Epilogue
AMD bumped notably the prices on its new Ryzen 9000 series processors, with the 9950x going for almost 650 dollars. The problems that Intel currently faces lead to limited competition for AMD, so most likely, it took the opportunity to increase the price of its products since, for the moment, it is the only player in the field. Not having a strong competitor is a problem, mainly for all of us consumers. I hope that AMD won’t fully exploit this situation until Intel gets back on its feet or until another competitor arises in this CPU market, which would be the ideal scenario.
The Ryzen 9 9950x is expensive at 649 dollars. Although its performance is high enough, it is not that high to justify the increased price tag, given that in many scenarios, the 7950X3D is as fast and even faster while costing less and having lower energy requirements. Especially in gaming, the X3D processors are a one-way road, leaving the 9000 series processors far behind. In rendering, the 9000 series are strong performers. Still, in my Davinci Resolve benchmark, the performance difference between the 9950x and the 7950X3D is still not that high.
Power consumption increases, especially compared to the highly efficient 7950X3D processor. The difference reaches 85W in multi-threaded applications, and it is close to 61W in gaming. With a peak power consumption of 286W and an average of 237W during the Blender benchmark, it is clear that this CPU requires a strong cooling solution if you want to exploit its capabilities. The more effective the CPU’s cooling solution, the higher its clocks will be. I used a Noctua NH-D15 G2, despite AMD’s recommendation for water cooling, to retain compatibility with all previous CPU results. I didn’t notice any issues since the temperatures were kept in control. I know this cooler is super expensive, but you can easily find way more affordable alternatives offering strong cooling performance. Or you can follow AMD’s advice and use an AIO with at least a 240mm radiator.
If you care mostly about gaming, the major competitor for the 9950x is the 7950X3D or the 7800X3D. Both CPUs are way more affordable than the 9950X, which makes me wonder why AMD used this pricing scheme for its new processors. I look forward to a 9950X3D, with lower power consumption and increased gaming performance. Hopefully, AMD will also lower the prices of its new processors to make them more appealing.
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU Review: Performance, Thermals & Power Analysis
- AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU Review: Performance, Thermals & Power Analysis
- High overall performance
- Low operating temperatures
- High single-thread performance
- PCIe Gen5 support for both storage and graphics
- Support for higher RAM speeds
- Integrated GPU
- A high-end air-cooling solution can handle its thermal needs
- DDR5 support up to 8000 MHz (in AMD 870-series mainboards)
- TSMC 4nm process
- AVX512 and AI instructions support
- AMD ECO mode for lower power consumption
- Increased price
- Increased power consumption (especially in IDLE)
- Requires strong cooling to exploit its capabilities fully
- I expected higher gaming performance
- No NPU (Neural Processing Unit) for accelerating neural network processes (AI acceleration)
Is the Noctua NH-D15 G2, with good ventilation, enough for the full potential of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X?