AMD Ryzen 9 9950X specs, performance, expected prices, and more

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and the rest of the Zen 5 lineup were announced at Computex 2024. This comes days after I reported leaks suggesting a July release for the chips with four initial offerings, all of which have materialized. The new processors bring 16% improvements to IPC counts, along with a slightly improved iGPU (which now uses the newer RDNA 3.5 architecture). However, at their core, they share a similar DNA with last-gen offerings such as the 7950X and the 7900X.

AMD claims the Ryzen 9 9950X is the fastest chip in the world and it beats Intel's flagship Core i9-14900K by over 50% in certain workloads. However, the chips won't start shipping until July, so we won't know the exact benefits of the newer offerings for at least another month.

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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X specs

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X is a monster of a CPU (Image via AMD)

For starters, the 9950X succeeds the last-gen 7950X with a similar set of promises. You get 16 cores and 32 threads that can boost up to 5.7 GHz. The base clock of the chip has down this generation from 4.5 GHz on the Zen 4 offering to 4.3 GHz.

The processor now packs a total of 80 MB of combined L2+L3 cache, the same as the last generation. It is rated at 170W and might use the full 230W of the AM5 socket under full load.

Below is the detailed specs sheet of the chip:

	AMD Ryzen 9 9950X	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
Architecture	Zen 5	Zen 4
# cores	16	16
# threads	32	32
Base clock	4.3 GHz	4.5 GHz
Boost clock	5.7 GHz	5.7 GHz
Total cache (L2+L3)	80 MB	80 MB
PCIe generation	Gen 5	Gen 5
TDP	170W	170W

The new processor will purely rely on gen-on-gen IPC improvements to deliver higher performance.

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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X performance

The 9950X is much faster than the Intel Core i9-14900K (Image via AMD)

As per AMD's Computex presentation, the 9950X takes a massive lead over the Core i9-14900K across a bunch of workloads. Both video games and productivity software benefit from the new Zen 5 processor, with gains peaking in Blender where the Zen 5 CPU bests Intel's alternative by 56%.

The 9950X packs dedicated AI acceleration hardware (Image via AMD)

AMD claims the processor allows for extra graphics bandwidth thanks to its extra PCIe 5.0 lanes. The chip is also 20% better than the 14900K in terms of AI acceleration.

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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X expected prices

AMD hasn't unveiled the prices of the new Ryzen 9000 series processors yet. For now, they are expected to start shipping in July. Retail pricing might be revealed close to that.

However, we can now make an educated guess about the price tag of the chip, given we know a lot about it. The processor looks eerily identical to the last-gen 7950X, with all core upgrades lying in the improved silicon. This hints that the pricing might stay the same this generation at $699.

This is still a steep cost, and AMD had to discount the last-gen 7950X following backlash. The processor is currently selling for $500. Hence, a $550 9950X is also possible.