AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU Review

1. Ryzen 9 3950X: 16 Cores for the Mainstream2. Overclocking Ryzen 9 3950X3. Testing Methodology4. CPU Tests: Cinebench R15 & R20, Blender5. CPU & Memory Tests: 7-Zip, Handbrake x264 & x2656. Memory Tests: Memory Bandwidth and Latency7. Gaming 1: 3DMark, Ashes, Deus Ex, Far Cry 5, GTA V8. Gaming 2: GRW, Hitman 2, SotTR, The Division 29. 1440p Gaming: Deus Ex, Far Cry 5, & The Division 210. Technical: Power Draw, Efficiency, Temperatures11. Closing Thoughts12. View All Pages

Ghost Recon Wildlands

We run the built-in benchmark using a 1080P resolution and the Ultra quality preset.

Hitman 2

We run the built-in benchmark using the Mumbai scene with image quality set to Ultra and the DirectX 12 mode enabled.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

We run the built-in benchmark using the DirectX 12 mode, anti-aliasing disabled, and the Highest quality preset.

The Division 2

We use the game's built-in benchmark with quality set to Ultra, VSync disabled, and DX12 mode.

The gaming performance you’re getting from Zen 2 processors with solid boost frequencies is a known entity at this point. You shouldn’t be expecting to outgun the Coffee Lake Core i9-9900K in high refresh rate gaming scenarios. But, there is certainly no reason why you can’t pair the Ryzen 9 3950X with a higher-than-60Hz monitor for a good high-FPS gaming system (not that we’d recommend the 3950X for a gaming-only machine).

Of more relevance, given the highly impressive computational and productivity performance we have already observed, is how the Ryzen 9 3950X performs versus Intel’s HEDT chips in games. Strong boost frequencies and Intel’s use of the mesh architecture on its HEDT competitors give AMD’s 16-core part more victories than defeats versus stock-clocked Skylake-X competitors. That may be important to buyers who value gaming performance from their one-size-fits-all PC build.

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