AMD rumored to launch the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D alongside RDNA 4 GPUs in late March

Reports suggest that AMD will debut its 16-core and 12-core Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs in late March, coinciding with the launch of its Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards. Citing internal sources, French hardware news website CowCotLand claims that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D are planned for release by the end of Q1, aligning with AMD’s provided release timeframe.

AMD revealed its high-core count Ryzen 9000X3D offerings at CES, boasting a 20% performance bump in gaming against Intel’s Core Ultra 200S (Arrow Lake) processors. There is no difference in the total cache size versus the last generation, as the chipmaker will continue offering the 3D V-Cache on a single CCD. However, AMD’s 2nd-generation V-Cache technology, which has the SRAM chiplet beneath the CCD, allows these chips to have a higher thermal headroom with a Tjmax of 95 degrees Celsius. This enables higher boost clocks, as seen with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The Ryzen 9 7950X3D’s V-Cache equipped CCD suffered a hefty 500 MHz frequency penalty compared to the CCD without the X3D cache, which should be resolved with the changes to the stacking structure.

CowCotLand suggests that these processors will arrive by the end of next month. While the source doesn’t explicitly mention an expected timeline for RDNA 4, preliminary listings suggest RDNA 4 pre-orders start March 23. AMD will likely introduce the RX 9070 series first, followed by budget-friendly offerings later in the year. Given the hype behind AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is practically impossible to find at MSRP anywhere, let’s hope supply for upcoming dual-CCD models is enough to keep up with demand.

Specifications for the RX 9070 XT and its non-XT counterpart have been leaked beforehand. The main highlight is that both GPUs are rumored to boast 16GB of memory, with the flagship RX 9070 XT allegedly trading blows with Nvidia’s RTX 4080 Super. Our testing suggests a 10% performance gap between the elusive RTX 5080 and RTX 4080 Super. While this is purely speculative, the RX 9070 XT is projected to be within 15-20% of the RTX 5080. The best part? The 9070 XT might be in stock, unlike the RTX 5080.

AMD seems to be planning two major launches next month. According to leaks, RDNA 4 looks good, so it makes sense that it would have a dedicated launch event. However, AMD has not yet announced any details.