AMD’s Ryzen 7 9850X3D: 5.6 GHz Zen 5 gaming chip lands at $499 MSRP
AMD's only gaming-centric CPU release during CES 2026, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, finally has both a price tag and a firm release date, with the Santa Clara-based chip design giant opting for a late January window.
The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is now on sale at a small premium over its predecessor at $499, with chips available for sale starting on the 29th of Jan 2026, even as retailers such as Amazon are already advertising the product at the time of writing, with the e-commerce giant already going out of stock earlier.
The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is an octa-core Zen 5-based CPU that leverages AMD's gaming-centric 3D V-Cache, effectively tripling the performance of the comparable Ryzen 7 9700X. It is not, however, a new CPU; it is architecturally similar to the previous king of the hill, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
However, unlike the 9800X3D, which offers a rated boost speed of 5.2GHz (compared to the 9700X, which clocks at 5.5GHz), the 9850X3D offers an even higher boost clock speed (5.6GHz) than either option, making it essentially the best of both worlds.
Despite this, the $30 premium it trades at versus the MSRP of the 9800X3D, and the $140 premium versus the 9700X, make it a relatively subjective investment for all but the most ardent of gamers in 2026, especially when the latter is regularly available for as low as $300 with most sellers.
The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D comes with an identical base clock (4.7GHz) versus the 9800X3D, which it supplants and is essentially a better binned version of the same chip, catering to enthusiasts who must have the best-in-class offering when it comes to gaming or those looking to eke out more FPS in eSports-based titles such as Valorant, CS2 and Overwatch to name a few.
The 9850X3D also comes with a 2-core Radeon graphics chip onboard that handles basic graphics workloads at 2.2GHz, matching the clock speed of its other Zen 5-based octa-core brethren.
Buy the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D on Amazon here
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