AMD confirms Ryzen 7 9850X3D for late January release, $499

AMD has officially confirmed that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D will hit retail shelves on January 29th, carrying a suggested price tag of $499. This move positions the new 8-core processor as the premium choice within Team Red's Zen 5 3D V-Cache lineup, sitting just above the current Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

The announcement comes directly from David McAfee, AMD's VP and GM of the client channel business, who claims this new SKU is the fastest gaming processor currently available. The specifications reveal that while the architecture remains the same, the 9850X3D benefits from improved binning, enabling it to reach a 5.6 GHz clock speed, a 400 MHz boost compared to the 9800X3D. Despite this higher frequency, the 120 W TDP remains unchanged, as does the 104 MB total cache pool, which includes the 96 MB L3 stack that defines the X3D series. AMD's internal benchmarks suggest this clock-speed advantage translates into a 3% to 8% performance uplift over the 9800X3D in CPU-bound scenarios.

The $499 MSRP will likely come as a relief to those following recent industry whispers. Early retail leaks in December had suggested pricing could be a bit higher, especially given the persistent demand for high-end AM5 components.

Availability remains the primary concern for prospective buyers. The previous launch of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D was marred by severe inventory shortages, leading to inflated prices at third-party retailers and a thriving scalper market. Although reports suggest distribution is well underway for the January 29th release, it remains to be seen whether AMD has secured enough volume to meet demand.

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KitGuru says: If stock levels hold, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is poised to become the new default recommendation for high-end gaming builds, effectively squeezing Intel's flagship offerings out of the frame.

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