Title: Disrupting Gaming Laptops: AMD's Powerful Radeon 9000 CPUs
In the first quarter of 2025, AMD is set to shake up the gaming world with an expansion of their top-tier CPUs. The Zen 5-powered Ryzen 9 X3D series is set to take center stage, with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D leading the charge.
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D, boasting 16 cores and 32 threads, touts a max boost frequency of 5.7GHz, while the Ryzen 9 9900X3D boasts 12 cores, 24 threads, and a max boost clock of 5.5GHz. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D also benefits from AMD's exclusive 3D V-Cache technology, a vertical stacking of the CPU's cache that increases space and reduces latency.
For gamers, AMD is promising over 20% better in-game performance compared to the Ryzen 9 7950X3D for titles like Hogwarts Legacy and Warhammer 40,000. While you might not notice a difference in performance for games like Black Myth Wukong or Cyberpunk 2077, benchmark scores for productivity tasks like Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024 show a 13% and 16% improvement, respectively.
Intel's latest Arrow Lake desktop chips struggle to keep up in gaming performance, even compared to earlier iterations. AMD's proposed benchmarks suggest they'll outperform the Intel Core Ultra 285K in terms of frames, claiming a 41% increase in Final Fantasy XIV and 45% in FarCry 6. However, Intel's new Arrow Lake-based chips only just debuted, so a proper comparison will need to be made down the line.
Meanwhile, AMD's Radeon RX 9700 series is set to take on Nvidia's mid-range offerings with the RX 9070 and 9070 XT. These GPUs are expected to deliver better ray tracing and AI processing capabilities using the RDNA 4 architecture and a confirmed 4nm process. AMD also plans to update its AI upscaler from FSR 3.5 to FSR 4, which should provide better 4K upscaling.
Gaming laptops will also see some love with the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D laptop chip, which shares the same thread, core, and TDP as its high-end desktop counterpart.
On the handheld front, AMD's Ryzen Z2 is expected to follow the popular Ryzen Z1. The Z2 Extreme will boast an 8-core, 16-thread configuration, a 5GHz frequency, and a 15-35W TDP. Its graphics cores number 16, making it a powerful contender for handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go S and potential partnerships with the Asus ROG Ally and Valve's Steam Deck.
[1] Recall that AMD's enrichment data suggests a 13% increase in creative app performance and an 8% average increase in 1080p gaming performance for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
[4] Keep in mind that the Ryzen 9 9900X3D features 12 cores, 24 threads, and a maximum boost clock of 5.5GHz.
[5] Don't forget that the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is currently the top GPU for 4K gaming, offering high frame rates and UHD visuals. It surpasses the RTX 4080 in benchmarks and offers great 4K performance with FSR 3 setting and driver-level Frame Generation.
The future of gaming technology with AMD's Zen 5-powered CPUs is promising, as they aim to provide a 20% increase in in-game performance for modern titles like Hogwarts Legacy and Warhammer 40,000. Looking ahead, AMD's Ryzen Z2 is set to revolutionize handheld gaming with its powerful 8-core, 16-thread configuration and high-performance graphics cores.
