Just bought a 9800x3d, still haven't received it yet. I found the 9950x is on sale. Is it worth returning the 9800x3d and buying the 9950x? I don't do much gaming. plan to buy a 5080 later. I want the CPU to last longer, so I don't have to change it. I am currently using a 6700k and 980ti. The CPU is too slow, so I want to change it.
AMD Ryzen 9800X3D or 9950X CPU
RichardF89 on 11/07/2025 - 12:15
Last edited 11/07/2025 - 12:29 by 1 other user
Last edited 11/07/2025 - 12:29 by 1 other user
Comments
thanks even at similar price? the 9950x rrp is much higher
They're both pretty overkill, you're looking at basically the top of the line CPUs for someone that's not gaming much. The 9950x would have the edge for productivity tasks, whereas the 9800X3D is better at gaming in comparison.
I thought the 9950x has more cores and threads. I can use it for longer. The 6700k was the top gaming CPU 10 years ago. Now, I can't even handle daily tasks well. It is very slow when I just start my machine and open more tabs on Chrome. So I want to change the CPU, but then I need to change everything. Say, for example, I bought a 9800x3d, I can use it for another 10 years, and a 9950x may use it for 15 years?
@RichardF89: I don't think that's how it works, the primary reason you'd buy the 9800x3d is because you want to play games. Games aren't highly multi-threaded generally speaking, but they benefit massively from the big cache size. That's why gamers typically pay the extra money for the X3D chips, but not high-core count processors.
You will definitely not be able to use the same system for 15 years regardless of how much you pay for the CPU. We have no idea if Microsoft will drop support for hardware, Windows 11 for example, when it was released in 2021, technically didn't support processors from 7 years ago. Intel Coffee Lake and AMD Ryzen 2000 series was the cut-off.
9800x3d has got an extra 64mb cache which helps in games.
9950x has a higher clock speed.
after 10 yrs both will be the same. 9950x is not going to give you extra few yrs life due to higher clockspeedcool thanks
If you're not gaming much, why are you considering an RTX 5080?
In case I want to play a game. I tried to play 2077 when it just released, and my current PC is too slow to play.
The 5080 is not considered good value, the 5070 Ti on the other hand performs quite closely and is much cheaper.
And even then I'd consider the 5070 Ti a bit overkill if you're not gaming all that much… What are your display monitor specs?
I have 2 Dell 2k monitors, 27 and 32 (may 34)(previous OzB favourite ones). Or maybe 9070 is also OK. I just want to buy a good value one, even if I have to wait for the new generation. Currently, I don't have any 3A games, very keen to play
Keep the 9800X3D