Not only has there never been a better time to grab a Ryzen 7 9850X3D from Amazon, but the all-powerful gaming processor now even has a lower price than the 9800X3D. The storefront has slashed the chip’s price down to just $419, a cool $85 off its list cost, but you’ll need to manually activate a coupon with a simple click on the product page to unlock this big saving.
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D
“This is the best chip on the market, bar none, for those in search of the highest frame rates.” Read our review.
The easiest way to describe the 9850X3D is a Ryzen 7 9800X3D with faster clock speeds. The two processors share the same eight Zen 5 cores and 16 threads, and that all-important 96MB of L3 cache, thanks to an extra 64MB of 3D V-Cache. However, the former boasts a 5.6GHz maximum boost clock that’s 400MHz higher than the other, pushing performance further in applications and games that benefit from faster single-threaded pace.
Sure enough, in our testing, the 9850X3D is frequently able to pull ahead of the 9800X3D. While these admittedly small leads weren’t of high value at launch, when the 9850X3D cost more than its slightly slower sibling, they’re absolutely worth seizing given that the more-powerful model is now cheaper overall.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail showcased the largest difference in frame rate between the 9850X3D and 9800X3D in our testing, with a 10fps (+3%) advantage while paired with a GeForce RTX 5090. We saw similar improvements using the more-powerful processor in Forza Motorsport with ray tracing, where the chip enjoyed a 5fps (+3%) lead.
The higher clock speed also helps boost general compute performance, with Cinebench 2024 single-core scores rising from 133 on the 9800X3D to 142 on the 9850X3D, a nine-point (+7%) bump. Multi-core performance also expectedly rises on the more powerful CPU, though not nearly to the same extent.
Those higher clock speeds don’t come with an increase in CPU TDP, but we did notice power consumption was slightly higher on the 9850X3D than the 9800X3D. However, it’s hard to view an increased power draw of 9W as anything particularly significant, so you needn’t reach for a more extravagant cooler to keep this chip in check.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for more savings throughout the Black Friday festivities, so be sure to keep an eye on our deals page. In the meantime, check out our best CPU page for more processor recommendations. I also recommend reading our 9850X3D vs. 9800X3D deep-dive, for a more focused look at how these two processors compare.
