Do You Really Want the Finest Gaming CPU?

AMD is utilizing its newest CPU launch to declare, as soon as once more, it’s the present king of gaming CPUs for desktops. We lastly know the way a lot the long-rumored AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D will price and when you possibly can count on to have it in hand. But earlier than you exit and drop the price of a funds PC on a single CPU, know that the majority avid gamers can seize a less expensive CPU and never miss out on a lot.

The Ryzen 7 9850X3D, which was first introduced at CES 2026, is ready to launch Jan. 29 for a urged retail value of $500. The earlier reigning champion, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D from final yr, was first launched for $480. Sure, in case you’re already spending the price of a Nintendo Switch 2 on a CPU, what’s $20 extra? While the 9800X3D chip nonetheless sits at that astronomical value at some retailers, it repeatedly goes on sale for much less. Around Black Friday final yr, the CPU dropped beneath $450 and even price lower than $400 at some retailers like Micro Center. We don’t know with the continuing reminiscence scarcity whether or not we’ll see such value cuts once more, however the price of PCs is so astronomical it’s nonetheless price your time to save lots of each penny.

So what does the Ryzen 7 9850X3D get you that you simply don’t have already got with the 9800X3D? The new chip remains to be an 8-core, 16-thread CPU that makes use of AMD’s coveted 3D V-Cache. This means AMD stacks the CPU’s reminiscence on high of itself, leading to large advantages for gaming that is dependent upon additional reminiscence. Both chips have the identical 96MB of L3, of which 64MB is within the V-Cache. The most important distinction is clock velocity. The newer CPU has a 5.6GHz enhance clock velocity in comparison with 5.2GHz on the 9800X3D. That 400MHz could make a distinction, although solely in choose video games.

Both chips have the identical 120W TDP (thermal design energy), so that they’re utterly interchangeable on an AM5 socket. We have but to see anyone check the 9850X3D in any real-world situation, although AMD guarantees it’s going to maintain a median of 27% higher gaming efficiency on common in comparison with Intel’s main Arrow Lake CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.

The most important factor is, most avid gamers received’t really see a distinction between the 2 chips. In an interview, AMD’s head of the Ryzen product household, David McAfee, informed Gizmodo the brand new CPU would see higher efficiency in very choose titles, specifically older DirectX 9 video games and more moderen main esports video games that require greater frequencies. So a recreation like Counter-Strike 2 may even see 148% higher efficiency in comparison with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, whereas a 9800X3D will solely see 140%, no less than in line with AMD. However, video games like Marvel Rivals or Battlefield 6 received’t see any efficiency improve in case you plug in both CPU. These small proportion will increase would end in a naked few additional frames to your video games.

Even then, we received’t know what these numbers imply for real-world efficiency till we now have the CPU in hand. You can spend the additional $20 to be sure you get the height of CPU efficiency, although you actually don’t must improve if you have already got a 9800X3D buzzing inside your gaming rig. The newest in AMD’s X3D household will nonetheless not be pretty much as good at another productiveness duties as different high-end CPUs from each Intel and AMD. These are purely graphics-centric chips constructed with avid gamers in thoughts. Anybody who can nab both of those chips for cheaper than the $500 asking value ought to really feel sated in the interim.