AMD makes the flagship Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 official — first dual-cache X3D CPU arrives in April, with 208MB cache, 200W TDP, promising modest performance gains

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition desktop chip — (Image credit: AMD)

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A hand holding the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

AMD has announced the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, its newest flagship and the world’s first desktop CPU that stacks 3D V-Cache across both CCDs. The CPU comes with a massive 208MB (16MB L2 Cache + 192MB L3 Cache) of total cache to deliver a touted 5~ 10% performance boost over the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. While pricing has not been disclosed, AMD has confirmed that the CPU will be available for purchase starting April 22.

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 offers a similar layout as the regular 9950X3D, with 16 cores and 32 threads, with a slightly reduced maximum boost clock of 5.6 GHz. It comes with a TDP of 200W, which is 30W more than the 9950X3D, making it the most power-hungry desktop consumer chip from the company and potentially requiring a more robust cooling solution. As with other Zen 5 chips, the processor retains compatibility with the AM5 platform with support for DDR5 memory, PCIe Gen 5, and Precision Boost Overdrive 2. The CPU will also come in a special monochrome packaging to make it stand out from the rest of the SKUs.

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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition — Specifications
CPU	Street (MSRP)	Arch	Cores / Threads (P+E)	P-Core Base / Boost Clock (GHz)	Cache (L2/L3)	TDP	Memory
Ryzen 9 9950X3D2	TBA	Zen 5 X3D	16 / 32	4.3 / 5.6	208MB (16+192)	200W	DDR5-5600
Ryzen 9 9950X3D	$699	Zen 5 X3D	16 / 32	4.3 / 5.7	144MB (16+128)	170W	DDR5-5600
Ryzen 9 9950X	$545 ($599)	Zen 5	16 / 32	4.3 / 5.7	80MB (16+64)	170W	DDR5-5600
Ryzen 9 9900X3D	$599	Zen 5 X3D	12 / 24	4.4 / 5.5	140 (12+128)	120W	DDR5-5600
Ryzen 7 9800X3D	$480	Zen 5 X3D	8 / 16	4.7 / 5.2	104MB (8+96)	120W	DDR5-5600
Ryzen 9 9900X	$380 ($469)	Zen 5	12 / 24	4.4 / 5.6	76MB (12+64)	120W	DDR5-5600
Ryzen 7 9700X	$289 ($329)	Zen 5	8 / 16	3.8 / 5.5	40MB (8+32)	65W	DDR5-5600

Productivity performance comparison between the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D vs the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition. — (Image credit: AMD)

Jack Huynh, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of AMD's Computing and Graphics Group, made the announcement in a video claiming that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 should offer excellent performance in gaming and productivity. While AMD hasn’t shared any gaming benchmarks, expect the CPU to offer up to 7% better performance compared to the 9950X3D in rendering benchmarks such as V-Ray and Blender, and about 5% to 7% faster in content creation benchmarks, including Puget for DaVinci Resolve and Geekbench multi-core. The chip also purportedly offers up to 13% faster performance in AI and simulation, and 8% faster performance in Unreal Engine compilation.

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The announcement aligns with an earlier report from December, where the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 was spotted in a couple of leaked benchmarks. Initial listings suggested the implementation of dual 3D V-Cache, with the CPU scoring 71,585 in PassMark multi-core and 4,716 in single-core tests. In Geekbench, it achieved roughly 3,456 in single-core and 21,062 in multi-core performance. Since the leaked numbers aren’t official, it is best to wait for our full review for a detailed analysis of the 9950X3D2.

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Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.

24 Comments Comment from the forums

-Fran-

I hate you AMD.

I'll still buy this stupid thing... :(

Time to toss the 9950X3D to the trash can, I guess.

Regards.
Reply
Makaveli

-Fran- said:
I hate you AMD.

I'll still buy this stupid thing... :(

Time to toss the 9950X3D to the trash can, I guess.

Regards.
I wouldn't bother you are looking at 5-7% more performance on average and dual cache doesn't solve inter CCD latency.

Wait for Zen 6
Reply
-Fran-

Makaveli said:
I wouldn't bother you are looking at 5-7% more performance on average and dual cache doesn't solve inter CCD latency.

Wait for Zen 6
I hate the stupid gremlins with the scheduler.

AMD and Microsoft just don't talk to each other... Having to use PLasso to fix their stupidity is frustrating enough.

Perhaps I should just move to Linux where NUMA is a thing. Yes, yes. I know some Windows version are NUMA aware, but not the consumer side of Windows.

EDIT: To be clear though. Your suggestion is rational and makes sense. Too bad I'm not a sensible person and my rationality is questionable, LOL.

Regards.
Reply
Gururu

I am going to die laughing.
Reply
usertests

Other than not dealing with (as many) scheduler issues, the other big benefit of this chip will be for specific multi-threaded workloads that respond well to the extra cache.

Not many people are going to be running these workloads.
Any workload where the 9950X3D or even the 7950X3D was trouncing the 9950X is probably a good candidate for the 9950X3D2. I picked these out of a Phoronix review:

https://www.phoronix.com/benchmark/result/amd-ryzen-9-9950x3d-linux-benchmarks/askap-tconvolve-openmp-degridding.svgzhttps://www.phoronix.com/benchmark/result/amd-ryzen-9-9950x3d-linux-benchmarks/nginx-1000.svgzhttps://www.phoronix.com/benchmark/result/amd-ryzen-9-9950x3d-linux-benchmarks/openvino-pdf-cpu.svgzhttps://www.phoronix.com/benchmark/result/amd-ryzen-9-9950x3d-linux-benchmarks/openvino-rsafi-cpu.svgzhttps://www.phoronix.com/benchmark/result/amd-ryzen-9-9950x3d-linux-benchmarks/openvino-nsplf-cpu.svgz
Never heard of these? Wait for Zen 6/7 instead.
Reply
Elusive Ruse

Now I'm debating 10800X3D or 10950X3D! Assuming the Zen6 variant will default to dual vcache.
Reply
DS426

Not depending on scheduler optimizations as much is the biggest advantage here IMO. That said, hopefully the L3 caches will be the same size on both CCD's with Zen 6.

This demonstrates the diminishing marginal returns by having this much cache. Until applications optimize for it, the perf gains will be less than glamorous. The next big question then is this: will AMD drop MSRP on the outgoing halo X3D model and set this one to that MSRP ($699)?
Reply
usertests

Elusive Ruse said:
Now I'm debating 10800X3D or 10950X3D! Assuming the Zen6 variant will default to dual vcache.
Stick to single CCDs unless you're making fat stacks of cash using your computer. 12-core Zen 6 X3D will be overkill for most gamers and decent in productivity.

Same applies to Intel if they end up introducing bLLC on both one and two compute dies, which was the rumor.
Reply
txfeinbergs

-Fran- said:
I hate the stupid gremlins with the scheduler.

AMD and Microsoft just don't talk to each other... Having to use PLasso to fix their stupidity is frustrating enough.

Perhaps I should just move to Linux where NUMA is a thing. Yes, yes. I know some Windows version are NUMA aware, but not the consumer side of Windows.

EDIT: To be clear though. Your suggestion is rational and makes sense. Too bad I'm not a sensible person and my rationality is questionable, LOL.

Regards.

I wouldn't unless all you do is gaming. I still consider the 9950X3D the better chip since it offers you the option of faster non-gaming performance. I have one and have only had scheduler issues with one game so far (Crimson Desert which of course uses its own game engine which is probably the problem here). That said, it doesn't even matter. Running on the wrong CCD isn't going to make the slightest difference gaming at 4K with a 5090.
Reply
-Fran-

txfeinbergs said:
I wouldn't unless all you do is gaming. I still consider the 9950X3D the better chip since it offers you the option of faster non-gaming performance. I have one and have only had scheduler issues with one game so far (Crimson Desert which of course uses its own game engine which is probably the problem here). That said, it doesn't even matter. Running on the wrong CCD isn't going to make the slightest difference gaming at 4K with a 5090.
The only thing I understand from your post is that you never really needed the 9950X3D and you could have saved money by going with a 9950X.

Saying the VCache doesn't matter to you and that you've never had scheduling issues means the games you play don't rely on it, nor the applications you run. Which is absolutely fine, but just confirm to me you made the wrong purchase here.

Regards.
Reply

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