AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16-core gaming CPU discovered in benchmark leak

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D has been spotted in a benchmark leak, apparently marking the first time the highly anticipated chip has been tested globally. The flagship with 16 cores Gaming CPU AMD’s Zen 5 Ryzen lineup is expected to offer similar specs to the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, but with a slight increase in overall performance.

Since our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D test shows that this chip is currently the absolute best gaming CPU around, there are plenty of reasons to be interested in what a 16-core chip based on AMD’s latest technology can do. Previous 16-core X3D variants like the 7950X3D and 5950X3D were not as fast when gaming due to the way the X3D cache is configured. However, there is speculation that the new 16-core chips could use a different X3D configuration, potentially leaving their gaming performance untapped.

This AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D leak comes from a benchmark for the game Factorio. The result will be displayed on the FactorioBox benchmark website. It clearly shows the full name of the processor used for the highest-scoring benchmark run, although no other specifications of the chip are listed, so we can’t confirm the size of the L3 cache or the clock speed of the chip.

A click on the benchmark result shows that the test was run with a somewhat ridiculous 256GB of RAM at 6,000 MT/s and on a 64-bit version of Windows via Steam. However, no further information about the system is provided.

As for the benchmark result itself, the 9950X3D sits at the top of the table, followed by models like the 9800X3D and the 14900K. However, the 5800X3D is also ahead of all other Intel chips in this benchmark, so it obviously has a strong AMD X3D bias. Additionally, the benchmark at the top of its page notes that “results vary depending on CPU clock speed, memory clock speed, memory timings, etc., so take these numbers with a grain of salt.”

Ultimately, the performance proposed here is not particularly relevant. However, the reveal of the chip’s full name is a big deal, as this is the first time we’ve seen it with a full name in a benchmark run.

What else we can expect from the chip is that like other 9000 series CPUs, it will almost certainly use the Zen 5 architecture, and we can expect it to be the new 2nd gen version of 3D V-Cache is used, which has the cache sitting under the CPU core chip rather than on top of it like previous versions of 3D V-Cache. This change has allowed the 9800X3D to run at higher clock speeds than the 7800X3D, and it could also unlock the performance advantages of the 9950X3D.

If that’s the only difference in the 9950X3D’s cache, it’s unlikely to outperform the 9800X3D in gaming performance. That’s because the 16-core X3D chips use two CPU core chips, but stack the additional 3D V-cache chip on only one of those CPU core chips. This means that eight of the cores do not have fast access to the 64 MB of 3D V-cache and there may be latency issues when passing data from one CPU core chip to another.

If the 9950X3D used two 3D V-cache chips, or somehow better distributed the single chip across all 16 cores, it could unlock more performance. However, this is all speculation for now.

Rumor has it that AMD will unveil the 9950X3D and possibly a six-core 9650X3D at the CES trade show in January 2025. So we won’t have to wait long to find out the exact situation. For now, however, the 9800X3D remains the best CPU currently and will likely still be a top choice, even if the 9950X3D manages to easily overtake it in overall performance.

While we wait to find out exactly what the 9950X3D has in store for us, check out our Intel Core Ultra 265K review to see how Intel’s latest gaming CPU stacks up against the competition.