Jake Roach is the Senior CPU Analyst at Tom\u2019s Hardware, writing reviews, news, and features about the latest consumer and workstation processors. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-20/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jake Roach Social Links Navigation Senior Analyst, CPUs Jake Roach is the Senior CPU Analyst at Tom’s Hardware, writing reviews, news, and features about the latest consumer and workstation processors.
Makaveli TerryLaze said: It's a niche halo product, it was never going to be cheap. Also every x3d2 CPU prevents them from making two x3d CPUs … price is actually low if you consider that. But yeah, this isn't a CPU they had to make, no idea why they did other than maybe for e-peen to show 'number go up' . I agree I think the price is fair for a productivity product. Reply
usertests It's a halo product for almost nobody, that may cost more not only from the second cache chiplet, but also from lower yields of packaging them both perfectly. Maybe they can't even turn a single cache chiplet failure into a 9950X3D (non-2) because of compromised thermals. We've seen these MSRPs for 16-cores: 3950X ($750), 5950X ($800), 7950X and 7950X3D ($700), 9950X ($650), and 9950X3D ($700). We're being trained to see the 16-core as not special anymore, especially when they fall to prices like $400-500, but AMD is going to collect from the people who want this SKU. They also face zero competition for this particular capability. There may be Intel Nova Lake CPUs with dual-bLLC, but you'll have to wait at least a year. Reply
thestryker This pricing is right in line with AMD's marketing for it which has been professional/creator. If this was going to make any difference for gaming you can be sure AMD would be marketing it for that too. Given the core count increases from AMD and dual Compute Tile from Intel I'd be surprised if we don't see a $1000+ "desktop" CPU from Zen 6/NVL. There's two main things that seem to be driving CPU pricing from what I've seen. First is that gamers will pay to have the best gaming CPU even if they can't leverage it to its fullest. Second is that the gap between entry level workstation and desktop is huge. Even this part at $900 is still $600 cheaper than the nearest TR CPU. If you don't need the memory bandwidth or PCIe a high core count desktop part can be a better choice and this will just be even more true with Zen 6/NVL. Reply
JamesJones44 28% price premium for 5-8% boost in performance. ROI doesn't seem the greatest, but I guess if you have money to burn 🤷♂️ Reply
usertests thestryker said: There's two main things that seem to be driving CPU pricing from what I've seen. First is that gamers will pay to have the best gaming CPU even if they can't leverage it to its fullest. Second is that the gap between entry level workstation and desktop is huge. Even this part at $900 is still $600 cheaper than the nearest TR CPU. If you don't need the memory bandwidth or PCIe a high core count desktop part can be a better choice and this will just be even more true with Zen 6/NVL. Some select (rare) workloads that don't scale well will do better with 16-core Zen 5 X3D than the 24-96 Zen 5 cores offered by TR and TR Pro. Although there are some Epyc CPUs with 3D cache, AMD hasn't offered any Threadrippers with 3d cache to date. 9950X3D2 will be good for some professionals out there. But I don't think it can be much more than maybe 25% faster than the 9950X3D in one of these rare workloads. Phoronix will probably have some benchmark showing that, but overall most benchmarks vs. the 9950X3D will probably be showing 0-2% improvement or regression (from the lower boost clock). Reply
jblosun $900 isn't cheap, but I haven't forgotten Intel charging near $2000 for their top desktop chips before Ryzen came around and gave them some competition. Could be a lot worse. Reply
greenreaper Makes sense when the 9800X3D is $480. You know what they say: double your cache, double your pleasure – and you get double the cores, too! 😼 Reply
Key considerations
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-reveals-usd899-price-tag-for-ryzen-9-9950x3d2-first-dual-cache-x3d-cpu-is-usd200-more-expensive-than-the-ryzen-9-9950x3d#main
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