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

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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.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyAMD 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

(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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