At CES 2025, AMD finally revealed its new flagship CPU, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. This processor is part of the 9000X3D lineup and has been designed to deliver the best gaming experience possible. Aside from sharing the specifications of the new processor, AMD also showcased a performance comparison between the 9950X3D and Intel’s current flagship Core Ultra 9 285K, which launched at the tail-end of 2024.
9950X3 is around 20% faster than the Core Ultra 9 285K on average
AMD tested the 9950X3D in 40 games to evaluate its overall performance. On average, it is 20% faster than Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K. The testing was done at 1080p with high settings to focus on CPU performance rather than the GPU. This ensures a fair comparison and highlights the raw power of the CPU. When we reviewed the Core Ultra 285K, it offered relatively lackluster results in gaming, failing to deliver a significant uplift in gaming to the previous-gen i9-14900K and it fell well behind the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. So, yet again, another X3D chip is here to solidify AMD’s grasp on the PC gaming market.
According to AMD’s official charts, the 9950X3D outperforms the 285K by a significant margin in several games. In Counter-Strike 2, the CPU delivers 25% better performance, while in Black Ops 6, the gap is even larger, with the 9950X3D being 27% faster. But the biggest gap is in Watch Dogs: Legion and Far Cry 6, where the CPU delivers around 64% and 45% better performance, respectively. You can check out the chart below to learn how fast the 9950X3D is in certain games.
Surprisingly, even in content creation, the 9950X3D takes the lead, even though X3D CPUs are meant to be catered for gaming. However, with a high boost clock of 5.7 GHz, AMD has made sure that the 9950X3D delivers strong performance in productivity as well and not just gaming. AMD tested it in 20 apps and found out that on average, it is around 10% faster in content creation compared to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.
In any case, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D offers 16 cores, 32 threads, and a max boost clock of 5.7 GHz. On top of that, it comes with 144 MB of cache and a TDP of 170W. Based on what AMD has shared, it’s clear that the company is dominating the gaming sector with their CPUs, and Intel will need to come up with something soon to catch up, if not they’ll get left way behind.
