Two new AMD Ryzen X3D gaming CPUs are reportedly incoming, with specs that could dethrone the 9800X3D

After enjoying nearly a year in the top spot, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D looks as though it's about to be usurped by two new gaming CPUs with significantly improved specs. According to the latest rumor, there's a new AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 chip coming, with a massive 192MB of L3 cache and 16 cores, as well as a surprisingly high clock speed. Not only that, but AMD is also reportedly looking to release a souped-up new eight-core chip with higher clock speeds than the 9800X3D.

As always with leaks and rumors, bear in mind that none of this has been confirmed by AMD, and as such, the information needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but if these CPU specs are real, we expect these rumored new chips to be very, very popular with gamers. AMD's X3D CPUs with 3D V-cache already dominate our guide to buying the best gaming CPU, and with little competition from Intel right now, these new CPUs would enable AMD to really go in for the kill.

The source of this latest rumor is regular tech leaker chi11eddog, who outlined the names and core specs of the two CPUs in a post on X. This source has had good form on CPU specs in the past, including nailing all the non-K Intel 14th-gen CPU specs five months before they were released, but the clock speeds in this leak are surprisingly high, so it's worth approaching them with a healthy degree of skepticism.

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 specs leak

These are the rumored Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 specifications, as AMD has not officially announced this CPU:

The really big one is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, which appears to be the long-rumored 16-core chip where all 16 cores have access to a massive pool of 3D V-cache - 64MB for each eight-core chiplet. At the moment, AMD's 16-core X3D chip, the 9950X3D, only has 3D V-cache under one of the eight-core chiplets, meaning the other eight cores can't access this extra cache directly. That's not necessarily a big deal, though, as long as Windows is allocating its threads optimally. As I found in my recent AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review, this chip manages to offer the best of both worlds.

That's because very few games can make use of more than eight cores, and the extra 3D V-cache chip also limits thermal headroom and thus clock speeds. That means AMD can give the eight cores without 3D V-cache a hefty 5.7GHz boost clock speed, enabling the CPU to tear through multi-threaded workloads, while its lower-clocked eight cores with 3D V-cache are perfectly optimized for gaming duties.

If these rumored specs are right, though, then AMD has really pulled out all the stops when it comes to clock speed. The rumored 5.6GHz boost clock might not be as high as 5.7GHz, but it's damn close, and it's a massive 400MHz quicker than the 5.2GHz 9800X3D. If this CPU exists, you might well be able to have your cake and eat it.

That said, it's likely to be very expensive, as it's likely to require specially binned silicon that can maintain these high clock speeds while still having the extra V-cache chips. The quoted TDP of 200W is also massive, meaning you would need the best CPU cooler you can afford to keep it in check. I interviewed AMD about the potential to make this chip earlier in 2025, and the company said it was possible to make such a CPU, but that it wasn't clear if people really wanted it.

AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D specs leak

These are the rumored Ryzen 7 9850X3D specifications, as AMD has not officially announced this CPU:

Meanwhile, the rumored new AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D has the same core specs as the acclaimed 9800X3D, with eight cores and a 64MB slice of 3D V-cache. The big difference between the two chips is the clock speed, with the 9850X3D apparently being able to boost to up to 5.6GHz. That's a hefty increase over the 9800X3D's maximum 5.2GHz boost clock, and indeed the 7800X3D's top speed of 5GHz.

With the benefits of both the extra cache as well as the fast clock speed, this rumored chip is likely to tear through gaming benchmarks. As we found in our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, this Zen 5 CPU is already a formidable gaming chip, and you can gain further benefits if you overclock the 9800X3D to 5.4GHz. An extra 400MHz is a big deal, though, especially if the 120W TDP figure is correct - it seems surprisingly low for a chip with these specs.

We'll just have to wait and see if these rumors are true, but if these specs are real, they look likely to obliterate any threat from the rumored Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus when it comes to gaming.

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