Wednesday, February 19th 2025
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D & 9900X3D CPUs Benched, Leak Suggests Pleasing Single-core Performance Improvements
AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D "Zen 5" processors are due for launch next month, but an exact date has not been announced. Currently, Team Red's 3D V-Cache-equipped Ryzen 9000 CPU series is composed of a single SKU: the popular eight-core Ryzen 7 9800X3D model. A new leak points to a possible imminent lineup expansion; the sixteen-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D and twelve-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D CPUs have finally popped up on Geekbench Browser. Both candidates seemed to be tested on the same PC platform; utilizing a GIGABYTE X670 AORUS ELITE AX motherboard and 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) of DDR5-4800 MT/s RAM. Notebookcheck
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D sample scored overall with 3363 (single-core) and 20,465 points (multi-core) in Geekbench 6.3. As expected, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D candidate's overall tallies came in slightly lower—it achieved 3274 (single-core) and 19,227 points (multi-core) overall. Press outlets were quick to compare these figures to prior generation outputs (refer to Wccftech's chart, below). On average, the incoming "Zen 5" parts surpass "Zen 4" equivalents by an average of 15%—in terms of single-core performance. Multi-core performance improvements are less significant; coming in at an average of 7%. The range-topping Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU's multi-core performance score is "lower than expected," but closer-to-launch optimizations could rectify this matter. Geekbench results often do not reflect the true potential of tested silicon; gamers tend to dismiss or completely ignore these data points. Last month, an AMD executive revealed that the two upcoming X3D Granite Ridge desktop chips: "will provide similar overall gaming performance to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D." Speculative price points—of $699 (16-core) & $599 (12-core)—leaked online last week.
Sources:
Ryzen 9 9950X3D on Geekbench, Ryzen 9 9900X3D on Geekbench, Everest/Olrak29 Tweet, VideoCardz, Wccftech (chart source), Notebookcheck
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D sample scored overall with 3363 (single-core) and 20,465 points (multi-core) in Geekbench 6.3. As expected, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D candidate's overall tallies came in slightly lower—it achieved 3274 (single-core) and 19,227 points (multi-core) overall. Press outlets were quick to compare these figures to prior generation outputs (refer to Wccftech's chart, below). On average, the incoming "Zen 5" parts surpass "Zen 4" equivalents by an average of 15%—in terms of single-core performance. Multi-core performance improvements are less significant; coming in at an average of 7%. The range-topping Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU's multi-core performance score is "lower than expected," but closer-to-launch optimizations could rectify this matter. Geekbench results often do not reflect the true potential of tested silicon; gamers tend to dismiss or completely ignore these data points. Last month, an AMD executive revealed that the two upcoming X3D Granite Ridge desktop chips: "will provide similar overall gaming performance to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D." Speculative price points—of $699 (16-core) & $599 (12-core)—leaked online last week.
10 Comments on AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D & 9900X3D CPUs Benched, Leak Suggests Pleasing Single-core Performance Improvements
1: If their multiplier will be unlocked like the 9800X3D (I assume so).
2: How high the CCD's turbo
3: If both CCD's have 3D Cache (I seem to remember AMD saying there was no point but I could be misremembering)
4: How the Scheduler handles things this go round (Especially if only one CCD has the cache)
I felt like the last time these chips were kinda an oddity in the lineup. Hopefully this round they are better!
This was also seen with the 7800X3D and the 7950X3D. If you disable/park CCD1 in the 7950X3D, you can observe the 3D cache CCD0 cores turbo to 5.4 GHz (and sometimes 5.6 GHz) without any other PBO/CO settings set. I believe this should be achievable with Process Lasso as well with the proper chipset drivers installed under 24H2.
It annoys me already to have the urge or need to create for every game a windows 11 pro 24h2 amd gpu driver gaming profile. I do not want to bother now creating profiles for any software i use with "process lasso". That stuff should be done flawless by a decent paid operating system out of the box. It is a kernel problem - not a userspace problem.
Meanwhile there are some actually interesting news which should excite any (prospective) owner of Zen 5; AVX-512 improvements in FFmpeg. While it may be a small step, improvements such as these will continue to add value to products which supports it.