Built on the new Zen 3 architecture, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X promises to offer unparalleled 16-core, 32-thread performance!

Take a look at its performance in our in-depth review, and find out why we gave it our Reviewer’s Choice Award!

AMD Ryzen 5000 Series : Built On Zen 3

The AMD Ryzen 5000 series is designed using the new AMD Zen 3 architecture, which promises to deliver 19% more instructions per cycle (IPC) over the last generation, thanks to these new features :

• improved load / store performance and flexibility
• double the size of directly-accessible L3 cache per core
• a unified 8-core complex (CCX) with direct access to the 32 MB L3 cache
• wider issue in floating point and integer engines
• Zero Bubble branch prediction

The new architecture also reduces memory latency through improved core and cache communication, and offer a higher maximum boost clock.

This allows the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors to deliver up to 2.8X more performance-per-watt versus the competition.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Price + Availability

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax, in Malaysia :

• Malaysia : RM 3,699 (~US$889) inclusive of 6% tax
• United States : RM 799

Note : It comes with a free copy of Far Cry 6

Here are some online purchase options :

• Malaysia : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Bundle
• Singapore : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only
• Australia : CPU Only

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Specifications

Here is how the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X compares to the other Ryzen 5000 series processors :

Unboxing The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X comes in a slimmer box, because it doesn’t come with any bundled cooler.

The last-generation Ryzen 9 3900X, you may recall, came with the Wraith Prism cooler.

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X Up Close!

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X has sixteen Ryzen processor cores, with a 3.4 GHz base clock, and a 4.9 GHz boost clock.

It has a 105 watt TDP, and supports SMT (simultaneous multi-threading), which means it can handle up to 32 threads simultaneously.

Like the 3rd Gen Ryzen, it has 512 KB L2 cache per core, for an 8 MB L2 cache size; and a massive 64 MB L3 cache.

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X can be installed unto existing AMD 500 series motherboards, and later, the AMD 400 series as well, after a simple BIOS update.

Next Page > AMD Zen 3 Architecture + SoC Design

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AMD Zen 3 Architecture

Codename Vermeer, Zen 3 is the next evolution of the Zen architecture, delivering a 19% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC) through these improvements :

Front-End Enhancements

• Faster fetching, especially for branchy and large-footprint code
• L1 branch target buffer doubled in size to 1024 entries for better prediction latency
• Improved branch predictor bandwidth
• Faster recovery from misprediction
• “No bubble” prediction capabilities to make back-to-back predictions more quickly and better handle branchy code
• Faster sequencing of op-cache fetches
• Finer granularity in switching of op-cache pipes

Execution Engines

• Reduce latency and enlarge structures to extract higher instruction-level parallelism (ILP)
• New dedicated branch and st-data pickers for integer, now at 10 issues per cycle (+3 vs. Zen 2)
• Larger integer window at +32 vs. Zen 2
• Reduced latency for select float and int operations
• Floating point has increased bandwidth by +2 for a total of 6-wide dispatch and issue
• Floating point FMAC is now 1 cycle faster

Load Store

• Larger structures and better prefetching to support the enhanced execution engine bandwidth
• Overall higher bandwidth to feed the appetite of the larger/faster execution resources
• Higher load bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
• Higher store bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
• More flexibility in load/store operations
• Improved memory dependence detection
• +4 table walkers in the TLB

SOC Architecture

• Reduce dependency on main memory accesses, reduce core-to-core latency, reduce core-to-cache latency.
• Unify all cores in a CCD into a single unified complex consisting of 4, 6, or 8 contiguous cores
• Unify all L3 cache in a CCD into a single contiguous element of up to 32MB
• Rearchitect core/cache communication into a ring system

AMD Zen 3 SoC Design

In addition to micro architectural improvements, Zen 3 (Vermeer) also features SoC design changes.

In Zen 2, each CCD (Compute Die) is made up of two CCX (core complexes), each with a 16 MB L3 cache.

Zen 3 uses a unified complex, in which each CCD now contains a single CCX with a unified 32 MB L3 cache.

This unified CCD design eliminates CCX-to-CCX communication, greatly improving core-to-core latency.

On the other hand, AMD reused the chiplet design, with one or two CCDs (fabricated on 7 nm) paired with a 12 nm IOD (I/O Die).

Reads from CCD to IO are still 2X write, to conserve die area and transistor budget. And it uses the same IOD from Matisse (Zen 2).

The new Zen 3 CCD has 4.15 billion transistors, with a die size of 80.7 mm². The Matisse-era IOD remains the same – 2.09 billion transistors, with a die size of 125 mm².

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X Benchmarking Notes

In this review, we will take a look at the content creation and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, comparing it to 6 other processors :

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
• Intel Core i7-8700K
• AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
• AMD Ryzen 3 3300X

Here are the specifications of the Intel and AMD testbeds we used.

Next Page > 3D Rendering, Transcoding, Radial Blur Performance

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AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : 3D Rendering Speed

CINEBENCH R20 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software.

It is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.

CINEBENCH R20 Single Core Performance

This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.

Like the Ryzen 7 5800X, the Ryzen 9 5950X broke past the 600 mark, and was 22.5% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X.

Because it has a 11.4% higher boost clock, that works out to a 10% better performance per clock, over the last-generation Ryzen.

CINEBENCH R20 Multi Core Performance

The Multi Core test shows the processor’s real-world 3D rendering performance.

A score of almost 9900! That makes it 66% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X, and 2X faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X, both 8-core, 16-thread processors.

Multi-Threading Boost

This is not a CINEBENCH benchmark result. The Multi-Threading Boost is our calculation of the performance boost that the processor’s Multi-Threading capability provides.

For some reason, the Ryzen 9 5950X doesn’t benefit at all from its SMT capability.

That’s why it only has a 66% performance advantage over the Ryzen 7 5800X, despite having twice as many cores.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Transcoding Speed

HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility, which converts a video file from one resolution / format to another.

As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive, which makes it a great benchmark for multi-core processors. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).

Very nice! The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X was 30% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X, 44% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X and 74% faster than Ryzen 7 2700X.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Radial Blur Speed

The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores.

This radial blur test was performed on Photoshop 2020 using a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.

This is a huge boost in performance! The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X was 87% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X, 2.33X faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X and 2.67X faster than the Ryzen 7 2700X.

Next Page > Gaming Performance : 3DMark | F1 2019

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Synthetic Game Test : 3DMark

We used 3DMark’s Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme synthetic benchmarks, which supports DirectX 12, and the latest features like asynchronous compute, and multi-threading support.

Time Spy – 2560 x 1440

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X was 5% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X, 20% faster than Ryzen 7 3700X, and 40% faster than Ryzen 7 2700X.

Of course, the CPU only has a slight influence on a game’s performance, so its effect on the overall gaming score is less significant.

Time Spy Extreme – 3840 x 2160

At the higher 4K resolution, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X was 20% faster than Ryzen 7 5800X, 81% faster than Ryzen 7 3700X, and 2.3X faster than Ryzen 7 2700X and Core i7-8700K.

Now check out the processors’ effect on the overall gaming score… Obviously, CPU performance only has a small effect at this resolution.

F1 2019

F1 2019 is a racing game by Codemasters, released on 28 June 2019. We tested it on three resolutions at the Ultra High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

Look at that. The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X delivered 6% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X, and 12% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 2700X!

1440p Gaming Resolution

At the higher 1440p resolution though, the effect of CPU performance was negligible, even with the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.

2160p Gaming Resolution

At 4K resolution, processor performance had no effect. The game was graphics-limited, not CPU-limited.

Next Page > Gaming Performance : World War Z | Strange Brigade

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World War Z

Based on the 2013 movie, World War Z is a relatively recent third-person shooter game, released in April 2019.

We tested it on three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

Look at that! The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X topped this comparison, tying with the Ryzen 7 5800X.

It delivered 16% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X, and 20% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K.

1440p Gaming Resolution

When we bumped the resolution up to 1440p, it really didn’t matter that much which processor we used. They all performed about the same.

2160p Gaming Resolution

At 4K resolution, processor performance had absolutely no effect. The game was completely graphics-limited.

Strange Brigade

Strange Brigade is a third-person shooter game, released in August 2018. We tested it in three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the Ultra High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

CPU performance had only a small effect on frame rates in Strange Brigade, even at 1080p.

1440p Gaming Resolution

At 1440p, they were virtually all equal in performance. The game was already graphics-limited.

2160p Gaming Resolution

It was the same at 4K, of course – the game was completely graphics-limited.

Next Page > Gaming Performance : Metro Exodus | AotS

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Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game, released in February 2019. We tested it in three resolutions using the Ultra settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

Metro Exodus is graphics-intensive, so CPU performance has limited effect on its frame rate.

1440p Gaming Resolution

All of the processors performed the same at 1440p, with a slight edge to the Core i7-8700K.

2160p Gaming Resolution

At 4K, the game was completely graphics-limited, so it didn’t matter which processor we tested.

Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes of the Singularity is a 2016 game that supports multi-core processing and asynchronous compute.

In this game, the single core CPU performance has a significant effect on the actual frame rate.

We tested it on three resolutions using the DirectX 12 API at the High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160

1080p Gaming Resolution

Look at that! The Ryzen 9 5950X delivered 9% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 5800X, 21% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K, and 23% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X.

1440p Gaming Resolution

At 1440p, the Ryzen 9 5950X delivered 7% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 5800X, and 23% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.

2160p Gaming Resolution

Even at 4K, CPU performance mattered in Ashes of the Singularity. The Ryzen 9 5950X delivered just 2% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 5800X, and 14% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.

Next Page > AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Verdict + Award, Price + Availability

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AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Our Verdict + Award!

Thanks to the new Zen 3 core optimisations and SoC design, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X offers a nice leap forward in performance.

It offers significantly better single-core and multi-core performance over the last generation, offering a nice boost to both content creation and gaming performance.

As our benchmark results show, the Ryzen 9 5950X offers a large performance boost over the Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 7 2700X, and even the new Ryzen 7 5800X.

With 16 cores that support up to 32 threads, it barrels through everything thrown at it without a sweat.

But while AMD has highlighted the Ryzen 9 5950X as a great processor for gaming, it’s really best for serious content creation work.

It’s not that it won’t work well in games, it’s just overkill for games.

We cannot emphasise this great point about the Ryzen 9 5950X – even though it uses a new Zen 3 microarchitecture, it continues to use the AM4 socket.

If you have an existing AMD 500 Series motherboard, you can just pop in the Ryzen 9 5950X after a BIOS upgrade.

Those on AMD 400 Series motherboards will have to wait until Q1 2020, before they receive BIOS upgrades to support Zen 3.

In our Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5800X reviews, we pointed out that they were priced significantly higher than their predecessors.

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is priced at $799 (RM3,699) – a $50 (RM550) premium over the last-generation Ryzen 9 3950X, which had a launch price of $749 (RM3,149).

But this time, it comes with a free copy of the upcoming game – Far Cry 6 Standard Edition, which is priced at $56.99.

Paradoxically, this makes the Ryzen 9 5950X the best deal of the Ryzen 5000 series, if you can afford it, of course!

That’s why we believe it deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award. Congratulations, AMD!

So who should, or should NOT, buy the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X?

• Buy : If you want the best possible 16-core processor for a new content creation system.
• Buy : If you are upgrading from a first-generation Ryzen processor.
• Buy : If you need more computing cores than your current system.
• Consider : If you are upgrading from a second-generation Ryzen processor.
• Skip : If you are already using a 3rd Gen Ryzen processor.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Price + Availability

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax, in Malaysia :

• Malaysia : RM 3,699 (~US$889) inclusive of 6% tax
• United States : RM 799

Note : It comes with a free copy of Far Cry 6

Here are some online purchase options :

• Malaysia : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Bundle
• Singapore : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only
• Australia : CPU Only

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Specifications

Here is how the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X compares to the other Ryzen 5000 series processors :

Recommended Reading

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800X In-Depth Review : 8-Core Powerhouse!
• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X In-Depth Review : A Leap Forward!
• AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs : Malaysia Price List + FREE Game!
• AMD Infinity Cache Explained : L3 Cache Comes To The GPU!
• Radeon RX 6000 vs GeForce RTX 30 : Faster + Cheaper!
• RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, RX 6800 : Features + Specifications!
• AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series : What You Need To Know!
• Dell G5 15 5500 Review : Affordable RTX Gaming @ 144 Hz!
• AMD Ryzen 5000 Series : What You Need To Know!
• XPS 13 (9310) with Intel Tiger Lake : What’s New?
• VMware vSphere 7 Now Supports AMD SEV-ES Encryption!
• Ryzen 7 3700C | Ryzen 5 3500C | Ryzen 3 3250C Revealed!
• AMD Athlon Gold 3150C + Athlon Silver 3050C Revealed!
• 11th Gen Intel Core (Tiger Lake) : What You Need To Know!
• HUAWEI MateBook X Pro (2020) Review : Ultra-Light Beast!
• AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Desktop APUs : All You Need To Know!
• AMD Athlon PRO 3000 Desktop APUs : All You Need To Know!
• AMD Athlon 3000 G-Series with Radeon Graphics Revealed!
• AMD Ryzen 4000 G-Series with Radeon Graphics Revealed!
• Google Cloud Confidential VM With 2nd Gen AMD EPYC!

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