We’re just under a week away from the Ryzen 7 9800X3D release date, but that hasn’t stopped one lucky user from getting theirs early. A Redditor based in Switzerland says a local reseller “made a mistake” and shipped the new gaming CPU early, much to their delight. It comes to replace their last-gen Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and while we don’t have any direct comparisons of these two processors just yet, they can expect ~15-20% average gaming performance based on what we know from the existing 9800X3D.

9800X3D sent to Redditor ahead of release date

It’s not until January 29th that the 9850X3D is officially available. While the MSRP is set for $499 in the United States, the Swiss buyer managed to pick one up from a reseller for 450CHF (Swiss Franc), which translates to around $570. The chip is already listed online at some retailers in the US, including Amazon, which currently lists a delivery date from February 5 onwards for $499.

You can think of the 9800X3D as a juiced-up version of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Much of the specs are the exact same – including the 8-core/16-thread count, base clock speed of 4.7GHz, 96MB of L3 cache (with 105MB in total), and 120W TDP. The key difference is the higher boost clock speed, which jumps from 5.2GHz on the 9800X3D up to 5.6GHz on the 9850X3D.

It’s not too unusual to see early deliveries reported on places such as Reddit, though it is rare in the grand scheme of things. With global availability penciled in for January 29th, that means we can expect 9850X3D reviews on the day prior. As for exactly when you can buy the new X3D chip on the 29th, there is no officially-announced time, but previous launches would suggest it will go live at 6 AM PST / 9 AM EST in the United States. A previous leak seems to back up this prediction.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.