AMD Ryzen 9 9950X ‘Zen 5’ CPU Outperforms 14900KS by Up to 12% at Unlimited TDP, Consuming 309W Power

Recently, the upcoming Zen 5 Desktop CPU, AMD’s flagship processor, the Ryzen 9 9950X, was tested in the unlimited PPT mode. The impressive performance gain over competing silicon is demonstrated in the preliminary benchmark. The Ryzen 9 9950X, was tested by Anandtech forum member Igor_kavinski on an Engineering Sample.

All About the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X Zen 5 CPU

Featuring two Zen 5 CCDs and a single IOD, the Ryzen 9 9950X boasts 16 cores and 32 threads features a 4.3 GHz base clock, and reaches 5.7 GHz on boost. The 9950X comes with a total cache of 80 MB. Its cache is split between an L3 cache of 64 MB and an L2 cache of 16 MB. The CPU has a TDP of 170W. Although having a slightly lower base clock than the Ryzen 9 7950X that it supersedes, its efficiency improvements make for a solid overall uplift, especially in workloads with lots of threads.

In terms of testing, PBO and Curve Optimizer (CO) settings were used with stock 4800 MT/s DDR5 memory alongside a strong custom water-cooling solution. Retaining a similarly high-power thermal plot with an unlocked power limit of 320W, the Core i9-12900KS managed to remain at just under 80°C even when running through our charts for over two hours without tripping any throttling or alert messages.

The Ryzen 9 9950X reached an impressive score of P=31,285 points under unlimited PPT by our benchmarks which still consumed as much power at TDP 309W. That is 12.5% faster than the Core i9-14900KS from Intel, and a staggering performance advantage of around 24% when tested against an AMD Ryzen 9 at stock settings (230W PPT). These results underscore the Ryzen 9 9950X’s role as a high-performance desktop processor that should have no trouble with heavy computing workloads.

Combining a solid multi-threaded punch with newfound efficiency, the Ryzen 9 9950X looks like it’ll be at least one of-if not the best high-end desktop CPU in its class. The official launch is set to take place on July 31st, which promises additional in-depth performance evaluations and an overview of how the new processor performs across various workloads and environments. Both enthusiasts and professionals have been chomping at the bit for it to become available so they can push its limits in real-world applications.

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