AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D are the ultimate expression of their 7000 series processors, with crushing creative performance and even more impressive gaming performance, and are utterly worthy of our OC3D Enthusiast Award. The bar has been raised.

Adding 3D cache to the Ryzen 9 7950X makes an astonishing difference for gaming.

AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X3D is a speedy AM5 processor, but its added cache doesn't do enough to justify its effective price premium. Current Core i9 chips, and AMD's own 7950X, tamp down its relative value.

At the time of writing, the Ryzen 9 "Zen 4" 7950X3D is certainly the best gaming CPU in AMD's Zen 4 AM5 portfolio, but we don't really know what the 7800X3D is going to look like, so we would hold off purchasing for now.

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is everything that a gamer could have hoped for with Zen 4 and 3D V-Cache, delivering the same generational performance improvement that we saw with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D with better energy efficiency and some extras thrown in to really sweeten the deal. This is a premium chip though, so it's as expensive as its non-3D sibling, but to its credit it doesn't make you pay more either.

AMD’s 7950X3D truly closes the gap with Intel’s latest and greatest processors for PC gaming, but it doesn’t go much beyond in our small selection of games. With AMD promising support for its new AM5 socket through 2025, the 7950X3D feels like a great option for those who need performance in both gaming and productivity tasks.

The pricey $699 Ryzen 9 7950X3D is now the fastest gaming chip in the world. The innovative 3D-stacked design is an engineering feat, but results in reduced performance in some productivity apps and doesn’t accelerate all games. However, for the highest-end systems focused strictly on gaming, no other chip can match the 7950X3D’s sheer gaming horsepower.

With $700 it matches the launch price of the 7950X, which is definitely nice, but the 7950X has dropped down to $590 now. Saving those $110 makes perfect sense if you do not game at all. If you run a mix of workloads, both gaming and demanding applications, then I would pick the 3DV-Cache version any day over the 7950X. If your core focus is gaming and you only run light applications and browsing, then the Ryzen 9 7950X3D is certainly overkill and you should wait for the 7800X3D in April.