What do you get when you add a 400 MHz bump to the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D's max boost clock? The new Ryzen 7 9850X3D, no less!

Back in November 2024, AMD launched what was undoubtedly the best gaming processor that money could buy - the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. As the successor to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D that came before it, the 9800X3D is arguably still the best gaming processor available to purchase today - all that's set to change though, with the launch of AMD's latest "X3D" product offering, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D.

Built atop AMD's current "Zen 5" architecture and packing the brand's 2nd Generation 3D V-Cache technology, the 9850X3D has just a single difference when compared to the older 9800X3D: a 400MHz bump in max boost clock. The rest of the specs remain the same - the 9850X3D and 9800X3D are both eight-core parts with 16 threads, feature a 4.7GHz base clock and 96MB of L3 cache, and come with a 120W TDP. Read on to learn more about the 9850X3D and to see it pitted against the 9800X3D in a variety of productivity and gaming benchmarks with a GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card - we'll see if this new AM5 processor is worthy of inheriting the best gaming CPU crown from the 9800X3D!

Specifications & Technology

In terms of specs – the 9850X3D is pretty much identical to the 9800X3D - they’re both eight-core parts with 16 threads, they’re built on the “Zen 5” architecture and utilise AMD’s 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache technology.

In case you’re unaware, the said 3D V-Cache sits beneath the Zen 5 CCD – this is in contrast to the older 7800X3D and 5800X3D, where the 3D V-Cache is layered on top of the CCD. With the 3D V-Cache being located beneath the CCD, the 9850X3D and 9800X3D’s core complexes are now better able to interface with the processor cooler, thereby paving the way for faster base clocks and boost clocks compared to the 7800X3D.

That said, both the 9850X3D and 9800X3D come with 96MB of L3 cache and feature a TDP of 120W. You might be asking then, what exactly is the difference between both parts?

The answer is…really just a 400MHz increase in max boost clock. The 9850X3D has a 5.6GHz boost clock and 4.7 GHz base clock, whilst the 9800X3D has a 5.2GHz boost clock and 4.7GHz base clock.

Packaging & Contents

As can be seen, the packaging for the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is run-of-the-mill Ryzen 9000, where AMD's included the following:

• Case badge
• Certificate of authenticity/installation instructions/warranty information booklet
• AMD Community promotional leaflet

Test Setup & Benchmark Tests

To put the Ryzen 7 9850X3D through its paces, I've pitted it against a Ryzen 7 9800X3D that AMD's also supplied for this review, using a test bench PC with the following specifications:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D / AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (stock settings with PBO & Curve Optimiser disabled)
• CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB
• CPU Thermal Paste: Arctic MX-4
• Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE (N6 BIOS revision)
• Memory: 32GB (2x16GB) G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5 6000 CL28
• Storage: Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB NVMe SSD
• Graphics Card: Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 4090 MASTER 24G
• Case: Open-air test bench
• Monitor: Gigabyte M27U 27" LCD monitor (160 Hz, 4K)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (25H2 with all latest updates installed, VBS enabled, "Balanced" power profile)
• Chipset Driver: AMD 7.10.06.944
• Graphics Driver: NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver 591.74
• Resizable BAR: Enabled
• Ambient Temperature of Test Surroundings: ~29°C (non-airconditioned room)

It's worth noting too that AMD's supplied the Gigabyte motherboard, G.Skill RAMs and Samsung SSD for this review too - the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE came shipped with the N6 BIOS revision, which I suppose is a beta BIOS meant for media platforms publishing Day 1 reviews, seeing as it isn’t available for download from Gigabyte’s website.

As can be seen above, the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes with a "X3D Turbo Mode 2.0" feature that allows one-click overclocking for AMD X3D processors - for the purposes of this review, I've disabled the said "X3D Turbo Mode 2.0".

CPU-Z Screenshots

Benchmark Tests

To test the performance of the 9850X3D and 9800X3D, the following benchmarks were run:

Productivity Benchmarks

• 7-Zip Compression & Decompression
• Cinebench R23
• Cinebench 2024
• Corona 10 Benchmark

Gaming Benchmarks

• Assassin's Creed Mirage In-game Benchmark
• Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool
• Cyberpunk 2077 v2.31 In-game Benchmark
• F1 23 In-game Benchmark
• Far Cry 6 In-game Benchmark
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider In-game Benchmark

For gaming benchmarks, all tests were run on the 1080p resolution at "High" settings so as to create a CPU bottleneck situation as much as possible. In the interest of seeing how the 9850X3D and 9800X3D would fare with the RTX 4090 in situations with the graphics settings and resolution dialed up to the max (which would hence create a GPU bottleneck situation instead), I'll also be running the six gaming benchmarks at 4K resolution with maxed-out graphics settings too.

Clock Behaviour, Thermals & Power

To kick things off, let’s take a quick look at the clock behaviour, thermal performance and power consumption of the 9850X3D when under an all-core workload. While running Cinebench 2024’s multi-core test, the 9850X3D ran at around 5.2GHz across all cores, achieving an average temperature of 94.0°C, a low of 68.4°C and a high of 95.4°C degrees Celsius, while achieving around 143.8W of power draw on average when looking at the "CPU Package Power" metric via HWINFO64.

For the 9800X3D on the other hand, it ran at around 5.1GHz across all cores, achieving an average temperature of 89.9°C, a low of 77.8°C and a high of 91.5°C, while achieving around 144.3W of power draw on average.

Just as a reminder, these results were achieved while using a Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB CPU air cooler, in a non-air-conditioned room with an ambient temperature of around 29°C.

Productivity Benchmark - 7-Zip Compression & Decompression

And with that, let’s take a look at the 7-Zip compression and decompression test results. The 9850X3D is 0.6% faster than the 9800X3D when it comes to the compression score, and 0.9% faster in terms of decompression score when pitted against the 9800X3D.

Productivity Benchmark - Cinebench R23

Moving on to Cinebench R23, we see that the 9850X3D achieves a multicore score of 23187 and a single-core score of 2222. The 9800X3D on the other hand, puts out a multicore score of 22752 and a single core score of 2096 - the 9850X3D has a 1.9% edge in terms of multi-core score and a 5.8% edge in terms of single-core score over the 9800X3D.

Productivity Benchmark - Cinebench 2024

With Cinebench 2024, the 9850X3D achieves a multicore score of 1383 and a single core score of 143. The 9800X3D on the other hand, puts out a multicore score of 1349 and a single core score of 135, making it 2.5% and 5.8% slower for the multi-core and single-core tests respectively when compared against the 9850X3D.

Productivity Benchmark - Corona 10

Rounding off this section on productivity benchmarks, the 9850X3D scored 2.4% higher than the 9800X3D with the Corona 10 benchmark.

Gaming Benchmark - Assassin's Creed Mirage In-game Benchmark

For gaming performance, first up, we’ve got Assassin’s Creed Mirage, where using the game’s built-in benchmark tool on the 1080p resolution at the "High" preset, the 9850X3D is 0.8% slower in terms of average FPS and 3.5% slower in terms of minimum FPS when pitted against the 9800X3D. The 9850X3D is however, 0.3% faster than the  9800X3D in terms of maximum FPS.

Bumping up the resolution to 4K and the graphics settings to "Ultra High", once again, the 9850X3D is 0.8% slower in terms of average FPS and 4.7% slower in terms of maximum FPS when compared to the 9800X3D. When it comes to minimum FPS however, the 9850X3D is 7.6% faster than the 9800X3D.

Gaming Benchmark - Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool

Next up is the Black Myth Wukong benchmark tool, where at the 1080p resolution on "Cinematic" settings, the 9850X3D achieves the same average FPS of 144 as the 9800X3D. Both processors also have very similar maximum and minimum FPS figures.

On the 4K resolution with the same "Cinematic" settings, we get the same average FPS of 70 for both processors - given how similar the minimum and maximum FPS figures are for both processors on the 4K resolution, this in all likelihood points to the RTX 4090 being the performance bottleneck here.

Gaming Benchmark - Cyberpunk 2077 v2.31 In-game Benchmark Tool

Moving on to Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p "High" settings, the 9850X3D is 2.1% faster in terms of average FPS, 1.7% faster in terms of minimum FPS and 2.5% faster in terms of maximum FPS when compared to the 9800X3D.

At 4K resolution on the "Ray Tracing Overdrive" preset, we get an average FPS of 73.74 with the 9850X3D and an average FPS of 73.49 with the 9800X3D. We've definitely got a RTX 4090 GPU performance bottleneck situation once again, seeing how similar the average, minimum and maximum FPS figures are with both processors.

Gaming Benchmark - F1 23 In-game Benchmark Tool

With F1 23’s in-game benchmark test at 1080p "High" graphics settings, we see that the 9850X3D is about 0.9% faster than the 9800X3D when it comes to average FPS. The 9850X3D is also 2.0% faster in terms of minimum FPS, but is 0.6% slower for maximum FPS.

Turning up the resolution to 4K and the graphics preset to "Ultra High", the test bench achieves the same average FPS of 79 for both processors, once again indicating that we’ve hit a GPU bottleneck here with the RTX 4090.

Gaming Benchmark - Far Cry 6 In-game Benchmark Tool

On the 1080p resolution with “High” graphics settings, Far Cry 6’s in-game benchmark sees the 9850X3D beat the 9800X3D by around 2.2% in terms of average FPS.

On the 4K resolution and bumping the graphics settings up to the "Ultra" preset, we get the same average FPS of 123 with the 9850X3D and the 9800X3D, which once again is indicative of a GPU bottleneck kind of situation.

Gaming Benchmark - Shadow of the Tomb Raider In-game Benchmark Tool

Finally, rounding off this section on gaming benchmarks, with the 9850X3D, we get an average FPS of 379 when it comes to Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s in-game benchmark at 1080p with the "High" preset, and an average FPS of 365 with the 9800X3D. This marks a 3.8% increase in average FPS with the 9850X3D over the 9800X3D.

By now this shouldn't come as a surprise to you - at the 4K resolution with all graphics settings maxed out, we once again hit a GPU bottleneck, where both the 9850X3D and 9800X3D achieve an average FPS of 91.

Pricing & Conclusion

And with that, no surprises here that the 9850X3D’s performance isn’t earth-shattering, considering that the key difference between the 9850X3D and the 9800X3D is just a 400MHz difference in max boost clock. With the productivity tests that I’ve run, we get a small uplift in performance across the board, while in terms of gaming performance, for instances where the CPU is the bottleneck, we do get a small amount of performance uplift with the 9850X3D over the 9800X3D (though with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, we did get a minor amount of performance regression with the 9850X3D when compared to the 9800X3D).

On that note, let’s talk about pricing. The 9850X3D will have a MSRP of US$499, and as of the time of publishing this article, the 9800X3D is available to purchase for a price of around US$469 from e-retailers such as Newegg. With that in mind, US$499 for the 9850X3D is an okay price I suppose, but it isn’t a super attractive price either, especially given the amount of performance difference that you’d get when comparing both parts, and the fact that the 9800X3D is still at the end of the day, US$30 cheaper. If you don’t mind coughing up that extra $30, the 9850X3D is undoubtedly a great gaming processor (or even the best gaming processor on the market for that matter) in the grand scheme of things for someone building an entirely new high-end gaming PC, or is looking for a drop-in upgrade for their PC that has an older AM5 processor. This is especially seeing as Intel’s Core Ultra desktop processor offerings still remain uncompetitive from a gaming standpoint.

However, one can't escape the fact that the 9800X3D still serves up performance that's not too far off for a cheaper price (assuming the 9800X3D doesn't go EOL, in which case the 9850X3D then unreservedly becomes my recommendation for anyone looking to buy a brand new processor for a no-holds-barred gaming PC). In fact, if you're feeling more adventurous and hands-on, you could...probably get a 9800X3D still and do a spot of manual overclocking, so as to try and get similar performance to a 9850X3D.

Get the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D from Amazon: https://amzn.to/4t9d4VG

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The processor, motherboard, RAM and SSD featured in this article were review units provided on loan from AMD Singapore.