AMD ramps up gaming performance with new X3D CPUs, and they’re almost here

By Patrick Hearn Published March 7, 2025

A man playing games on a computer — NA

If you’re waiting for a chance to upgrade your gaming rig, you don’t have to wait much longer. AMD announced that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D will hit store shelves on March 12 for $699 and $599, respectively. First unveiled at CES 2025, these two processors promise huge gains in performance for gamers wanting the best frame rates and visuals they can possibly get.

AMD describes the Ryzen 9 9950X3D as the “ultimate 16-core desktop CPU,” and while there might be a bit of hyperbole involved, this is an undeniably powerful piece of hardware. Its 16 cores give it 32 Threads, and it comes with a base clock speed of 4.3GHz that can boost up to 5.7GHz. It also sports a 144MB cache and uses an admittedly high 170W TDP.

Recommended Videos

The world's best processor for gaming and content creation is almost here.

Available starting March 12th
Ryzen 9 9950X3D – $699
Ryzen 9 9900X3D – $599

A huge thank you to our incredible community of gamers, creators, and innovators for your continued support. Together,… pic.twitter.com/ino6ZNMvi6

— Jack Huynh (@JackMHuynh) March 7, 2025

The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is slightly less powerful, but still nothing to scoff at. With 12 cores and 24 Threads, this CPU is more than capable of handling most anything you throw at it, but make no mistake: it’s designed with gaming in mind. With a base clock speed of 4.4 GHz and a max speed of 5.5GHz, you’ll get great performance with a more reasonable 120W TDP.

If the prices feel familiar, it’s because AMD hasn’t changed a thing from the last-generation equivalents of these two cards. It’s still on the higher-end compared to other cards on the market, but these offer an alternative to the hard-to-find 9800X3D. Opting for a non-X3D card will save money, but comes with a significant gaming performance hit.

If either of these processors sounds like the missing link in your ideal gaming rig, keep your eyes peeled: they’ll be available for purchase in less than a week.

Topics

Mobile Writer

Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…

Computing

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D accounts for nearly all Zen 5 sales

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D sitting on a motherboard.

Recent sales data from German retailer MindFactory highlights a striking trend in AMD’s Zen 5 CPU lineup, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D accounting for nearly 90% of all Ryzen 9000-series sales. The latest figures indicate that consumers overwhelmingly prefer this gaming-optimized processor over other models in the lineup.

In January 2025, MindFactory recorded 25,625 total CPU sales, with AMD capturing 92.16% of the market—equivalent to 23,615 units. Intel, by contrast, managed to sell just 2,010 processors, reinforcing AMD’s dominance in the consumer market.

Computing

AMD calls Intel’s Arrow Lake ‘horrible’

Fingers holding an Intel 285K.

Shots fired. Frank Azor, an AMD executive, just straight-up called Intel's Arrow Lake line of CPUs "horrible." Where did it all start? Why, with the ongoing shortage of AMD’s best gaming processors, of course. And surprisingly, AMD blames Intel for the fact that its X3D processors are hard to come by right now.

In a recent media roundtable reported by Tom's Hardware, AMD admitted that it never expected the demand for its CPUs to be that high. In fact, it expected it to be lower because it thought that Intel would be more competitive -- but since Arrow Lake turned out to be largely unimpressive, people turned to AMD for their next-gen CPUs even more so than before.

Computing

AMD’s new Ryzen Z2 chip promises ‘console-class’ performance for handhelds

Steam Deck and ROG Ally sitting together on a table.

As AMD confirmed to Digital Trends last year, the new range of Ryzen Z2 chips is here to kick off 2025. Announced during AMD's CES 2025 keynote, there are three models that make up the Ryzen Z2 range, which AMD says is designed to meet the "explosive demand" for handheld gaming PCs. Although we don't have any specific devices featuring the Ryzen Z2 range yet, AMD says "you'll see [the Ryzen Z2] coming to market from a number of partners -- the Legion Go, the ROG Ally, the Steam Deck."

You can see how the range breaks down below. Similar to AMD's first generation of handheld APUs, we're getting both a base Ryzen Z2 and an Extreme variant. Both come with eight cores and 16 threads, but the Z2 Extreme boasts 16 graphics cores compared to 12 on the base Ryzen Z2. The Ryzen Z2 Extreme can also climb a bit higher, up to 35 watts. Compared to the Ryzen Z1 range, both of these chips also come with a boost to 24MB of cache, compared to 16MB on the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.

nproxy.org