D still has the upper hand in games that favor eight cores since everything is done on a single CCD.

In its announcement, AMD claims that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D will outperform Intel’s latest top chips, especially when using productivity and creator apps. It says the Ryzen 9 9950X3D performs about 10% better using multi-threaded creator apps like Photoshop than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. So, AMD will likely market the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D to professionals and creators who are also into gaming, while the Ryzen 7 9800X3D targets the general gamer enthusiast market.

Unfortunately, AMD hasn’t released pricing information for these chips yet, although we expect them to be released this January. However, if we look at historical pricing, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D launched at $449, while the Ryzen 9 7900X3D was announced at $599, and the Ryzen 9 7950X3 was priced at $699. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s launch price is $479, some $30 more than its predecessor. If AMD sticks to its pricing, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D would likely be $629, while the Ryzen 9 9950X3D will be $729. However, AMD says it will reveal actual pricing closer to launch, so we’ll have to be more patient with that.

Although the Ryzen 7 9800X3D has been on the market for several months, it’s still quite challenging to find, even if you know where to buy it. Hopefully, the launch of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D will relieve some pressure, allowing gamers and enthusiasts to purchase these chips much more quickly. But in the meantime, all we can do is wait and be aware of fake 9800X3D listings and fake 9800X3D processors to avoid getting scammed.

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Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

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34 Comments Comment from the forums
  • A Stoner
    Generally because top of the line computers are expensive as hell. If the one and only thing you use your computer for is gaming, you would not pay extra and just use the cheaper part.

    But, if you are doing multiple things with your computer. Such as work related tasks that benefit from more cores, as well as want to have top of the line gaming experience and can do that off hours without interfering with the purpose of the computer for work related money making activities, then the route to go is to buy the premium part that makes 1 machine fit both roles.

    Top of the line graphics card, $2000, best of the best memory who knows, mine usually costs $200, top of the line motherboard, $400 to $700, A few high performance NVMe drives, $200 to $800 a pop. Spending the $280 extra for the 16 core part can save you thousands of dollars and valuable office/game room space and the bother of pushing extra buttons to switch between computers.
    Reply
  • ilukey77
    That will make the 9800x3d harder to buy !!

    Sadly i was hoping for a better showing that just a 9800x3d with more cores ..

    If the 9950 and 9900 x3d had beaten the 9800x3d by 10% 15% in games i would have bought the more expensive cpu !!
    Reply
  • emike09
    I'm curious to see full benchmarks and reviews on the 9950x3D. Especially with overclocking with high-end cooling solutions (not liquid nitrogen). As my main system operates as an all-in-one for gaming and creative workloads, the extra cores would certainly be used.
    Reply
  • svan71
    Nobody buying it will be buying it for the gaming performance alone, that's the added perk. I'm wondering what the OC potential is.
    Reply
  • usertests
    ilukey77 said:
    That will make the 9800x3d harder to buy !!

    Sadly i was hoping for a better showing that just a 9800x3d with more cores ..

    If the 9950 and 9900 x3d had beaten the 9800x3d by 10% 15% in games i would have bought the more expensive cpu !!
    It should have been easy to predict what was going to happen after seeing the 7800X3D vs. 7950X3D.

    There just isn't going to be any gaming advantage outside of manually switching games that don't benefit from 3D cache to the faster chiplet, or hoping the system chooses the best one automatically.

    If AMD ever wants to differentiate X3D parts, they need to start by using more than one layer. I doubt this would happen even with Zen 6.
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    "Why would you spend extra for the same gaming performance?"
    Simple you need 16 cores and while you do game you also do work that require more cores than 8 on the same machine.

    ilukey77 said:
    That will make the 9800x3d harder to buy !!

    Sadly i was hoping for a better showing that just a 9800x3d with more cores ..

    If the 9950 and 9900 x3d had beaten the 9800x3d by 10% 15% in games i would have bought the more expensive cpu !!

    Where was this additional performance going to come from? most games don't use more than 8 cores and its has a slightly higher boost clock.
    Reply
  • DavidLejdar
    Now if only there was some affordable new GPU, to make full use of the CPU with... :)

    Ah well, also other stuff to do. I.e., ever checked how much damage worth natural disasters in the U.S. caused in 2024, and compared it to the total revenue of gas and oil in the U.S. ? Some interesting numbers there as well.
    Reply
  • A Stoner
    svan71 said:
    Nobody buying it will be buying it for the gaming performance alone, that's the added perk. I'm wondering what the OC potential is.
    Should be about as overclockable as the 9800X3D but maybe slightly better on the non cache CCD.

    I initially wrote 7800X3D I meant the new 9800X3d. Corrected.
    Reply
  • halfcharlie
    "Why would you spend extra for the same gaming performance?"

    Ironic coming from the people with endless articles touting 'gaming performance' in relation to CPU's when it is shown in comprehensive benchmarks that above 1080p there's only single digit FPS differences between the newest high end CPU's and 5 year old i5's, it's not even an 'added perk' it's nothing. If someone cares about gaming performance they're putting any extra money into the GPU and a fast drive, not the CPU, period.

    Any sort of modern CPU as long you have a strong GPU you're set, buying higher end CPU's is only for other things like productivity there's no point even mentioning gaming it's just a tactic to trick clueless gamers into dropping more cash because they're already the ones building expensive systems. Even intel's marketing for the latest gen I personally saw ads specifically pushing gaming even though we know there's no difference to the last gen and technically (because in the real world there's no real difference) is behind AMD.
    Reply
  • bill001g
    halfcharlie said:


    Ironic coming from the people with endless articles touting 'gaming performance' in relation to CPU's when it is shown in comprehensive benchmarks that above 1080p there's only single digit FPS differences between the newest high end CPU's and 5 year old i5's, it's not even an 'added perk' it's nothing. If someone cares about gaming performance they're putting any extra money into the GPU and a fast drive, not the CPU, period.
    Because a huge number of consumers/gamers are too lazy to bother to read the actual reviews. They read the headline and pick the top cpu listed without any understanding of why the fine print always says 1080p.
    Reply