AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 reviews are in, and there's one glaring issue with this gaming CPU launch

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 launch has been a bit of a strange one. As AMD’s new absolutely top-dog flagship X3D CPU, you’d expect it to have arrived with some hype. However, not only did the company announce the product in a very low-key fashion, but come review time, it has chosen to only provide test samples to a handful of publications and YouTubers, rather than the usual spread of outlets.

The reason for this apparent snubbing would seem to be that AMD knows this is a niche product that isn’t going to be the best gaming CPU option for most PC gamers, but instead will be one that only makes sense for some niche workstation/gaming PC situations, and for those simply seeking the best of the best for the sake of having the best. Along with PC gaming publications like ourselves and PC Gamer missing out on review samples ahead of launch, general tech publications such as ComputerBase and TechPowerup, as well as prominent tech YouTubers, Gamers Nexus, were also left wanting.

While this might seem like just a whinge from us about not getting to test the new CPU, the key here is that it speaks volumes about who AMD thinks will want to buy one of these chips, which is something it hinted at during its 9950X3D2 announcement.

The 9950X3D2 is a CPU that takes the already powerful 16-core 9950X3D and adds a second 3D V-Cache to it, ensuring that not just eight but all 16 of its cores have access to 3D V-Cache. With 3D V-Cache having been so successful at making the likes of the 7800X3D, 9800X3D, and 9850X3D the fastest gaming CPUs of their time, you might expect a 16-core equivalent with 3D V-Cache for all sixteen cores to be even better.

However, as AMD admitted when we talked to them last year about the possible launch of such a CPU, the performance gains from this second 3D V-Cache chip are minimal. That’s because most applications that benefit from the extra cache it provides – most obviously, games – already see the benefit from a single 3D V-Cache chip, with heavily multithreaded applications that use all 16 cores drawing less benefit from having the second die.

Nonetheless, 9950X3D2 reviews are out and do show some gains. In Club386’s review, in Sid Mieir’s Civilization 6, the 9950X3D2 actually tops the charts, just pushing ahead of the 270K Plus and 9950X3D. It also just took top spot in Final Fantasy 14, Rainbow Six Siege, and Total War: Warhammer 3. However, the margins are tiny, and the chip lost out in some other game tests.

Meanwhile, in non-gaming, multi-threaded applications, it more consistently won out against the 9950X3D, but again, the margins are very small. Summarizing his review, PCGamesN alumni, Sam Willetts concludes by saying “the 9950X3D2 will do little to shake up the CPU market.”

Meanwhile, in der8auer’s video review of the chip, he opens with the line “[the 9950X3D2] would have been very interesting one and a half years ago… but today is probably no longer relevant.” His tests show an 8% increase in performance over the 9950X3D in some tests, but with an 11% increase in power draw, all while the price of this chip is 36% higher.

Ultimately, at $659, the 9950X3D was already a very expensive chip with niche appeal, but at $899, the 9950X3D2 takes this to another level. Still, if you are looking to build the ultimate AMD AM5 PC that excels at gaming and most everything else, it does deliver some serious bragging rights.

P.S. I’m not bitter. 😉