Could AMD's new "Zen 5" Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor be the new gaming and productivity king?

On 12th March 2025, AMD's latest flagship "Zen 5" processor for the AM5 socket launches for sale to the public; enter the Ryzen 9 9950X3D.

Built atop the "Zen 5" architecture and packing AMD's new 2nd Generation 3D V-Cache technology that we've already seen in the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the 9950X3D sports the same 16-core 32-thread configuration as its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, but touts full overclockability, a first for a "X3D" Ryzen 9 part. Read on to learn more about this top-of-the-line AM5 processor as I put it to the test with a variety of productivity benchmarks, and not forgetting, gaming benchmarks too with a RTX 4090 graphics card at the 1080p resolution.

Specifications & Technology

In terms of specs, the 9950X3D, like its predecessor, is a 16 core part with 32 threads, with the key differences being that the 9950X3D is built on the Zen 5 architecture, and utilises AMD’s new 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache technology. In addition, while the 9950X3D and 7950X3D both come with the same amount of L2 and L3 cache (16MB and 128MB respectively), the 9950X3D comes with more L1 cache, and also sports a 100 MHz bump in terms of base clock over its predecessor. TDP has also been increased to 170W over the 7950X3D's 120W, and the 9950X3D also comes with a higher maximum operating temperature (Tjmax) of 95°C.

A key feature of the 9950X3D is its utilisation of AMD's new 2nd Generation 3D V-Cache technology - with previous iterations of X3D offerings from the "Zen 3" and "Zen 4" families, the 3D V-Cache was layered on top of the respective "Zen 3" and "Zen 4" cores. This time round with the Ryzen 9000 series X3D parts, AMD has relocated the 3D V-Cache such that it is now placed beneath the "Zen 5" Core Complex Die (CCD). With such an arrangement, the 9950X3D’s core complex is now better able to interface with the processor cooler, thereby paving the way for better cooling performance and full overclockability. It’s worth highlighting that the 9950X3D has two Core Complexes (CCXs), of which the 3D V-Cache is found on only one of the two CCXs.

With the launch of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D, AMD's also taken the opportunity to introduce new features and updates to its chipset drivers, where the said drivers now include an updated Provisioning Packages Services feature, an updated 3D V-Cache Performance Optimiser as well as the addition of a new Application Compatibility Database.

With the updated Provisioning Packages Services, AMD has included a new automatic processor detection feature, which the company claims is able to automatically check whether a PC's processor has been changed at boot, and change the provisioning packages accordingly. As a result of this enhancement, end-users are no longer required to reinstall Windows when swapping out processors.

For the 3D V-Cache Performance Optimiser, AMD states that it's been updated to work properly in Windows 10 with VBS enabled, while the new Application Compatibility Database optimises Ryzen 9 processors for game titles that are not fully addressed by AMD's Provisioning Packages Services.

Packaging & Contents

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D comes with the following accessories:

• Case badge
• Certificate of authenticity/installation instructions/warranty information booklet
• AMD Community promotional leaflet

Test Setup & Benchmark Tests

To put the 9950X3D through its paces, I’ve setup a test bench with the following specifications:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (stock settings with PBO & Curve Optimiser disabled)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB
CPU Thermal Paste: Thermalright TF7
Motherboard: ASRock X870E Taichi (BIOS 3.20)
Memory: 32GB (2x16GB) G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5 6000 CL28 (AMD EXPO profile enabled)
Storage: Samsung 990 PRO 1TB NVMe SSD
Graphics Card: Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 4090 MASTER 24G
Case: Open-air test bench
Monitor: Gigabyte M27U 27" LCD monitor (150 Hz, 4K)
OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (24H2 with all latest updates installed, VBS enabled, "Balanced" power profile)
Chipset Driver: AMD Chipset Drivers 7.01.07.634
Graphics Driver: NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver 572.70
Resizable BAR: Enabled
Ambient Temperature of Test Surroundings: ~29°C (non-airconditioned room)

CPU-Z Screenshots

Benchmark Tests

To test the performance of the 9950X3D, the following benchmarks were run:

Productivity Benchmarks

• 7-Zip Compression & Decompression
• Cinebench R23
• Cinebench 2024
• Corona 10 Benchmark

Gaming Benchmarks

• Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool
• Cyberpunk 2077 v2.21 In-game Benchmark
• F1 23 In-game Benchmark
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider In-game Benchmark

For gaming benchmarks, all tests were run on the 1080p resolution.

Clock Behaviour, Thermals & Power

While running Cinebench 2024’s multi-core test, the 9950X3D ran at around 5.0GHz across all cores, achieving an average temperature of 80.6°C, a low of 75.1°C and a high of 81.8°C, while pulling around 197.7W of power draw on average when looking at the CPU Package Power metric via HWiNFO64.

Productivity Benchmark - 7-Zip Compression & Decompression

Kicking things off are the results from 7-Zip's compression and decompression benchmark tests, where we get a pretty solid set of results with an overall score of 244.508 GIPs. This means that it beats out the 7950X3D and the Intel Core Ultra 285K, at least from the 7-Zip benchmark results that I’ve seen posted on the web for these two processors.

Productivity Benchmark - Cinebench R23

Moving on to Cinebench R23, we see that the 9950X3D attains a multicore score of 41619 and a single-core score of 2256.

Productivity Benchmark - Cinebench 2024

With Cinebench 2024, the 9950X3D achieves a multicore score of 2380 points, and a single core score of 138.

Productivity Benchmark - Corona 10

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Rounding off this section on productivity benchmarks, the 9950X3D achieves a score of 15,361,284 rays/s with the Corona 10 benchmark.

Gaming Benchmark - Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool

With Black Myth Wukong's standalone benchmark tool, where the "Cinematic" graphics preset was used at 1080p, with ray tracing set to "Very High" and both DLSS and Frame Generation enabled, the 9950X3D pumps out an average FPS of 145, a minimum FPS of 110 and a maximum FPS of 172 when paired with a RTX 4090 GPU.

Gaming Benchmark - Cyberpunk 2077 v2.21 In-game Benchmark Tool

Moving on to Cyberpunk 2077's in-game benchmark, on the "High" preset with ray tracing and all forms of upscaling disabled, the 9950X3D attains an average FPS of 249.88, a minimum FPS of 185.35, and a maximum FPS of 297.42.

Gaming Benchmark - F1 23 In-game Benchmark Tool

With F1 23’s in-game benchmark test, we see the test bench achieve an average FPS of 462, a minimum FPS of 366 and a maximum FPS of 519.

Gaming Benchmark - Shadow of the Tomb Raider In-game Benchmark Tool

Finally, rounding off this section on gaming benchmarks, we get an average FPS of 387 when it comes to Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s in-game benchmark.

Pricing & Conclusion

While I wasn’t able to test the Ryzen 9 9950X3D with as wide a variety of benchmarks due to time constraints on my end, the 9950X3D does still come across as a rather promising product offering with great gaming and productivity performance, at least from the small sample of productivity and gaming benchmarks that I've run, When comparing these initial results against benchmark data that can be found on the web for Intel's flagship Core Ultra 285K processor, I believe it's safe to say that the 9950X3D has an edge over the 285K from both a gaming and productivity perspective, where the 9950X3D's overall gaming performance is AMD's trump card against the 285K.

In terms of pricing, AMD’s announced that the 9950X3D will have a MSRP of $699 US dollars.

Get the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3DiB0ks

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The processor, motherboard, RAM and SSD featured in this article were review units provided on loan from AMD Singapore, while the graphics card was provided on loan from CDL Trading Pte Ltd, an authorised distributor for Gigabyte in Singapore.