AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition review: Tons of cache for tons of dollars

AMD is set to launch its latest processor, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, on April 22. Priced at $899, this new offering's cost may fluctuate depending on supply and demand dynamics in the market. This model is an upgraded version of the existing Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which has a suggested retail price of $699 and is typically available around $660. The notable enhancement in the 9950X3D2 is the addition of 64MB of extra L3 cache beneath each of its two 8-core Zen 5 chiplets, bringing the total cache to an impressive 208MB. This is a significant increase compared to the previous model, where only one chiplet featured the added cache. In performance benchmarks, including general-purpose CPU tasks, video encoding, and gaming, the 9950X3D2 shows a slight performance edge over its predecessor. Despite having a higher thermal design power (TDP) of 200 W—30 W more than the standard 9950X3D's 170 W—real-world usage indicates that the 9950X3D2 consumes similar power levels during gaming and even slightly less during video encoding. This efficiency showcases AMD's progress in optimizing the performance of their 3D V-Cache technology since its introduction. However, it’s important to note that the original 9950X3D still offers almost comparable speed for approximately two-thirds of the price. AMD's hybrid approach of integrating CPU cores with and without 3D V-Cache appears to provide near-identical performance results at a more accessible price point.