$900 For THIS!? AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Review & Gaming Benchmarks [HUB]
Posted by glizzygobbler247@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 68 comments
Posted by glizzygobbler247@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 68 comments
Dangerman1337@reddit
Funny thing about this is that Zen 7 X3D can be plopped into the AM5 socket most likely with 16 Core CCDs with the same amount of total L3 Cache at least and offer way better results.
ResponsibleJudge3172@reddit
We have no idea what Zen 7 will use 4 years from now
Strazdas1@reddit
Talking about Epic, AMD said Zen7 will retain same socket compatibility. I think we can assume its likely to be the case for consumer cards.
inverseinternet@reddit
Have you even seen the latest roadmap? Tall about LTTP!
TheRealSeeThruHead@reddit
I’ll probably be buying one of these.
The price increase is substantial enough to bother staying with the 9950x3d
And the fact that it doesn’t have issues like the 9950x3d in a game like flight simulator is nice.
soggybiscuit93@reddit
The most important thing the 9950X3D2 does is establish new pricing for the top end consumer CPU, to make the inevitable price hikes for Zen 6 more palatable.
Berzerker7@reddit
Eh. I mean, this is still relative to what the CPUs do. Sure it's more expensive than their previous top end, but this is even more top end. If the Zen 6 chip coming after this doesn't have as much as what this does, it won't make sense to price it similarly.
soggybiscuit93@reddit
The Zen 6 parts coming after this are 1) Made on a significantly more expensive node, and 2) have to contend with wafer supply directed towards the datacenter CPU shortage
glizzygobbler247@reddit (OP)
True, they already raised cpu prices by up to 15% a few weeks ago
tarpdetarp@reddit
Are there any workloads where this chip makes sense?
Maybe if you're virtualising multiple games to run on a single system, but anyone doing that beyond a few clients will be using Epic instead.
Berzerker7@reddit
Flight Simulator.
According to Tom's hardware review, a 24% increase in performance over a 9950X3D
It's still just as good as a 9850X3D, but I personally had a 9950X3D for the cores, so now I can have best of both worlds.
ptr1337@reddit
Databases and stuff like this. See Phoronix Review.
For gaming and media creation this cpu doesnt have any real benefit
Plank_With_A_Nail_In@reddit
Databases for things like web apps are normally doing very simple few row selects or updates, none of which are CPU intensive, the CPU monitor will show the CPU as idle. If you get the database to change the type of every row in a table then you will see CPU go to 90% but thats a rare thing to do.
absolute-degen1337@reddit
No database will be run on a consumer Ryzen...
ptr1337@reddit
Of course there are. Consumer CPUs are still a lot used for hosting services, game servers and co.
absolute-degen1337@reddit
Makes no sense for databases tho. Especially not something cost ineffective like this chip.
glitchvid@reddit
It does if you pay a per-core licensing fee.
absolute-degen1337@reddit
lol. those dbs are running on the 16/32 core epycs, but believe what you want to believe.
glitchvid@reddit
9175F and 9375F are $4k and $5K respectively. What was that about cost ineffective?
absolute-degen1337@reddit
and now Look at the cost of an sql enterprise license per core. the cpu cost is irrelevant
-CynicalPole-@reddit
lmao, no it's single digit percent advantage for 30% increased cost.
Kryohi@reddit
That's completely normal and has always been at the high end. See i9s or KS parts as well.
emn13@reddit
I do get the impression that the phoronix selection of tests was picked to be representative of the kind of stuff where this chip might make sense. I'm not seeing a lot of lightly threaded stuff, and the HPC style workloads are fairly niche. The code compilation benchmarks involve fairly large codebases; those gains might not be as large in smaller ones. I suspect many of these benchmarks
I mean, I'd not say no to a 10% increase, but for that price and power increase, it's... well maybe it's OK, but I'm not sure I'd call it "not bad at all". It's not as disappointing as intel's KS parts have tended to be, but man, those have been pretty disappointing for a long time - that's hardly a high bar.
ComplexEntertainer13@reddit
Well, maybe there's some guy out there multi boxing in MMOs or similar that could see some benefit.
Euler007@reddit
For me it's assembling and manipulating point clouds which can be huge datasets (in the terabytes). Lights up all core. But realistically for most of my other workflows the most important thing is single thread performance, I can always just start those big operations at night or when I'm stepping away from the computer (or limit the number of cores used so I can still work on other stuff while it's banging away in the background).
Geddagod@reddit
There are no Zen 5 V-cache Epyc skus.
ElementII5@reddit
Going through the phoronix benchmark some LLM inference stuff gets a good boost. Most other stuff is just a few % higher.
Numerous-Loan-8008@reddit
I'm SHOCKED that putting 3DVCache on the second CCD that's almost completely useless for gaming did almost nothing 😱
INITMalcanis@reddit
I suppose it might be useful for multi-boxers. There are more people who do that kind of thing than people outside the scene suspect.
Pillokun@reddit
some people have said that a dual ccd cpu with v-cache on both would have been pointless as the issues with two separate ccds would still remain. Having the ccds placed closer like intel does with its tiles and then having a v-cache bringing the ccds would have been the perfect solution.
Saw some people here in the tech sub reddits saying: -what do u know, u think u know better than amd...
people dont understand why companied do release incremental steps or from the consumer perspective "milking" :P
when the v-cache solution came out, some even said that in the future the entire l3$ will probably disappear from the ccds, and what do we see? exactly that in rumoured u-arch regardless of some people trying to be a companies knight in shining armour...
porcinechoirmaster@reddit
AMD: "We tried putting X3D caches on each chiplet, it didn't net much so we decided it wasn't worth it."
Customers: "BUT I WANT MY DUAL CACHE CHIPLETS MY NICHE WORKLOAD NEEDS IT"
AMD: "Okay, fine, if you really want it..."
Customers: "WTF THIS IS SHIT AND BARELY FASTER THAN THE SINGLE CACHE CHIPLET PARTS WHY WOULD I BUY THIS"
AMD: "Listen, motherfu-"
Whirblewind@reddit
Dishonest to imply they're the same customers.
OftenSarcastic@reddit
I wish there was a reviewer that consistently tested sim speed in various games.
My 5800X3D starts to noticeably struggle around 150K population in Cities Skylines 2, with every core at 100% load. By 170K it won't really go above 2x sim speed and around 250K population it's stuck at 1x sim speed.
I know the X3D cache translates to ~25% more frame rate in that game, but there's like zero info on what it does for sim speed.
FranciumGoesBoom@reddit
Maybe there is a reason why AMD didn't release a dual x3d chip up until now. There are probably 2 or 3 real use cases where this makes sense, for everyone else just get the 9950X3d or 9950X.
glitchvid@reddit
This should've just been an EPYC 4005 SKU; that's where it has actual use cases and a market willing to pay this price.
Plank_With_A_Nail_In@reddit
Those people already have other multi x3d cpus to pick from and the money to pay for them. Multi x3d has been a thing on EPYC for years now.
glitchvid@reddit
Not for Zen 5. Not at 5+Ghz.
There are several OEMs of EPYC 4005 blade servers for a reason.
Noble00_@reddit
That would make WAY to much sense for AMD to figure out lol
glitchvid@reddit
Probably figured they could just extract some extra margin from the kinds who only buy the "best of the best". I don't really blame them, those types are easy marks.
zzzoom@reddit
It probably will, they just get consumers to test it.
glitchvid@reddit
The companies in the 4005 market will just buy this chip, there isn't a real difference between EPYC/Ryzen/Pro SKUs*. They all drop in to the same server am5 boards.
*Sans secure computing facilities.
Dangerman1337@reddit
There are quite a few workloads that make a lot of sense for this, especially LLM/Inference which they said it's for pretty much.
upbeatchief@reddit
I don't know much about LLM demands. Bit shouldn't all generative AI prefer GPUs over CPUs?
Butzwack@reddit
you're correct, GPUs are by far faster then CPUs at inference, but you need enough (v)ram to fit the model in the first place, so on consumer hardware you often have to run a large part of the model weights on the cpu for price reasons.
For comparison: 96GB of DDR5 costs \~900€ (used to be \~250€), for 96GB attached to a GPU you need a rtx pro 6000 blackwell at around 9300€
igenicoOCE@reddit
Fluid simulation has a hilarious performance increase. 50 times faster than the 285K.
Still extremely niche CPU though.
meodd8@reddit
It just feels too expensive for what it is. I know they originally didn’t make a similar product because of how expensive they thought it would be… but there’s clearly a whole lot of margin built into this product.
Vushivushi@reddit
It's basically 2x 9800X3D so it's priced accordingly.
Noble00_@reddit
I think releasing it late is actually a bad PR move, which is funny. Had they release it alongside the 9950X3D, it would've educated the community on the matter, and people would understand the use cases. But now, since they needed a mid-gen refresh to get sales going (and probably get more supply), there's a lot of built up expectations and unsurprisingly gains where people thought there'd be are not there. Plus the price tag next to the 270K Plus which makes it look silly
StarbeamII@reddit
What they did was the better move, as X3D advanced packaging capacity is finite, and 9800X3D’s were selling out for months and months. Spending that finite capacity on dual-X3D parts would have been a waste when there were lots of people lining up waiting to buy 9800X3D’s. Now that they have capacity, it makes sense to do the dual-X3D part.
StaysAwakeAllWeek@reddit
Nah it would have been worse PR to deal with all the complaining from the crowd who buys the biggest number parts every gen just because it's the biggest number, who would have felt scammed even if AMD warned them
zzzoom@reddit
Any release of any hardware is a bad PR move because reviewers are constantly rage baiting for engagement.
Geddagod@reddit
Didn't Intel's ARL refresh get pretty good reviews because of the prices?
Jaz1140@reddit
So unnecessary TBH, what games require both CCD's to using all their cores for the game and this each CCD'S 3d cache?
And you wouldn't want both 3d v-cache being used if only 1 CCD's cores are handling the game, if that CCD has to try access the V-cache on the other chiplet you would see a big latency difference and basically defeate the purpose of having the V-cache directly on top of the cores
FitCress7497@reddit
you're literally paying for 2 9800x3ds glued together lol
Direct_Jeweler_7457@reddit
No it's not 9800x3d is 2 8 core ccds glued together with 1 having extra l3 cache while the other one is standart
While this one has 2 ccds with extra l3 cache
Hairy-Dare6686@reddit
The 9800x3d only has 8 cores on a single CCD, what you are thinking off is the 9950x3d.
Direct_Jeweler_7457@reddit
whatever you know what i meant
tr2727@reddit
Hmm i will like to see the comparison vs 7500x3d for the value/performance ratio just to feel good lol
imaginary_num6er@reddit
Glad to see 9950X3D 2% with 2% increase in performance for Adobe Premier Pro 2026
forgottenendeavours@reddit
Do note, that doesn't really tell us anything about how this chip performs. The thing with Prem Pro / Photoshop / Lightroom is that they're more like mini-operating systems in which each task is like its own mini-app, and because of that, saying they score 2% better overall with this chip doesn't really tell us too much. It could be 10%-15% faster at a task that's important to you (and genuinely - bulk exports traditionally have benefited significantly from MT and extra cache), or it could be equal, or a slight regression from the standard X3D. The summary score doesn't really tell you anything.
glizzygobbler247@reddit (OP)
The ZEN 5% memes continue, just now in different flavor
dparks1234@reddit
There’s always someone willing to spend whatever it takes to have the best
canycosro@reddit
The naming format is well respected and has 2 in the name the price makes it seem like king of the hill it will have buyers.
Noble00_@reddit
Now gamers know lol what AMD has been trying to say. Though, with upcoming NVL dual bLLC, I wonder if they have something interesting that'll make it different in gaming than their single bLLC compute tile or if it'll end up just like this (bragging rights reserved since Intel would have more cores, and no rumours on 3d v-cache amount for Zen6 since NVL is expected to have more or if Zen6 v-cache will launch at the same time as it).
At least we know what to expect for dual tile NVL, thanks AMD, will probably launch upwards of $900 since this time they'd have no answer for it.
ConsistencyWelder@reddit
So if you want the best on the market, you have to pay a premium. Nothing new here. Still better than Intel's KS series that were basically just only better on paper, if you had the right cooling. And then not really to a noticeable degree. It's not easy, but easier to justify the 9950X3D2.
CarsonWentzGOAT1@reddit
the price is horrendous
f1rstx@reddit
you can't with this dumb pricing, it's insanely overpriced crap
imaginary_num6er@reddit
You might still need good cooling since for multi-core workloads, the 9950X3D was pulling 298W. Only 17W less than the 14900K