The exact embargo date for AMD's upcoming 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D has been leaked, giving us a clue as to when the CPU will launch in March. Golden Pig issued a post on Weibo stating the Ryzen 9 9950X3D (that will vie for a spot in our Best CPUs for Gaming) will be released on March 11.
AMD already confirmed the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D will launch in March, but didn't specify what day. If the leak is accurate, the two chips will launch in around three weeks. Golden Pig did not specify the exact launch date of the 12-core 9900X3D, but there is a chance it will launch on the same day as its 16-core counterpart if AMD keeps the same launch cadence as its previous generation X3D parts. The 9900X3D will launch in March regardless.
AMD originally announced the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D, along with their aforementioned March release date, during CES 2025. The new chips are higher core-count variants of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D launched roughly four months ago. The new 9950X3D sports double the core count of the 9800X3D, featuring 16 Zen 5 cores and 144MB of L2 and L3 cache courtesy of its dual CCDs. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is the middle child of the Ryzen 9000X3D lineup, featuring 12 Zen 5 cores and 140MB of total L2 and L3 cache.
AMD confirmed that the new high-core count Zen 5 X3D chips are utilizing the same 3D-VCache configuration as their predecessors, with (only) one of the two 8-core CCDs sporting a 3D-VCache slice. This was done primarily for cost reasons, as AMD's latest 3D-VCache implementation in the Zen 5 architecture no longer penalizes clock speed headroom. (Due to the 3D-VCache slice now being installed underneath the CCD, rather than the top.)
AMD claims the Ryzen 9 9950X3D provides 8% higher gaming performance than the previous-gen 7950X3D and 20% faster gaming performance than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. AMD did not share non-gaming benchmarks, but Geekbench leaks reveal the 9950X3D's multi-core performance is 12% faster compared to the 7950X3D and 14% in single-core likewise.
The biggest unknown about the 9950X3D (as well as the 9900X3D) is pricing. AMD has yet to provide pricing details on its high-core count Ryzen 9000X3D chips, and we probably won't get official confirmation until launch day or close to it. Regardless, we can expect these two upcoming CPUs to be significantly more expensive than the 9800X3D. For instance, the 7950X3D launched at an MSRP of $700.
