Conclusion
When it was launched in August of 2024, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X was AMD’s flagship CPU on the AM5 platform. Just below it, also launched at the same time, was the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X. These two CPUs are in AMD’s Ryzen 9 9000 CPU lineup and are based on the Zen 5 architecture, which was launched at the end of 2024. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X is a 16-Core/32-Thread CPU with a launch MSRP of $599, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-Core/24-Thread CPU with a launch MSRP of $499.
With these CPUs being out now for two years, there have been new BIOSes released, new software versions, and new games. One interesting topic we had not evaluated was to see how AMD’s 16-Core CPU compares to AMD’s 12-Core CPU in terms of gaming performance. We wanted to know what kind of difference, if any, there really is between a Ryzen 9 9950X and a Ryzen 9 9900X when it comes to gaming. There is no question that the Ryzen 9 9950X is superior in multi-threading performance, but what about gaming? Do the extra cores really matter for gaming, or is the Ryzen 9 9900X enough? These are things we wanted to find out, and so we ran these two CPUs through their paces with new, refreshed, updated benchmarks!
Performance Summary
It is important to note that both the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X share the same capacity of L3 Cache, which is 64MB. We know that AMD’s 3D V-Cache X3D CPUS dominate in gaming with their 128MB L3 Cache over these standard CPUs. But the standard AMD Zen 5 CPUs are no slouch in gaming to begin with. With the same capacity of L3 Cache, we might expect the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X to perform similarly in games, barring any Boost Clock differences. We actually found some instances that were more pronounced than others.
In Alan Wake 2, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X ended up being 4% faster in average framerate, but 5% faster in 1% Lows compared to the Ryzen 9 9900X. In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the Ryzen 9 9950X was 6% faster in average framerate and 5% faster in 1% Lows. In Crimson Desert, the Ryzen 9 9950X was 6% faster in average framerate and a much larger and significant 13% faster in 1% Lows. Resident Evil Requiem was 6% faster in average framerate and a higher 9% faster in 1% Lows.
In all the other games, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X was generally faster. However, it was less significant, with differences between 1-3% in average framerate and 1% Lows. Generally, the 1% Lows saw a more significant increase with the Ryzen 9 9950X in games. The clock speed could be the factor in the smaller percentage differences between the CPUs. In the higher percentage scenarios, why the Ryzen 9 9950X is so much higher in the same circumstances, we do not know, but it is interesting for sure.
Final Points
As expected, if you need the most multi-threaded performance or multi-core performance, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X is going to offer you the most in that regard. The Ryzen 9 9950X will give you up to 24% more performance when utilizing all cores. This does consume more power, of course. In the single-thread performance, the two CPUs are very similar in performance.
When it comes to gaming, this is a bit more mixed. There is actually a performance difference between the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and AMD Ryzen 9 9900X when gaming. Granted, there is a Boost Clock difference of 100MHz between the CPUs, but it seems like something more is at play as well. There were some instances where the average framerate, and especially the 1% Lows were more noticeably higher on the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, to a larger degree than we expected. It is game-dependent, of course. There are games where the two CPUs are neck-and-neck, with a mere 1%-3% difference.
For the most part, however, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X was always on top in terms of performance, whether that be the average framerate or the 1% Lows. The degree of that advantage will depend on the game. If you are running a high-end, fast GPU, then to get the highest framerates out of it, you can, the Ryzen 9 9950X is that CPU. However, if you are running a more mid-range setup, want to save money, and consume less power, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X won’t compromise your gaming experience.
Either way really, the gaming experience won’t be overly compromised with the Ryzen 9 9900X compared to the Ryzen 9 9950X. The real difference is for everything outside of gaming, really. Otherwise, you can rest assured that for gaming, the Ryzen 9 9950X or Ryzen 9 9900X will get the job done.
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