Two new AMD Ryzen X3D gaming CPUs are reportedly coming soon, with much higher clock speeds than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which launched earlier this year. According to many rumors, the 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D are both set to be announced in January 2025, but information about some of the key specs has now leaked as well.
We were wowed by the performance of the latest 3D V-cache tech in our recent AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, but its clock speed is still relatively low at 5.2GHz, even if you can overclock the 9800X3D easily enough. That’s apparently set to change with the new AMD X3D chips, which reportedly run at the same clock speeds as their non-X3D counterparts, but there’s a big catch.
The catch is that it doesn’t look as though the cores kitted out with 3D V-cache in these CPUs will be able to reach these high clock speeds. Instead, there will apparently be two chiplets in each CPU, one without 3D V-cache that runs at high clock speeds, and one with 3D V-cache that runs at a lower frequency.
This latest rumor comes from regular tech leaker HXL (9550pro) in a post on X (formerly Twitter), as well as some extra leaks about the chips in further posts. The key one states “Zen5 X3D No frequency debuff,” implying that the new X3D chips will run at the same clock speeds as their non-X3D siblings. If that’s true, this means the Ryzen 9 9950X3D clock speed is 5.7GHz, while the Ryzen 9 9900X3D clock speed is 5.6GHz, when referring to maximum boost clocks.
This is further bolstered by a post in which HXL says that the single-thread (1T) and multi=threaded (nT) performance of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D in Cinebench R23 is close to that of the Ryzen 9950X. When asked whether the clock speed applies to all cores, including those with 3D V-cache, the reply says “Frequency CCD + Cache CCD,” meaning two chiplets, one with a high clock speed, and one with extra cache.
This rumored setup works very similarly to that of AMD’s current X3D chips, which also have the extra cache on one chiplet, and higher clock speeds on another one. However, this has created a few issues. One is that the Ryzen 9 7900X3D has six cores on each chiplet, meaning that only six of its cores have 3D V-cache, making the 7800X3D a better CPU for gaming, as all eight of its cores can access the extra cache. Another issue has been latency between cores – if a game uses a core on the wrong chiplet, then it might get a higher clock speed, but it has to go off-chip in order to access the data in the extra cache on the other chiplet.
AMD is rumored to be taking a new approach with these new X3D chips, though. Firstly, we’re hoping that the Ryzen 9 9900X3D will have one eight-core chiplet with 3D V-cache, and a second quad-core chiplet with high clock speeds, so it can at least match the 9800X3D in games.
Motherboard manufacturers, such as Gigabyte and Asus, have also started introducing a new Turbo X3D mode, which Gigabyte says offers “performance increases of up to 18% for incoming Ryzen 9000 series 16-core X3D processors.”
These modes are designed to adjust the way cores are assigned to workloads, so in a game, it could disable the chiplet without 3D V-cache entirely, as well as SMT, effectively treating your CPU as a 9800X3D. If you need more cores, perhaps for video encoding and 3D rendering, you can them switch back to a normal mode and gain access to all your cores, including ones operating at high clock speeds.
Of course, none of the above has been officially confirmed by AMD, so take it with a grain of salt for the moment, but we’re really hoping that AMD gets it right with these CPUs. It looks as though the company is aiming to get the best of both worlds in one chip, and if it’s not going to put 3D V-cache on both chiplets, then this looks like the best alternative.
If you’re looking to build a gaming PC based on one of these new chips, then check out our guide to the best gaming motherboard, which has several Socket AM5 options, and also take a look at our best gaming CPU guide, where we look at all the best options at a range of prices.