Tuesday, January 6th 2026

AMD Launches Ryzen 7 9850X3D, The World's Fastest Gaming CPU Gets Even Faster

CES by
btarunr
 Discuss (43 Comments)
AMD today launched the Ryzen 7 9850X3D desktop processor. This 8-core/16-thread processor is powered by the "Zen 5" microarchitecture supercharged with 3D V-Cache technology, and is essentially a speed-increase over the current 9800X3D. The chip comes with a base frequency of 4.70 GHz, and maximum boost frequency of 5.60 GHz, a significant increase over the 4.70 GHz base and 5.20 GHz maximum boost of the 9800X3D. This 400 MHz increase in maximum boost frequency should increase boost frequency residency across thread counts. The chip is configured with 120 W TDP. The 3rd Gen 3D V-Cache technology sees the 64 MB L3D located below the 8-core CCD, as opposed to being above it in the past two generations, which should let the CCD enjoy similar thermal characteristics to non-X3D Ryzen processors, letting them sustain higher boost frequencies and overclocking capabilities. AMD said retail availability of the 9850X3D should commence in Q1 2026, the company didn't reveal pricing.

Related News

Add your own comment

43 Comments on AMD Launches Ryzen 7 9850X3D, The World's Fastest Gaming CPU Gets Even Faster

#1
N/A
Still on the ancient 4nm node. when 3nm provides 18% speed improvement at the same power, and 2nm provides another 18% compared to 3nm. So we should see a noticeable improvement and 7-8 Ghz with ZEN 6
Posted on Reply
#2
dgianstefani
TPU Proofreader
N/AStill on the ancient 4nm node. when 3nm provides 18% speed improvement at the same power, and 2nm provides another 18% compared to 3nm. So we should see a noticeable improvement and 7-8 Ghz with ZEN 6
Highly doubt Zen 6 is 7-8 GHz. 6.5 max I'd say, more realistically 6.2.
Posted on Reply
#3
Nostras
Should've named it the 9850X3DXT to appropriately set expectations.
Posted on Reply
#4
mb194dc
N/AStill on the ancient 4nm node. when 3nm provides 18% speed improvement at the same power, and 2nm provides another 18% compared to 3nm. So we should see a noticeable improvement and 7-8 Ghz with ZEN 6
How much more is it going to cost on 2nm ? More importantly, in a normal use case environment of minimum 1440p for a $5k 5090, what difference do you think they'll be in FPS ?

Soon we'll need to spend 10k to get a top of the line gaming setup ?
Posted on Reply
#5
MarkoB88
Cherry picked 9800X3D i am NOT impressed!
Posted on Reply
#6
jesdals
NostrasShould've named it the 9850X3DXT to appropriately set expectations.
Or perhaps 9850X3DXTAI thats almost Nvidian
Posted on Reply
#7
piloponth
MarkoB88Cherry picked 9800X3D i am NOT impressed!
Compute chiplets are actually on newer stepping ;)
Posted on Reply
#8
jesdals
Well the server chips hints that Zen 6 comes with up to 12 cores pr CCD thats interresting
Posted on Reply
#9
_roman_
How can the fastest cpu can get faster? It is already the fastest. My logic processor is broken reading this: Fastest Gaming CPU Gets Even Faster

5GHz base clock would have been impressive. The same base clock is disappointing for myself. The same base clock, same Cache and same TDP implies no progress and no improvement.
Posted on Reply
#10
Prima.Vera
Wait. Except for the boost, which can be easily done in Bios for the same value, what other differences are there between this 9850 and the 9800 ??
Posted on Reply
#11
Pumper
No interest in these, the RAM prices being what they are. I'd rather they restart the AM4 X3D production.
Posted on Reply
#12
windwhirl
PumperNo interest in these, the RAM prices being what they are. I'd rather they restart the AM4 X3D production.
Don't worry about that, by the time they'd finish restarting AM4 X3D production the DDR4 sticks would be priced as high as DDR5 anyway. Or be out of stock, pick your poison.
Posted on Reply
#13
_larry
I'm pretty happy with my 9700X. No real reason to upgrade I feel like.
Posted on Reply
#14
windwhirl
Prima.VeraWait. Except for the boost, which can be easily done in Bios for the same value, what other differences are there between this 9850 and the 9800 ??
Probably none. Mainstream Ryzen CPUs are only different in number of cores, clocks, cache, TDP. Cache is tied to number of CCDs for the L3, and L1 and L2 are the same per-core across the entire product line. Clocks and TDP are whatever if you can adjust everything inside UEFI and have your CPU run as fast as your cooling allows.
Posted on Reply
#15
Onasi
_roman_5GHz base clock would have been impressive. The same base clock is disappointing for myself. The same base clock, same Cache and same TDP implies no progress and no improvement.
Base clock is irrelevant. No 9800X3D ever ran below max boost even on full-core loads, this one won’t be different. It’s 2026, people should finally figure out that the base frequency is, essentially, just an obligatory number, both on CPUs and GPUs. They aren’t ever gonna run those.
Posted on Reply
#16
windwhirl
_larryI'm pretty happy with my 9700X. No real reason to upgrade I feel like.
> Acer 32" 170hz VA
I'm guessing this is a 4K monitor? Then yeah, you don't really need to care.
Posted on Reply
#18
Sabato69
BorisDGWhere is the 9950X3D2?
yeah,

i thinked that they presented together ?

Any news ?
Posted on Reply
#19
rv8000
BorisDGWhere is the 9950X3D2?
Doesn’t exist, still surprised people thought this was going to happen.
Posted on Reply
#20
_roman_
rv8000Doesn’t exist, still surprised people thought this was going to happen.
The usual Twitter, alias X, hoax was not true. Oh wow. /sarcasm. Well I will see it at the end of this week most likely when all the new stuff was written about.
Posted on Reply
#21
retrozippy
MarkoB88Cherry picked 9800X3D i am NOT impressed!
As opposed to what? Intel's highest standard desktop CPU is still the i9 14900k from over 2 years ago. Zen 6 is coming later this year as will an Intel 300 series. This is how its always been.
Posted on Reply
#22
Hereticbar
_roman_How can the fastest cpu can get faster? It is already the fastest. My logic processor is broken reading this: Fastest Gaming CPU Gets Even Faster

5GHz base clock would have been impressive. The same base clock is disappointing for myself. The same base clock, same Cache and same TDP implies no progress and no improvement.
Maybe you need to update your logic processor or put it into overdrive. When something is fastest, doesn't mean it cannot go even faster. It can always go faster, when there is still more performance left to squeeze out of it.

Let me put it this way, Usain Bolt broke the 100m world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A year later he broke his own world record at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. How can the someone that is already the fastest man alive be faster? By running even faster.

Base frequency is the guaranteed sustained minimum speed under standard and normal workloads, it is there to cover AMD's ass. Unless you have a shitty motherboard or cooling, thus limited by power and heat, the boost frequency is what you should look at.
Prima.VeraWait. Except for the boost, which can be easily done in Bios for the same value, what other differences are there between this 9850 and the 9800 ??
Sure, it can be done. However, the 9850X3D is able to easily boost to 5.6GHz without overclocking while a 9800X3D would most likely need an extra bit of juice to do it at the expense of 4-6˚C higher temperature.

That's what a better and higher binned CPU does, it performs above average compared to identical CPU due to superior silicon quality. In turn, this allow for it to maintain a higher clock speed at same or lower voltage.

Let's not forget the 9850X3D can probably be made to run even faster with something as simple as PBO +200. It would then ran 4-6˚C warmer for 4% extra performance, I am being generous here. :)
Posted on Reply
#23
phanbuey
The real test is - is it the same "max boost" that was advertised for the 9800x3d - i.e. - 5.2Ghz is stock max boost but has PBO +200, does this have also the +200 and is it stable? 5.8Ghz 9800X3D does sound interesting, although I doubt i could tell the difference between a 7800x3d and a 9800x3d in a black box, let alone a 5.42 ghz x3d vs a 5.8 ghz x3d...
Posted on Reply
#24
Makaveli
N/AStill on the ancient 4nm node. when 3nm provides 18% speed improvement at the same power, and 2nm provides another 18% compared to 3nm. So we should see a noticeable improvement and 7-8 Ghz with ZEN 6
Its a refresh product they were never going to change the node.

That will be done for zen 6.

And 7-8 Ghz sounds unrealistic
Posted on Reply
#25
BorisDG
Also it's not always about the node, but the architecture. For example, when Apple moved from N4P (5nm) A16 Bionic to A17 Pro on N3B, the CPU uplift was very minimal. The core reason was kinda the same Everest/Sawtooth architecture.
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Nov 15th, 2026 04:34 CST change timezone

Latest GPU Drivers

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

TPU on YouTube

Controversial News Posts