It’s hard to believe that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D came out back in November of 2024. Well over a year later, AMD announced at this year's CES that they were adding another CPU to their 9000 Series lineup, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. Their new 9850X3D takes the original 9800X3D’s core configuration, and it bumps performance up with a 400 MHz increase in clock speed. AMD’s X3D CPUs have already been impressive with their gaming performance. I’m excited to see what the refresh will look like. We also get to revisit what performance from a 2^nd Generation 3D V-Cache CPU looks like now that drivers have had even more time to mature. So let’s dive in and see what AMD's new CPU looks like in our test suite!

AMD’s high-end Ryzen CPUs on the AM5 platform have been dominating with CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9950X and 9950X3D both being monsters. That said, it isn’t actually the top of AMD's product lineup, they do still have their Threadripper lineup. They launched their Threadripper and Threadripper Pro 7000 Series of CPUs in late 2023, including a new sTR5 socket and TRX50 and WRX90 chipsets, and they are back at it again with their new 9000 Series of Threadripper CPUs that hit stores tomorrow. Ahead of that launch, I have had the top two CPUs in the office on the bench, the Ryzen Threadripper 9980X and 9970X, and today we can check out how they performed.

AMD has been busy, not only did we just have their first RDNA 4 based GPUs launched last week with the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 but they also announced on Friday that their latest Radeon 9 X3D CPUs would be hitting stores on March 12^th. Well, today the performance embargo lifts on those and I’ve got the AMD Radeon 9 9950X3D on hand to put to the test before they hit stores tomorrow. Back in November, I took a look at the Ryzen 7 9800X3D that we liked enough to use with our GPU test bench. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D takes the already very capable Radeon 9 9950X with its 16 cores and 5.7 GHz max boost and adds in the 2^nd generation AMD 3D V-Cache. A lot of gamers will recognize the X3D model designation because AMDs 3D V-Cache CPUs have been dominating the market when it comes to gaming for a few generations now. The 9950X3D brings that technology up to the top of their CPU product stack for those who want great gaming performance but also need the highest-end CPU capabilities as well.

Back in June AMD announced their Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs with the 9950X, 9900X, 9700X, and 9600X. The Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X hit reviews and later stores in August. The Zen 5 based CPUs have been popular, but like with the 7000 Series there has been a large group waiting to see what Intel would have to offer and even more importantly to see AMD's introduction of their 3D V-Cache based offers and last week they finally lifted the cover on the new Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor. With the new 2^nd generation 3D V-Cache and the Zen 5 architecture, they teased that they were seeing an average of 8% gaming performance improvement compared to the previous generation and 20% average over the competition people have been excited. Well, today’s the day, the embargo’s lifted and we can finally dive into performance testing the new Ryzen 7 9800X3D to see if AMDs teasing was true so let’s not waste any more time and get to it!

Earlier this month Intel officially announced their next generation of desktop processors. They were formally known as Arrow Lake and now have their new CPU naming as their Core Ultra 200 Series of CPUs. These are the successors to the 14^th-generation Core CPUs and the new naming is going to be a little confusing to some as it is not only the addition of Ultra in the naming but the CPU numbers themselves which have followed the same format for 14 generations are changing as well. This includes dropping the number of numbers in the CPU name down to three from 5. The two CPUs that they sent over for testing at launch are the Core Ultra 9 285K and the Core Ultra 5 245K. This generation's focus according to Intel is to reset their performance per watt trajectory. They have a new memory controller, new P and E core microarchitectures, larger P-core L2 cache, and more. So let’s dive in and see how the new CPUs perform!

This year at Computex AMD announced the next generation of their Ryzen CPU lineup, the 9000 series which is built on the Zen 5 microarchitecture. They announced four different CPUs, The Ryzen 5 9600X with 6 cores, the Ryzen 7 9700X with 8 cores, and then two Ryzen 9 CPUs, the 9900X with 12 cores and the 9950X with 16 cores. AMD was originally launching these at the end of July but they did push things slightly with the 9600X and 9700X hitting stores on the 8^th and the 9900X and 9950X hitting stores on the 15^th. So today I will be checking out the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X to see what they are all about ahead of that store launch. Let’s dive in!

It’s been a surprisingly busy 2024 with a list of different GPU launches that were all announced at CES. AMD didn’t just announce the RX 7600 XT at CES however, they also introduced a new line of CPUs their Ryzen 8000G Series, and a few new SKUs in the older Ryzen 5000 Series as well for AM4 users. Today I’m going to check out two of the new 8000G Series CPUs, the Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G which will be hitting stores on the 31^st. They are Zen 4 CPUs with upgraded integrated GPU capabilities including AI processing as well with an integrated NPU on both the 8700G and 8600G. Onboard graphics performance is an area that we always test and keep an eye on with included so I’m excited to see what AMD’s promise of “fastest built-in graphics in its class” will mean for actual gameplay so let’s dive in and see what they are capable of.

At CES this year AMD announced three upcoming additions to their 7000 Series of CPUs which all featured 3D V-Cache like the popular Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Then late in February, the first two models were released but the third and lowest-priced model of the three, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D wasn’t included. Well, today the embargo lifts on the new 7800X3D and we can finally dive into its performance ahead of it being available in stores tomorrow. So why waste any time, let's quickly go over what sets it apart and then get into its performance.

AMDs 7000 Series CPU launches brought along with it the new AM5 socket which now uses an LGA socket style as well as DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 as well. For CPUs they have a variety of options and their performance has been impressive. The one exception to that is looking at gaming performance when compared to AMDs own Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU which was the first desktop processor to have a stacked 3D L3 cache. This was a late addition to the 5000 series of CPUs and offered staggering performance in cache-limited situations, especially gaming. Well for the 7000 series they have announced three 3D CPUs, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X3D. The two Ryzen 9 CPUs are launching tomorrow February 28^th and they did send over the 7950X3D for testing so today I’m going to see how it performs.

At CES this year AMD announced a few things in their CPU lineup including their upcoming 7000 series 3D CPUs and they also introduced three new non-X CPUs for their previously launched 7000 series of CPUs. The CPUs are the Ryzen 9 7900, the Ryzen 7 7700, and the Ryzen 5 7600. All three share a lot including core and thread counts to their similarly named X brothers but all three have lowered TDP wattages down to 65 watts which is to offer options for people not looking for something as extreme as the initially launched CPUs and for small form factor builds which are a lot more limited in cooling. If you have been around here in the past I love small form factor builds, especially builds focused on LAN use and this was an exciting announcement on that front. I’m a little late to the party on testing them but just received all three CPUs and today we are going to check them out and see how they compare so let’s dive in!

It’s been a crazy month with launches from everyone all packed together. We just finished checking out AMD's new CPUs and Intel announced their new 13^th-generation CPUs. Sadly right in the middle of all of that fell my pre-planned vacation. So while everyone else has taken a look at the new CPUs I’m late to the party and had both the Intel i9-13900K and the i5-13600K waiting for me when I got home. I jumped into testing and today I can finally step back and take a look at all of the numbers to see how Intel’s CPUs compare with the last few generations of CPUs from AMD and Intel. Let’s not waste any more time and dive right in!

Ahead of AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series launch, I took a look at the Ryzen 5 7600X and the Ryzen 7 7700X but at the time we didn’t have the two other 7000 series CPUs to test. That said AMD did end up sending over the Ryzen 9 7900X and the 7950X for testing and while a little late today I’m going to check both of the Ryzen 9 CPUs out and see what they are all about. Both CPUs double up the core count from the 7700X and 7600X with the 7950X having 16 cores and the 7900X having 12 cores and they have similar clock speeds so I’m excited to see how they perform.

On March 2 2017 we published our first of many Ryzen reviews and AMDs long awaited CPU refresh and new at the time AM4 socket turned the CPU world on its head quickly accelerating what was a very stale CPU market. Just the last two years alone have felt like 10 years making the 5 and a half years from that launch to now feel like it has been 20 years. So much has changed with one exception, AMD has still been using that same AM4 socket. Well, tomorrow Zen 4 will be available for sale, and along with it the new AM5 socket as well and today I’m taking a look at the new Ryzen 5 7600X and the Ryzen 7 7700X CPUs to see what they are all about. So let’s dive in and check them out!

Last month AMD launched a refresh of some of their CPU range and while I didn’t have the full range we did take a look at the Ryzen 5 4500 which was an interesting update on the Zen 2 lineup. Well AMD did send a few more of their refresh CPUs over for me to take a look at. We have the Ryzen 5 5600 and the Ryzen 7 5700X. The 5600 fills in a gap behind the 5600X that I previously took a look at and the 5700X slots in between the 5600X and the 5800X. So today I’m going to check out how both perform and see if they are worth considering if you are building a budget to mid-range CPU this upcoming summer.

Just a few weeks ago AMD officially announced their Ryzen 7 5800X3D as well as new processers in their mainstream lineup. Today is the day for the new mainstream lineup and while we don’t have any of the Zen 3 based models we do have the Ryzen 5 4500 which has a very budget-friendly MSRP of $129, who would have thought that 6 core 12 thread options would be available at that price. So today I’m going to check out the new CPU and see how it performs.

Well Intel recently announced their latest generation of CPUs and they are looking right at the cutting edge with multiple jumps including PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 being included with the new 12^th generation of CPUs. So much so on the cutting edge that our coverage is a little late after trying to get in DDR5 memory to test with. So forgive the tardiness, but today we are here to finally take a look at Intel’s new CPUs, DDR5, Z690, and their new socket as well. The 12^th generation of CPUs which were formally known as Adler Lake take an all new direction, following what we have been seeing on the mobile market with low and high speed cores and I’m excited to put them to the test.

Intel’s Rocket Lake CPUs which are their latest 11^th generation of their Core desktop lineup were officially announced earlier this month but they have been a bit of an open secret for a while now. There have even been CPUs available for sale way ahead of the launch so there has been a lot of information all over the place on Intel’s upcoming latest generation of desktop CPUs. Today is finally the day that the embargo lifts and we can take a closer look at the new lineup, namely the performance of two CPUs the Core i9 11900K and the i5-11600K that Intel sent over for us to test out. The competition in the CPU market has been strong and Intel has continued to push the limits so it will be interesting to see what they have in store for the 11^th gen CPUs so let's dive in and see what the story is.

Well, I may be a little late to the party with the Ryzen 5000 series, but we didn’t get one in at the launch. But here we are a little over a month later and we can finally check out the Ryzen 5 5600X which is the mid-range CPU of the new Zen 3 CPUs. This is also one of the most sought after models as well, with its MSRP being $299 and being much more reasonable for a build. Availability is still a constant issue, as it has been with ALL of the launches packed into the end of the year this year. But I’m excited to see the performance improvements promised, especially the single-core/IPC improvements which play a big role in gaming performance. Is the Ryzen 5 5600X going to be what is in your next build? Let’s find out.

It’s that time again, today Intel has introduced their full new generation of CPUs, the 10 gen core CPUs for desktop. While some PC hardware is a little hard to find given the global COVID crisis, but with some people being away from work or working from home, the need/interest in upgrading hardware is there. Today we are going to check out the new lineup and trust me it is HUGE and then I’m going to check out the two CPUs that Intel sent over for testing. They sent over the i9-10900K which is their new mainstream/gaming flagship and the i5-10600K which is more of a mid-range focused CPU. The 10900K has two more cores over the 9900K and a touch more clock speed as well so it will be interesting to see how it performs!  

Most people might think that the best thing about AMD's resurgence with Ryzen is the big performance gains in the high end. But for me, it is the trickle-down effect you see on the mid to low end. Quad-core CPUs were all you could get on the higher end of the mainstream lineups before Ryzen and now we have seen those end up in the mid-range and now the low end as well. Today AMD is launching their Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300X which both have 4 cores and 8 threads in the $100-$120 range which is a huge step up for budget builds. Today I’m excited to see how they perform, especially compared to the high-end quad-core CPUs from just a few years ago.