AMD’s best 3D V-Cache processor yet
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is arguably the most tantalizing entry in AMD’s line of 3D V-Cache processors to date. Cache is essential to modern processors, but exactly how much you need is debatable, and dependent on what you’re doing at the moment. The additional cache within AMD’s 3D V-Cache processors increases performance only by a relatively small amount in most scenarios, with a more prominent bump while gaming under certain conditions, and that’s still true with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. The key to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s appeal is getting this additional cache, and its accompanying performance bump, at a reasonable price: $699.99, just $50 more than the Ryzen 9 9950X. For all that, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D earns our Editors’ Choice award for gaming CPUs.Specs Compared: A 9950X Chip With 3D V-Cache
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a near twin of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X in almost every detail. Both processors, based on AMD’s « Zen 5 » architecture, feature 16 CPU cores that can maintain a top speed of 5.7GHz. The CPU cores in both are also built on TSMC’s 4nm manufacturing processors, while a separate I/O die, produced on a 6nm process, holds an AMD RDNA 2 integrated graphics processor (IGP).
The key detail that sets the Ryzen 9 9950X3D apart from the Ryzen 9 9950X is the presence of a dedicated SRAM chip that functions as 64MB of additional L3 cache for the processor. This addition pushes the total amount of L3 cache up to 128MB, and depending on the circumstances, this can have its benefits. We’ll look closer at this in benchmarks, but first, I should go over a key point about the Ryzen 9 9950X3D that arguably makes it the best AMD 3D V-Cache processor to date.
First, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D implements the second generation of 3D V-Cache technology, which places the SRAM chip beneath one of the core complex dies (CCDs) that hold the CPU cores. First-gen designs placed the SRAM on top of the CPU cores instead, which caused the CPU cores to run hotter and limited performance. This change overcame this issue, enabling AMD to maintain clock parity between the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X.
Second, the price of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is essential. Most 3D V-Cache processors have carried a relatively steep premium of around $100 or more. For example, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D launched at $479.99, making it $120 more expensive than the similar Ryzen 7 9700X, which retails for $359.99. That price increase makes the Ryzen 7 9800X3D overly costly, in my opinion, especially as the Ryzen 9 9900X is available at $499.99 and has four additional cores.
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D doesn’t have this same troubling differential, though.
