More than a year on from the launch of Zen 5, prices for AMD’s latest generation of processors have fallen further and further downward from their original MSRPs. Now, CPUs including Ryzen 9 9900X deliver much better value than they did at launch while packing just as potent a performance punch.
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
“Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X embody Zen 5 in its finest desktop form.” Read our review.
Amazon US lists Ryzen 9 9900X for a cool $354.86, shaving a chunky 29% ($145.14) off the chip’s MSRP. This also marks the lowest ever price for the processor on the storefront.
For all that dough, Ryzen 9 9900X offers 12 cores and 24 threads, running up to 5.6GHz with 120W at its back. Such specifications make this chip an ideal choice for those that need a processor for a gaming-workstation hybrid system.
Note, you will need to source your own cooling for Ryzen 9 9900X. A competent air cooler á la be quiet Pure Rock Pro 3 will get the job done nicely, as will an AIO water cooler such as be quiet! Pure Loop 3 LX 360.
In our tests, we’ve found Ryzen 9 9900X to perform most-similar to Core Ultra 9 285K and Core i7-14700K. AMD’s processor either beats or isn’t far behind these competitors, is much cheaper, and comes with the unique advantage of platform longevity while Intel’s options leave you at a dead end.
Take the Cinebench and Cyberpunk 2077 results above. As promised, Ryzen 9 9900X performs broadly similar to each. You can find the broadest selection of comparison points for the processor in our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review.
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