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If you want a truly bleeding edge processor then the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D confidently fits the bill. As a flagship, this top-end model excels across the board in terms of gaming performance and productivity workloads. It doesn’t come cheap, far from it in fact, but there’s no faulting the performance as one of the best CPUs for gaming available in 2024. It highlights not only what AM5 is capable of right now, but also shows bright promise as to what the change of architecture will bring in the future.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
- Leading performance
- Lower TDP than non-3D variant
- Compatible with AM4 coolers
- 7950X may be better for non-gaming
- No support for DDR4 RAM
Why we’ve scored it a 4.5
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D excels across the board, particularly with its gaming performance thanks to the second-generation 3D V-cache. However, if you’re looking for a top-end creative chipset then the non-3D variant may be better suited here.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D price
Here’s the factor that’s going to alienate people the fastest – the price tag. As touched upon above the Zen 4 flagship doesn’t come cheap with its MSRP of $699 being around $100 more than the Intel Core i9-14900K but around $30 cheaper than the recently released Intel Core i9-14900KS. Compared to the previous generation, the 5950X at $799 at release, this processor doesn’t seem quite as unwieldy.
There’s something of a silver lining, however, and that’s time. That’s because the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D has been available for a year meaning regular discounts are commonplace now; it’s entirely possible to find this chipset available hovering around the $570 mark through retailers such as Amazon. While that’s still at the premium end of the spectrum, when discounted, that makes this chipset cheaper than its main rival, so that’s something to consider when weighing up your options.
Be on the hunt for discounts
The 7950X3D has been available for just over a year now and it’s possible to find the chipset discounted substantially. It becomes a far more viable buy with a good chunk of change knocked off MSRP.
Then we get onto the fact that the 7950X, and all Zen 4 chipsets in general, only support DDR5 RAM as standard. You’ll be paying extra for a RAM upgrade, not to mention a new motherboard for the new AM5 socket, if you’re trading up from an older AM4 rig. Depending on the age of your current components, that’s going to mean shelling out a pretty penny for top-end performance however you slice it, albeit, with little in the way of bottlenecks provided you’ve got one of the best GPUs.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D key design
We’ve touched on this above but it’s worth highlighting separately and that’s the fact that the Ryzen 9 7950X is built on the Zen 4 architecture with the new AM5 socket. This is the first time in eight years that AMD has moved away from its previous PGA sockets and instead embraced LGA. Whereas previous AMD Ryzen chipsets would feature pins on the back to be slotted into the socket, the 7950X is smooth, with all the pins being held on the AM5 (LGA 1718) socket itself, much like with Intel’s processors.
The Ryzen 9 7950X3D features a total of 16 cores and 32 threads with a base clock speed of 4.2 GHz and a boost clock speed of up to 5.7 GHz with its 120W TDP. That’s the same amount of cores and threads as well as clock speeds as its predecessor, the 7950X, albeit with less of a power draw when compared to that chip’s 170W TDP. Despite the change of socket, you’ll be able to utilize any of your existing AM4-compatible coolers as the brackets remain identical, so the best CPU coolers should work fine.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D gaming performance
It’s clear to see why the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D reigns ahead as evidenced by the testing conducted by WePC’s Jack Howarth. Owing to the second-generation 3D V-cache, the Zen 4 flagship chip displayed outstanding figures in the likes of CS2, Cyberpunk 2077, Days Gone, and Monster Hunter World when paired up with the RTX 4070 Ti Super and 64GB Dominator Titanium RAM clocked at 6,400 MHz. The full results are below.
| Game | Average FPS |
|---|---|
| CS2 | 364 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 173 |
| Days Gone | 197 |
| Monster Hunter World | 194 |
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D synthetic benchmarks
Where the non-3D variant of this chipset may pull ahead is in the synthetic benchmarks owing to its higher power draw. However, that’s not to say that the 7950X3D pulls any punches in our suite of industry-standard tests, though. These are still leading figures in the likes of Geekbench, Cinebench R23, and CPU Z showcasing high multi-core core performance with single-core testing being nearly as strong.
| Software | Scores |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 single | 2,884 |
| Geekbench 6 multi | 21,423 |
| Cinebench R23 single-core | 1,685 |
| Cinebench R23 multi-core | 34,236 |
| CPU Z single | 720 |
| CPU Z multi | 14,931 |
Conclusion
So long as you have PCIe 5.0 compliant components in your PC, you should be able to max out software with relative ease thanks to the specs powering the 7950X3D. Its second-generation 3D V-cache and high clock speed frequencies mean it’s able to produce some leading figures on the AM5 platform with lower power consumption. As the frames evidenced in titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Monster Hunter World show, this is the hardware you want when it comes to all things gaming.
The Zen 4 line of chipsets have been impressive since their launch, especially when paired with an equally capable graphics card, but that 170W TDP has meant you’ll need some serious cooling. As the synthetic single-core performance and multi-core performance show, you can squeeze just as much out while running a little cooler. Overclockers are going to be able to push the boost frequency, too, and while it may not be as impressive out of the box as Intel’s Raptor Lake refresh in terms of raw power, its utilization is arguably more impressive.
Alternatives to the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
If you’re considering an alternative processor then we recommend the standard 7950X as the direct competitor. However, should you want to switch gears to Team Blue, the Intel Core i9-14900K is similarly priced and offers strong gaming performance further bolstered by its higher core and thread count.
You want a high-end gaming CPU
You want to future-proof your machine
You’re upgrading from AM4
You’re still running DDR4 RAM
You primarily want a productivity chip
You’re on a tight budget
Is the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D worth it?
If you want bleeding-edge performance and have the money to back it up then the 7950X3D is worth the price of investment. The added 3D V-cache may not work with older titles but for the software that can unlock its potential, you’ll see great improvements in games as more developers become familiar with optimizing for L3 cache, especially when factoring in the lower 120W TDP. However, if you’re considering a processor for more creator and productivity-led tasks, you’ll be better off with the non-3D variant.
