A
s if AMD’s monster 16-core
mainstream CPU wasn’t disruptive
enough, it’s fallen £50 since
launch and now sits at under £700. It’s
certainly not affordable for everyone, but
considering it keeps up with Intel CPUs that
cost close to £2,000 a year ago, its value,
even at this price, is hard to dismiss. So
much so that it resulted in Intel slashing
prices of its Cascade Lake-X CPUs and even
then, they still only offer niche appeal.
As well as 16 cores and 32 threads courtesy
of Simultaneous Multithreading, the Ryzen 9
3950X uses AMD’s 7nm Zen 2 architecture
to great effect. It’s far easier to tame in terms
of cooling than Intel’s Core i9-10980XE or
Core i9-10940X, which sport 18 and 14 cores
respectively. It has a massive 64MB L3 cacheAMD RYZEN 9
3950X /£698 inc VAT
SUPPLIER overclockers.co.ukand 8MB L2 cache, and has the highest peak
boost frequency of any 3rd-gen Ryzen CPU
at 4.7GHz, although that will drop to around
4GHz once all 16 cores are under load.
Whether or not you want to overclock this
CPU is a tricky question. We managed an
all-core manual overclock of 4.35GHz using
a vcore of 1.375V. This will obviously see
better multi-threaded performance, but as
overclocking disables boosting, that’s as high
as things will go, meaning you lose 350MHz
of single-core boost. This will result in slower
performance in lightly threaded tasks.
The competition doesn’t really come in the
form of any mainstream CPU from Intel, as the
only CPU we’d recommend in this category
that gets close to the Ryzen flagship’s price
is the Core i9-9900K, but it offers half the
number of cores and correspondingly costs
less than £500. This means the 3950X sits in
a rather lonely position, lacking the PCI-E lanes
and quad-channel memory of Intel’s HEDT
CPUs. However, if you’re just concerned with
raw performance, then the Core i9-10920X
and Core i9-10940X are definitely in its sights.
Unfortunately for Intel, the AMD CPU
does exceptionally well in most tests. It
was blistering in our image editing test, the
fastest by a long way in the video encoding
and multi-tasking tests and its system score
of 326,395 at stock speed was higher even
than the overclocked Core i9-10940X. It
was totally dominant in Cinebench and
once overclocked, managed to top 10,000
points. Only in Adobe Premiere Pro was itslower than Intel’s HEDT CPUs, where the
Core i9-10920X and Core i9-10940X held
commanding leads once overclocked and
were quicker at stock speed too.
In games it was the fastest of AMD’s
offerings, but in Far Cry New Dawn, Intel still
enjoyed a noticeable lead with its mainstream
CPUs, but its Cascade Lake-X CPUs were poor
until overclocked, where they matched the
Ryzen 9 3950X. Metro Exodus was a similar
story. However, drawing just 242W at stock
and 340W when overclocked under load
means it’s far more efficient.Conclusion
It might still fall short of Intel in some
games, but the gap is closer than ever and,
in many games, and more GPU-bound
settings, doesn’t exist at all. It’s overkill for a
gaming system, though, where Intel’s Core
i9-9900K is still a monster and Intel is often
quicker in Adobe Premiere Pro too, but if
you need the best all-rounder, the Ryzen 9
3950X is fantastic.SPEC
Base frequency 3.5GHz
Turbo frequency 4.7GHz
Core Zen 2
Manufacturing process 7nm
Number of cores 16 x physical (32 threads)
Simultaneous Multithreading Ye s
Cache 64MB L3 cache, 16 x 512KB L2 cache
Memory controller Dual-channel
DDR4, up to 3200MHz
Packaging Socket AM4
Thermal design power (TDP) 105W
Features Precision Boost Overdrive, FMA3,
F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX,
AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
A stunning all-rounder with serious multi-
threaded grunt and reasonable gaming pace.HOT CHOCOLATE
+ Massive multi-
threaded performance
+ Awesome bang
for your buck
+ Good choice of
motherboardsHOT WATER- Cheaper 3rd-gen
Ryzen CPUs perform
similarly in lightly
threaded software - Limited overclocking
headroom - Slower than Intel CPUs
in some scenarios
PERFORMANCE
48 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALL SCORE
86 %
VALUE
25 / 35c
us
tom P
C
ccuuss
stommPP
CCP
R
E
M
IU
M^ GR
A
D
E
A
s if AMD’smonster16-core
mainstreamCPUwasn’tdisruptive
enough,it’sfallen£50since
launchandnowsitsatunder£700.It’s
certainlynotaffordable foreveryone,but
consideringit keepsupwithIntelCPUsthat
costcloseto£2,000a yearago,itsvalue,
evenatthisprice,ishardtodismiss.So
muchsothatit resultedinIntelslashing
pricesofitsCascadeLake-XCPUsandeven
then,theystillonlyoffernicheappeal.
Aswellas 16 coresand 32 threadscourtesy
ofSimultaneousMultithreading,theRyzen 9
3950XusesAMD’s7nmZen2 architecture
togreateffect.It’sfareasiertotameinterms
ofcoolingthanIntel’sCorei9-10980XEor
Corei9-10940X,whichsport 18 and 14 cores
respectively.It hasa massive64MBL3cache
AMD RYZEN 9
3950X/£698inc VAT
SUPPLIER overclockers.co.ukand8MBL2cache,andhasthehighest peak
boost frequency of any 3rd-gen Ryzen CPU
at 4.7GHz, although that will drop to around
4GHz once all 16 cores are under load.
Whether or not you want to overclock this
CPU is a tricky question. We managed an
all-core manual overclock of 4.35GHz using
a vcore of 1.375V. This will obviously see
better multi-threaded performance, but as
overclocking disables boosting, that’s as high
as things will go, meaning you lose 350MHz
of single-core boost. This will result in slower
performance in lightly threaded tasks.
The competition doesn’t really come in the
form of any mainstream CPU from Intel, as the
only CPU we’d recommend in this category
that gets close to the Ryzen flagship’s price
is the Core i9-9900K, but it offers half the
number of cores and correspondingly costs
less than £500. This means the 3950X sits in
a rather lonely position, lacking the PCI-E lanes
and quad-channel memory of Intel’s HEDT
CPUs. However, if you’re just concerned with
raw performance, then the Core i9-10920X
and Core i9-10940X are definitely in its sights.
Unfortunately for Intel, the AMD CPU
does exceptionally well in most tests. It
was blistering in our image editing test, the
fastest by a long way in the video encoding
and multi-tasking tests and its system score
of 326,395 at stock speed was higher even
than the overclocked Core i9-10940X. It
was totally dominant in Cinebench and
once overclocked, managed to top 10,000
points. Only in Adobe Premiere Pro was itslower than Intel’s HEDT CPUs, where the
Core i9-10920X and Core i9-10940X held
commanding leads once overclocked and
were quicker at stock speed too.
In games it was the fastest of AMD’s
offerings, but in Far Cry New Dawn, Intel still
enjoyed a noticeable lead with its mainstream
CPUs, but its Cascade Lake-X CPUs were poor
until overclocked, where they matched the
Ryzen 9 3950X. Metro Exodus was a similar
story. However, drawing just 242W at stock
and 340W when overclocked under load
means it’s far more efficient.Conclusion
It might still fall short of Intel in some
games, but the gap is closer than ever and,
in many games, and more GPU-bound
settings, doesn’t exist at all. It’s overkill for a
gaming system, though, where Intel’s Core
i9-9900K is still a monster and Intel is often
quicker in Adobe Premiere Pro too, but if
you need the best all-rounder, the Ryzen 9
3950X is fantastic.SPEC
Base frequency 3.5GHz
Turbo frequency 4.7GHz
Core Zen 2
Manufacturing process 7nm
Number of cores 16 x physical (32 threads)
Simultaneous Multithreading Ye s
Cache 64MB L3 cache, 16 x 512KB L2 cache
Memory controller Dual-channel
DDR4, up to 3200MHz
Packaging Socket AM4
Thermal design power (TDP) 105W
Features Precision Boost Overdrive, FMA3,
F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX2, AVX,
AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
A stunning all-rounder with serious multi-
threadedgruntandreasonable gaming pace.HOT CHOCOLATE
Massive multi-
threaded performance
Awesome bang
for your buck
Good choice of
motherboards
HOT WATER- Cheaper 3rd-gen
Ryzen CPUs perform
similarly in lightly
threaded software - Limited overclocking
headroom - Slower than Intel CPUs
in some scenarios
PERFORMANCE
48 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALLSCORE
86 %
VALUE
25 / 35cc
uuss
tommPP
CCP
R
E
M
IU
M^ GR
A
D
E