AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 review questions its existence

Following AMD’s announcement of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, which is touted to be the new flagship chip, and early benchmarks, more thorough testing results have started to surface. The new CPU is an expensive addition to the lineup, mostly because of its unique dual 3D V-Cache design. AMD’s own performance claims were mediocre at best compared to the standard 9950X3D, and that shows with gaming and productivity workflows.

Synthetic benchmark results

Hardware Unboxed shared their results on YouTube and reached the conclusion that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 is not worth the price. As per the tests where it was compared to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D (buy on Amazon) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus (buy on Amazon), among others, the results were quite underwhelming. In Cinebench 2026, the multicore score was only 4% higher than that of the 9950X3D and only 3% higher than the Intel offering.

In Blender, the 9950X3D2 was 7% faster than the non-X3D2 variant and a more significant 21% than the 270K Plus. Similar results continue with other benchmarks like 7-Zip and Adobe Photoshop 2026 Puget systems benchmark. Surprisingly, it turned out to be slower in shader compilation for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2: Heart of Chornobyl than the 9950X3D.

Gaming benchmark results

Moving on to gaming benchmarks, the 9950X3D2 showed slightly slower or similar performance to the 9950X3D and even the 9800X3D in Rainbow Six Siege X, Baldur’s Gate 3, Battlefield 6, and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty at 1080p, but Arc Raiders saw minor improvement. Even Space Marines 2, which is a CPU-heavy game, didn’t see any performance gains.

Overall, performance tests showed underwhelming results, especially considering the additional power draw with synthetic benchmarks of about 27%, for just 4% average performance uplift. Power usage while gaming, however, showed a more positive outlook. These tests suggest that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2’s extra 3D V-Cache doesn’t really affect real-world performance, and the $900 price tag is not justifiable. Hardware Unboxed believes that it shouldn't even exist and doesn’t replace the 9950X3D.

That being said, AMD is targeting AI workflows with the chip in its marketing, and those comparisons are yet to be drawn. Furthermore, these gaming results were only at 1080p, and the CPU could deliver higher performance stats at higher resolutions.