Gigabyte spoils AMD’s Ryzen 9000X3D surprise by leaking flagship 16-core CPU, which could be something special for gamers with X3D ‘turbo mode’

Hints dropped that Ryzen 9950X3D could be a very fast gaming CPU

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AMD’s flagship 3D V-Cacheprocessorfor the Zen 5 family has again been leaked, this time as part of a press release penned by Gigabyte.

We know that the Ryzen 9800X3D is incoming –actually later this week, on November 7– as AMD already announced it, and Gigabyte mentions that chip in thepress release(noticed by German tech siteComputerBase) on the subject of the benefits of its ‘X3D turbo mode’ (whichwe’ve been hearing a lot about lately).

The interesting bit is that Gigabyte mentions “performance increases of up to 18% for incoming Ryzen 9000 series 16-core X3D processors” (using said turbo mode) as well as the 9800X3D.

No other Ryzen X3D CPUs have yet been revealed, but the rumor mill strongly believes that the Ryzen 9800X3D (8-core workhorse) will eventually be joined by the Ryzen 9900X3D (12-core) and Ryzen 9950X3D (16-core) processors.

So, it seems that this is an indirect confirmation that there will indeed be a 16-core X3D flagship, which will almost certainly be the Ryzen 9950X3D (there’s no reason AMD wouldn’t stick to its previous naming scheme, after all, following the Ryzen 7950X3D flagship for Zen 4).

On top of this, asVideoCardz(which flagged the ComputerBase post) points out, the Ryzen 9950X3D was actually mentioned – using the chip’s full name – by Thermal Grizzly recently, with the firm telling us that the flagship will be compatible with various cooling solutions that it makes.

There have been plenty of rumors about the Ryzen 9950X3D (and 9900X3D for that matter) running alongside speculation about the 9800X3D before that processor was formally unveiled by AMD.

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At this point, it would be a shock if there wasn’t a 16-core Ryzen 9950X3D inbound, but we won’t get to see the CPU revealed in the immediate future if the rumor mill is correct on the release timeframe. While the 9800X3D is about to arrive, the other Ryzen 9 models for theZen 5 X3D range aren’t expected to be aired until CES 2025, with a launch probably shortly thereafter.

Analysis: The benefits of turbo mode for the Zen 5 flagship

What’s interesting about the turbo mode Gigabyte is stoking hype around is that it apparently applies a raft of tuning measures to 3D V-Cache processors, including disabling SMT (multithreading) which can improve gaming performance, and also disabling one CCD (Core Chiplet Die, or chiplet for short).

Now, the Ryzen 9950X3D should consist of two chiplets (of 8-cores apiece, likely one with 3D V-Cache, and one without, as is the case with the 7950X3D). And, in some situations, with somePC games, it’s not necessarily the best idea to have both of those chiplets active. So, using the turbo mode will intelligently turn off one CCD to improve performance – it may seem odd the 8-cores can be faster than 16-cores, but that is indeed the case sometimes, and at any rate, for many games, 8-cores is plenty enough anyway.

This CCD issue was one of the reasons why PC gamers preferred the 7800X3D over the 7950X3D – well, that and the cost – but with the Zen 5 flagship, it seems this may no longer be the case (save for the point about the 9950X3D being expensive, which it undoubtedly will be).

In Gigabyte’s press release, performance boosts of up to 18% for the 16-core X3D processor are highlighted, compared to 5% for the 9800X3D, and the fine-tuning around those CCDs is likely to be a big part of the reason why – and equally the reason why this generation’s flagship might be more tempting for gamers. You’ll definitely need deep pockets, though, especially as AMD has hiked the price for the 9800X3D (slightly), so the same may be true of the 9950X3D.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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