AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, 12C/24T, 4.40-5.60GHz, tray

Last Wednesday was the review embargo for the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X Zen 5 desktop processors that proved to be very exciting for Linux workloads from developers to creators to AVX-512 embracing AI and HPC workloads. Today the review embargo lifts on the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X and as expected given the prior 6-core/8-core tests: these new chips are wild! The Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X are fabulous processors for those engaging in heavy real-world Linux workloads with excellent performance uplift and stunning power efficiency.

The Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X mainly excel in demanding creative workloads, leveraging their multi-core prowess. While both deliver impressive gaming performance, often surpassing the Core i9-14900K, budget-conscious gamers might prefer the Ryzen 7 9700X or Ryzen 5 9600X. For content creators and performance enthusiasts, the Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X is the optimal choice.

Die zwei kleinen Ryzen 5 9600X und Ryzen 7 9700X haben in Spielen einen sehr durchwachsenen bis enttäuschenden Eindruck hinterlassen. Den großen Ryzen 9 9900X und Ryzen 9 9950X geht es genauso – auch wenn es zwischen beiden Ryzen-9-Ablegern größere Unterschiede gibt. Schlussendlich gilt für alle vier neuen CPUs, dass die deutlich höhere Single-Core-Performance der Zen-5-Architektur einfach nicht in Games ankommen will. Und damit haben die neuen Produkte Schwierigkeiten, sich von ihren Vorgängern abzusetzen.

Das war er nun, der Start der AMD Ryzen 9000 im Desktop. Er verlief an einigen Stellen so wie gedacht, an vielen anderen aber auch nicht. Und so mischen sich getroffene Erwartungen durchaus mit einiger Enttäuschung, garniert von Fehltritten bei AMD wie einem bescheidenen Namensschema sowie kuriosen, weil unerreichbaren Zielen und Plattformproblemen. Die ersten Tests verkamen so selbst bei routinierten Testern zu Fragestunden, was man denn falsch gemacht habe, nur um zu erkennen, dass der Hersteller leicht übers Ziel hinausgeschossen ist.

The Ryzen 9 9900x is AMD’s second best desktop processor, featuring 12 cores and 24 threads, while keeping its TDP at 120W. Like in the 9950x, AMD suggests to use an AIO to cool down this CPU, but I will try a high-end CPU cooler instead, the Noctua NH-D15 G2, to keep my results compatible with the rest processors that I will compare it with.

The transition from Zen4 to Zen5 with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and 9900X brings noticeable improvements in specific workloads, particularly those that benefit from architectural enhancements such as AVX-512 support and the updated memory overclocking capabilities. The non-PBO performance gains of the Ryzen 9 9950X over its predecessor, the 7950X, are present but perhaps not as substantial as some may have hoped, especially considering the generational leap. The benchmarks reflect that while the Zen5 architecture offers meaningful upgrades, the performance uplift in everyday tasks is modest compared to what we witnessed in the jump from Zen3 to Zen4.

Given that we've already seen the performance that AMD has to offer with Zen 5 on desktops (Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X), we were highly anticipating AMD launching the Ryzen 9 SKUs. In fact, I think everyone looking to see how the flagship Zen 5 chip performs has been waiting for the launch of the premium SKUs from the Ryzen 9000 series: the Ryzen 9 9950X and the Ryzen 9 9900X.

With the Ryzen 9000 Series, AMD is launching their new Zen 5 microarchitecture, which brings improved IPC and better energy efficiency, while staying compatible with all Socket AM5 motherboards. For their recent processor releases, Intel has been betting on a mix of P-Cores and E-Cores, AMD's Ryzen 9000 processors are still pure P-Core designs, which simplifies scheduling. Last week, we posted reviews for the Ryzen 7 9700X and the Ryzen 5 9600X, today we have for you the Ryzen 9 9900X (this review) and Ryzen 9 9950X.

We recently published our reviews of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors powered by the Zen 5 architecture. These new chips offer contemporary levels of performance in their market segments, and are highly efficient, thanks to AMD building them on the low-power 4 nm TSMC N4P process, to the extent that AMD rated them with 65 W TDP. AMD advertised a roughly 16% IPC increase for Zen 5 over the previous Zen 4 architecture, and while we are fully aware that IPC doesn't linearly scale with gaming performance, we were a bit surprised to find that the 9700X and 9600X are no more than 3% faster than their predecessors in the most CPU-bottlenecked 720p gaming benchmarks.