Having essentially conquered the gaming desktop segment, AMD seems to have another beastly processor on the horizon for laptops. A few months back one of the first laptops featuring the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D Fire Range processor was leaked. At the time, aside from its desktop-grade processor specifications, 16-cores/32-thread with a base clock of 2.4 GHz/5.4 GHz boost clock and 128 MB L3 cache, it was revealed that the CPU was also paired with an as-of-yet unannounced mobile GeForce RTX 5090 (essentially a mobile version of the desktop RTX 5080) configured with 24 GB GDDR7 VRAM. This mobile match made in heaven presented a laptop whose specifications could not only dominate pretty much every other in the mobile segment but also compete with desktops on their own turf.
Now, as multiple laptop manufacturers are beginning to launch their models globally, featuring the flagship Fire Range HX3D processors, official hardware reviewer benchmarks are getting posted. The first comes from Hot Hardware who tested an MSI Raider A18 HX and while review embargoes currently restrict gaming benchmarks the synthetic CPU tests show the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D conquering nearly all that has preceded it. Ironically it often ends up competing with other AMD processors for the top spot, only losing to the AI MAX +395 in one test, Geekbench 6 while also trading blows with the Ryzen 9 7945HX. Apple’s M3 MAX (MacBook Pro 16) was neck-and-neck and only slightly behind in the aforementioned Geekbench 6 test. Depending on the test Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285 fell just a bit more behind but fared far worse at the GeekBench AI tests where its score was basically half that of the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D.
Benchmarks (via Hot Hardware):
AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D Official Specifications (via AMD):
- Former Codename: Fire Range
- Architecture: Zen 5
- # of CPU Cores: 16 Cores / Threads32
- Multithreading (SMT): Yes
- Max. Boost Clock: Up to 5.4 GHz
- Base Clock: 2.5 GHz
- Cache Sizes: L1 Cache 1280 KB, L2 Cache 16 MB, L3 Cache 128 MB
- Default TDP: 55W, AMD Configurable TDP (cTDP) 55-75W
- Processor Technology for CPU Cores: TSMC 4nm FinFET
- Processor Technology for I/O Die: TSMC 6nm FinFET
- Package Die Count: 3
- Unlocked for Overclocking: Yes
- AMD EXPO Memory Overclocking Technology: Yes
- Precision Boost Overdrive: Yes
- Curve Optimizer Voltage Offsets: Yes
- CPU Socket: FL1
- CPU Boost Technology: Precision Boost 2
- Instruction Set: x86-64
- Supported Extensions: AES , AMD-V , AVX512 , AVX , AVX2 , FMA3 , MMX-plus , SHA , SSE2 , SSE4.2 , SSE4A , SSE4.1 , SSE3 , SSSE3 , SSE , x86-64
- Max. Operating Temperature (Tjmax): 100°C*
- OS Support: Windows 11 – 64-Bit Edition , Windows 10 – 64-Bit Edition , RHEL x86 64-Bit , Ubuntu x86 64-Bit
- Native USB 3.2: Gen 2 (10Gbps):4
- Native USB 2.0: (480Mbps):1
- PCI Express Version: PCIe 5.0
- Native PCIe Lanes (Total/Usable): 28, 28
- NVMe Support: Boot, RAID0, RAID1, RAID10
- System Memory Type: DDR5
- Memory Channels: 2
- Max. Memory: 96 GB
- System Memory Subtype: SO-DIMM
- Max Memory Speed: 2x1R DDR5-5600, 2x2R DDR5-5600
- Graphics Model: AMD Radeon 610M
- Graphics Core Count: 2
- Graphics Frequency: 2200 MHz
- DirectX Version:12
- Display Connectivity: DP Version 2.0, HDMI Version2.1
- HDCP Version Supported: 2.1
- USB Type-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode: Yes
- Multi-Monitor Support: Yes
- Max Displays: 4
- AMD FreeSync: Yes
- Wireless Display: Miracast
- AMD SmartShift MAX: Yes
- AMD SmartAccess: Memory: Available