AMD has just listed a new Ryzen 7 9850X3D processor on its driver download website, thus appearing to confirm previous leaks. Although the company didn’t share any details of specs, this processor’s name suggests it’s likely to become the new gaming champion. The new gaming CPU is expected to pack a similar configuration to the beloved Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but with a slightly higher clock speed.
First rumoured about a month ago by @g01d3nm4ng0 on X, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is said to offer eight Zen 5 cores clocked that can boost to 5.6GHz, coupled with a 64MB 3D V-Cache layer, making for a 96MB total of L3 cache. If that’s true, the 9850XD is 400MHz, or 7.6%, faster than the current gaming king, AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D, in terms of frequency. That should translate into better performance, especially in single-threaded tasks.
While the power budget is expected to remain unchanged at 120W, the heat output of this CPU will logically, but necessarily, be higher due to its higher frequency. Given it still has just eight cores, you still shouldn’t need an over-the-top cooler for it, but you’ll require more cooling power if you plan to overclock it further.
Unfortunately, we have yet to see any official mentions of the much more impressive Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, which is said to boast 16 cores, a 5.6GHz boost clock, and a massive 192MB L3 cache pool. This beast is rumoured to be the first dual X3D design from AMD, meaning all 16 of its cores would have direct access to a massive amount of cache.
Currently, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is one of AMD’s best-selling CPUs, as it offers great gaming performance at a reasonable price. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D is set to take these capabilities even further, helping AMD to counter Intel’s upcoming Arrow Lake Refresh chips, scheduled for early 2026. It may even be enough to take the fight to some Nova Lake CPUs, which are rumoured to have even more cache at their disposal.
Considering the rumoured extra boost clock, we can expect the Ryzen 7 9850X3D to be up to 7.6% faster than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in the best-case scenario. Historically, X3D CPUs have been clocked much lower than their non-X3D counterparts, due to the cooling requirements of the cache and core chiplet dies under the heatspreader. This was alleviated to a degree with the 9800X3D, which at 5.2GHz is clocked higher than the 5GHz 7800X3D, but it’s still well below the 5.7GHz boost clock of the 9950X. If AMD can indeed guarantee this new X3D chip at 5.6GHz, then it could be a potent chip across the board.
However, we’re not expecting it to be cheap. The 9800X3D already has a £449 MSRP, which is well above the usual price of an 8-core CPU, and this chip is likely to be even pricier. Note, however, that AMD may launch this model as an OEM or region-exclusive model, as it did with many previous X3D launches, so don’t get your hopes up yet. We hope to learn more about this chip at CES 2026, so stay tuned.
