At CES 2025, AMD announced an expansion of its high-performance Ryzen 9000X3D desktop chip lineup, featuring the additional 3D V-Cache buffer. During the presentation, the company officially introduced the flagship models of the series — the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D.
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D leads the lineup with its 16-core, 32-thread configuration, utilizing Zen 5 architecture processors. It offers clock speeds of 4.3/5.7 GHz and has a TDP of 170W. Alongside this flagship model, the lineup is complemented by the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D (12/24 threads; 4.4/5.5 GHz) with a thermal package of 120W.
As with the previous generation X3D chips, these new processors feature a pair of 8-core dies with an additional 64MB 3D V-Cache for just one CCD. This results in a total cache capacity of 144MB for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 140MB for the Ryzen 9 9900X3D.
For the new Ryzen 9000X3D models, AMD has implemented a second-generation 3D V-Cache, which is physically placed beneath the core die. This design allows developers to significantly increase the CPU clock speeds, simplify the cooling of the silicon chips, and even unlock the option for additional overclocking. This new configuration enhances both performance and efficiency, making the Ryzen 9000X3D series a powerful choice for demanding gaming and content creation tasks.
According to internal tests by AMD, the top model Ryzen 9 9950X3D outperforms its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, by an average of 8% in gaming (1080p, high-quality settings). In multitasking workloads, the new processor shows an average advantage of 13%. This improvement highlights the increased performance of the Ryzen 9000X3D series, particularly in gaming and multi-threaded tasks.
Developers also compared the performance of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D with the higher-end model from Intel's Arrow Lake-S series for the LGA1851 platform, the Core Ultra 9 285K (8P+16E; 3.7/5.7 GHz + 3.2/4.6 GHz). AMD claims that in 40 gaming benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D outperformed the Intel competitor by an average of 20%. In content creation multitasking workloads, the new 16-core chip with 3D V-Cache showed an average productivity boost of 10%.
However, such claims require further verification, as the results can significantly depend on the specific applications being tested. Independent reviews are still awaited. According to AMD’s previous slides, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D are expected to be available for purchase in Q1 2025.
During the CES 2025 presentation, more precise timeframes were outlined, with the release of the 16/12-core Ryzen 9000X3D chips expected in March 2025. Therefore, there are still about two months until the launch. Detailed reviews will likely appear closer to the release, and the recommended prices will be announced as well.