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.

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

#26
rv8000
phanbueyThe 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...
Basically this, eager to see how it handles PBO + eclk. My 9800x3d does 5.5 with a mix of pbo and small eclk oc. If the 9850x3d can hit 5.8+ in similar conditions it will, at the very least, be interesting.
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#27
TheEndIsNear
How disappointing hardware has become since the old days. I long for the celeron 300a, sandy bridge type breakthroughs. But as with all things in life.. they get worse
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#28
windwhirl
TheEndIsNearHow disappointing hardware has become since the old days. I long for the celeron 300a, sandy bridge type breakthroughs. But as with all things in life.. they get worse
What the hell were you expecting when this is the same architecture and AMD has already stated years ago that they don't want to leave performance on the table when possible so the products already come clocked close to their limits?
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#29
Pumper
windwhirlDon'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.
Wouldn't matter to most people as the majority would be upgrading their current AM4 systems, including me.

Back when the 5700X3Ds were going for below 200€, I still needed more cores than gaming performance. Now that I no longer render, gaming performance is my priority, but people are selling their used 5700X3D/5800X3D at 400€ and more, while new ones are out of stock. Even Ali is selling them at >350€, so it's a dumb upgrade at this point.
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#30
windwhirl
Pumperare selling their used 5700X3D/5800X3D at 400€ and more, while new ones are out of stock. Even Ali is selling them at >350€, so it's a dumb upgrade at this point.
Hard to believe the 5700X3D had a lower MSRP than the vanilla 5700X and like a 50% discount compared to the 5800X3D for a shitty 400 Mhz less.. I see your point tho
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#31
Makaveli
TheEndIsNearHow disappointing hardware has become since the old days. I long for the celeron 300a, sandy bridge type breakthroughs. But as with all things in life.. they get worse
Those days are long gone and not coming back.

Both Intel and AMD don't leave performance on the table anymore for general overclocking.
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#32
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer
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
Tell me you have no idea how chips are developed without telling me.
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#33
_larry
windwhirl> Acer 32" 170hz VA
I'm guessing this is a 4K monitor? Then yeah, you don't really need to care.
Nah, 1440p. But yeah, I'm sure it still doesn't make more than 5 frames difference..
Edit: I'm actually unsure if it is a VA or IPS at this point. Will confirm later...
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#37
PenguinBelly
OnasiBase 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.
Base clock is absolutely relevant. As a matter of fact I am a bit dubious that ALL 9800X3D's can handle 4.70 GHz base clock, by which I mean all-cores running at fixed 4.70 GHz at any load thrown at it.
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#38
LittleBro
How to put it ...
9850X3D is a product no one asked for. Absolutely unneccessary.
On the other hand, the 9950X3D2, that many people asked for, was not introduced.
AMD really can't stop shooting themselves in the knee ...
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#39
wNotyarD
PenguinBellyBase clock is absolutely relevant. As a matter of fact I am a bit dubious that ALL 9800X3D's can handle 4.70 GHz base clock, by which I mean all-cores running at fixed 4.70 GHz at any load thrown at it.
4.7 is too low for any Ryzen 9000 to not hit it at any given time or load. Heck, 9800X3D's 5.2 boost clock is also too low (in comparison to non-X3D's Ryzens) so it is also probably at its boost clock all the time, unlike its non-X3D or higher-core-count siblings. Check this comparison between the 9800X3D and the 9700X:



Now, what this means is that quite possibly the 9850X3D can't keep at its 5.6GHz boost at every load.
PS: I think the 9700X was tested at release when its TDP was set to 65W. @W1zzard does its boost clock behavior stay the same after AMD increased its TDP to 120W?
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#40
Onasi
PenguinBellyBase clock is absolutely relevant. As a matter of fact I am a bit dubious that ALL 9800X3D's can handle 4.70 GHz base clock, by which I mean all-cores running at fixed 4.70 GHz at any load thrown at it.
There isn’t a single current gen CPU that isn’t exceeding its base frequency by quite a bit on any given workload, heavy all-thread AVX ones included, provided there are no cooling issues. Same thing applies to GPUs. You will not see these chips run at base clock under anything resembling sane, normal operation. End of.
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#41
phanbuey
OnasiThere isn’t a single current gen CPU that isn’t exceeding its base frequency by quite a bit on any given workload, heavy all-thread AVX ones included, provided there are no cooling issues. Same thing applies to GPUs. You will not see these chips run at base clock under anything resembling sane, normal operation. End of.
Sure - let's all have 100mhz base clock then.

This is a bit of a ridiculous implication from this statement. The question of why AMD didn't also boost the baseclock is valid. If it's much better silicon, then the 'worst-case', so to speak, would have also materially improved. This seems like slightly binned, if not the exact same chip, with a more aggressive boost profile.
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#42
hsew
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 to chase diminishing returns... Each Ghz is worth less than the last!
TheEndIsNearHow disappointing hardware has become since the old days. I long for the celeron 300a, sandy bridge type breakthroughs. But as with all things in life.. they get worse
This market has simply matured, and shrewd leadership has subdued innovation for the sake of the shareholders.
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