Nostalgia is a potent thing in the technology world right now. And I say that as someone with a brand new Commodore 64—a faithful replica of my very first computer—sat beside my desk. AMD is smart enough to understand this, to understand the way the cosy old days tug at the heart strings of PC gamers, especially in a difficult time where the past we yearn for is fully rose-tinted.
So we shouldn’t be surprised to see the red team taking us back a decade with its thoroughly nostalgic new CPU, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. It’s taking us back to a different time when one processor company was so dominant it could stand to release barely iterative versions of its top processors because it had precisely zero true competition.
Welcome to AMD’s very own Skylake era, an era where Intel’s gaming processors are so far off the pace AMD can replace the best gaming CPU over a year down the line with a new chip and not actually make any changes beyond a clock speed tweak. Yes, we’ve waited 15 months for an upgrade to the old Ryzen 7 9800X3D and all we get is a 400 MHz overclock.
In fairness, AMD is only looking to charge you a $20 premium over the original MSRP of the chip that it’s ostensibly replacing, in return for what is effectively a bin-sorted, factory-overclocked CPU. In terms of buying a golden sample, that premium really isn’t bad. But we know from experience jamming that sort of overclock into your cache-heavy processor isn’t going to yield much in the way of tangible performance improvements.
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Cores 8 8 8 Threads 16 16 16 Base clock speed (GHz) 4.7 4.7 3.8 Boost clock speed (GHz) 5.6 5.2 5.5 Base power (W) 120 120 65 Peak Power (W) 162 162 88 L3 cache 96 MB 96 MB 32 MB MSRP ($) 499 479 359 Buy if…
✅ You want the absolute fastest gaming CPU around: It is marginally faster than the 9800X3D and often the 9950X3D, too. ✅ You want theoretically the most reliable 3D V-Cache chip: by virtue of its bin-sorting for the most robust chips for overclocking, the 9850X3D should be the most reliable version.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You care about power draw: the extra thermal load isn’t too much of a concern unless your cooler gets shouty, but the 43% higher gaming power draw is not a good look.❌ The 9800X3D remains in plentiful supply: it may not be a huge price premium, but with costs how they are today, every penny counts.
Thankfully, it’s still one of the best gaming CPUs you will ever slap into your gaming PC, precisely because AMD hasn’t tweaked the formula for the sake of it. The 9850X3D is sporting every feature that has made the 9800X3D our top processor pick since it launched. It’s still using the Zen 5 architecture, is manufactured on the same 4nm TSMC process, and most importantly is using the second-gen version of AMD’s transformative 3D V-Cache technology.
The current way it approaches the layering of an extra dollop of speedy L3 cache into its processor designs is what has allowed AMD to release a version of arguably its best ever gaming CPU with a seriously high clock speed out of the box. The original method, which honestly felt like a bit of a proof-of-concept approach rather than a considered design, dumped the extra L3 cache directly on top of the chip’s core complex die (CCD). This was relatively simple to implement, but restricted how much heat it could stand sitting in between the CPU cores and the cooler.
This means first-gen 3D V-Cache chips are clocked far lower than their extra cache-less counterparts and are also restricted when it comes to overclocking by the end user. The second generation design, however, literally flips that around and has the L3 cache layer sitting underneath the CCD.
This means the hot little CPU cores get the same level of access to the PC’s cooling array as standard processors, and now we can have both higher clock speeds and overclocking fun times.
For the uninitiated, the benefits of the extra chunk of L3 cache are most keenly felt in gaming terms, where massively increasing the cache—here, tripling the amount over a similarly eight-core Ryzen 7 9700X—means the CPU has to go dipping into the slow world of system memory far less often, which increases performance in processor-heavy games.
You only have to look at the relative Baldur’s Gate 3 and Homeworld 3 performance between the 9850X3D, the 9700X, and the top Intel chip of today, the Core Ultra 9 285K to see what a difference 3D V-Cache can make. It’s also become useful in the datacentre world, where fluid dynamics and other simulations hugely benefit from extra cache memory—that’s why you’ll see EPYC chips rocking 3D V-Cache, too.
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This is all why an AMD 3D V-Cache CPU has been our pick as the best gaming chip for many years now.
But if you were hoping the combination of that extra on-die memory and a clock speed increase would amount to even higher gaming performance then prepare to be underwhelmed.
When I first tested the 9800X3D back in the twilight days of 2024, I squeezed a 5.58 GHz stable overclock out of our review sample without much trouble or fancy cooling, and that actually delivered consistently higher clock speeds than the 9850X3D does in games. And still the frame rate needle barely moved in terms of relative performance between stock and overclocked performance.
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High-end gaming performance
Nvidia RTX 5090
3DMark Time SpyBaldur’s Gate 3 (1080p Ultra)Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra + DLSS Balanced)Homeworld 3 (1080p Epic)Metro Exodus Enhanced Ed. (1080p High)Total War: Warhammer 3 (1080p High) CPU index scoreOverall index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D1560736624AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D1599736925010,00020,00030,00040,000
3DMark Time Spy Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D15607 CPU index score, 36624 Overall index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D15997 CPU index score, 36925 Overall index scoreAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D17392AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D16988050100150200
Baldur’s Gate 3 (1080p Ultra) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D173 Avg FPS, 92 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D169 Avg FPS, 88 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D173101AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D16594050100150200
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra + DLSS Balanced) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D173 Avg FPS, 101 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D165 Avg FPS, 94 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D14769AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D14266037.575112.5150
Homeworld 3 (1080p Epic) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D147 Avg FPS, 69 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D142 Avg FPS, 66 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D252158AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D246153075150225300
Metro Exodus Enhanced Ed. (1080p High) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D252 Avg FPS, 158 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D246 Avg FPS, 153 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D379274AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D3762560100200300400
Total War: Warhammer 3 (1080p High) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D379 Avg FPS, 274 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D376 Avg FPS, 256 1% Low FPS
It’s the same case here where, if you’re very lucky and pick out some games that really respond to 3D V-Cache—and you’re rocking a system with a high-end graphics card inside it—you might be able to see something in the region of a 2.5% frame rate increase. I tested the 9800X3D against the new 9850X3D using the RTX 5090 big boi just to take all possible GPU load out of the equation, and that’s literally as good as it gets.
If you’re sporting a more middle-of-the-road GPU, however, then the results are far more mixed, and interestingly not consistently in favour of the higher-clocked chip, either. Our standard CPU testing has historically used an RTX 4070, which is fast enough to mostly deal with 1080p gaming happily, while still being a pretty standard card.
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Gaming performance
Nvidia RTX 4070
3DMark Time SpyBaldur’s Gate 3 (1080p Ultra)Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra + DLSS Balanced)Homeworld 3 (1080p Epic)Metro Exodus Enhanced Ed. (1080p High)Total War: Warhammer 3 (1080p High) CPU index scoreOverall index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D1602917054AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D1611617052AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)1123116041AMD Ryzen 7 9700X1323916437AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D1709917084Intel Core Ultra 9 285K176681733805,00010,00015,00020,000
3DMark Time Spy Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D16029 CPU index score, 17054 Overall index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D16116 CPU index score, 17052 Overall index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)11231 CPU index score, 16041 Overall index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9700X13239 CPU index score, 16437 Overall index scoreAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D17099 CPU index score, 17084 Overall index scoreIntel Core Ultra 9 285K17668 CPU index score, 17338 Overall index scoreAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D14178AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D14676AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)14083AMD Ryzen 7 9700X9456AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D14784Intel Core Ultra 9 285K9466037.575112.5150
Baldur’s Gate 3 (1080p Ultra) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D141 Avg FPS, 78 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D146 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)140 Avg FPS, 83 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9700X94 Avg FPS, 56 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D147 Avg FPS, 84 1% Low FPSIntel Core Ultra 9 285K94 Avg FPS, 66 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D11278AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D11276AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)12084AMD Ryzen 7 9700X9959AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D11167Intel Core Ultra 9 285K10376037.575112.5150
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra + DLSS Balanced) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D112 Avg FPS, 78 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D112 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)120 Avg FPS, 84 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9700X99 Avg FPS, 59 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D111 Avg FPS, 67 1% Low FPSIntel Core Ultra 9 285K103 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D12273AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D11755AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)10460AMD Ryzen 7 9700X9149AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D10154Intel Core Ultra 9 285K7629037.575112.5150
Homeworld 3 (1080p Epic) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D122 Avg FPS, 73 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D117 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)104 Avg FPS, 60 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9700X91 Avg FPS, 49 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D101 Avg FPS, 54 1% Low FPSIntel Core Ultra 9 285K76 Avg FPS, 29 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D14990AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D14891AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)15194AMD Ryzen 7 9700X14677AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D14891Intel Core Ultra 9 285K13776050100150200
Metro Exodus Enhanced Ed. (1080p High) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D149 Avg FPS, 90 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D148 Avg FPS, 91 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)151 Avg FPS, 94 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9700X146 Avg FPS, 77 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D148 Avg FPS, 91 1% Low FPSIntel Core Ultra 9 285K137 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPSAvg FPS1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D153117AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D15279AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)160129AMD Ryzen 7 9700X15179AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D15079Intel Core Ultra 9 285K139107050100150200
Total War: Warhammer 3 (1080p High) Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D153 Avg FPS, 117 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D152 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (@ 5.58 GHz)160 Avg FPS, 129 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 7 9700X151 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPSAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D150 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPSIntel Core Ultra 9 285K139 Avg FPS, 107 1% Low FPS
But you can see that in gaming terms it’s more of a lottery here. With Cyberpunk 2077 it’s largely equal, with Baldur’s Gate 3 the older chip takes the lead, and then you’re getting maybe a few extra fps on average with the rest. Though I will say it’s more regularly ahead of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D than I expected.
When you shift away from 1080p the numbers get even more smoothed out between the different 3D V-Cache chips.
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Productivity and processing performance
Cinebench 2024Blender 4.2.07zipHandbrake 1.8.1 Single-core index scoreMulti-core index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D1421358AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D1331307AMD Ryzen 7 9700X1311148AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D1392347Intel Core Ultra 9 285K141239007501,5002,2503,000
Cinebench 2024 Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D142 Single-core index score, 1358 Multi-core index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D133 Single-core index score, 1307 Multi-core index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9700X131 Single-core index score, 1148 Multi-core index scoreAMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D139 Single-core index score, 2347 Multi-core index scoreIntel Core Ultra 9 285K141 Single-core index score, 2390 Multi-core index scoreAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D105AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D101AMD Ryzen 7 9700X93AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D201Intel Core Ultra 9 285K169075150225300Samples per minute
Blender 4.2.0 Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D105AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D101AMD Ryzen 7 9700X93AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D201Intel Core Ultra 9 285K169Compressing (GIPS)Decompressing (GIPS)AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D134147AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D132141AMD Ryzen 7 9700X112131AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D212273Intel Core Ultra 9 285K169191075150225300
7zip Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D134 Compressing (GIPS), 147 Decompressing (GIPS)AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D132 Compressing (GIPS), 141 Decompressing (GIPS)AMD Ryzen 7 9700X112 Compressing (GIPS), 131 Decompressing (GIPS)AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D212 Compressing (GIPS), 273 Decompressing (GIPS)Intel Core Ultra 9 285K169 Compressing (GIPS), 191 Decompressing (GIPS)AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D92.2AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D92AMD Ryzen 7 9700X83AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D134Intel Core Ultra 9 285K116037.575112.5150UHD > 1080p60 (fps)
Handbrake 1.8.1 Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D92.2AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D92AMD Ryzen 7 9700X83AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D134Intel Core Ultra 9 285K116
But, if it’s just a $20 (or at today’s prices more like $30) difference in price, then there is certainly an argument for picking the newer CPU and swallowing the small price premium. The argument runs thus: The new 9850X3D might just be a higher-clocked 9800X3D, but it will be picked from only the best cores that would otherwise make up a 9800X3D, or even a similarly high-clocked Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
With there still being reports of 9800X3D chips dying in certain motherboards—with both AMD and board makers still vying over who’s to blame—and recent reports of a 10% failure rate in a single internet cafe, maybe having that extra reliability is worth the money. You’re kinda paying for the privilege of knowing this should be the most stable, reliable version of the CPU you can get even if you won’t really see the impact of the clock speed bump in games.
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Thermals and power
Gaming powerGaming thermalsHeavy processing power AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D99AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D67AMD Ryzen 7 9700X75AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D108Intel Core Ultra 9 285K83037.575112.5150Avg package power (W)
Gaming power Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D99AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D67AMD Ryzen 7 9700X75AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D108Intel Core Ultra 9 285K83AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D66AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D51AMD Ryzen 7 9700X57AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D64Intel Core Ultra 9 285K56020406080Avg CPU temp (°C)
Gaming thermals Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D66AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D51AMD Ryzen 7 9700X57AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D64Intel Core Ultra 9 285K56Avg package power (W)Peak package power (W)AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D128134AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D109116AMD Ryzen 7 9700X8788AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D197200Intel Core Ultra 9 285K210243075150225300
Heavy processing power Data
ProductValueAMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D128 Avg package power (W), 134 Peak package power (W)AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D109 Avg package power (W), 116 Peak package power (W)AMD Ryzen 7 9700X87 Avg package power (W), 88 Peak package power (W)AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D197 Avg package power (W), 200 Peak package power (W)Intel Core Ultra 9 285K210 Avg package power (W), 243 Peak package power (W)
Where you will see the impact of the higher clock speed of the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, however, is when you start to look at the thermals or power draw of the chip when gaming. For your maximum 2.5% higher frame rates the CPU is drawing 43% more power and is running 24% hotter.
Which kinda levels out the reliability argument, too. If the cores are a concern, do you really want to be driving that much more power through it?
That’s where the argument for the 9850X3D over the Ryzen 7 9800X3D slightly falls down. You can save money opting for the older chip, and save money over time by using less power, though you could of course lower the clock speed to sit at the same 5.2 GHz and even that out. But then, why are you buying the ‘better’ chip in the first place?
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I would suggest, for an AMD running the old dominant Intel playbook, the ‘why?’ purely surrounds knowing it can sell new barely iterative chips with new names into system integrators to fit out new, marketable gaming rigs with some kind of ‘the best just got better’ tagline. And to people who absolutely must have the best, darling. Which, by the way, is also the rationale behind the vaunted Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 and its dual-CCD 3D V-Cache layout; something which AMD itself has said is of dubious benefit for gamers.
So, I guess we’re left with the obvious conclusion that yes, this is pretty much the fastest CPU for gaming that you can buy. But has the best really got better? We were able to get effectively the same performance out of a manually overclocked 9800X3D 15 months ago, so I’d still argue that nothing’s materially changed.
For me, while the 9800X3D is still available in decent numbers and therefore at a cheaper price, that chip remains my pick as the overall best gaming CPU I would recommend to anyone.
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