Users waiting for anAMDRyzen7 9800X3Dor the yet-to-be-released Ryzen9 9900X3Dand Ryzen9 9950X3Dseem to be out of luck, at least in the short term. The octa-core CPUremains out of stock on most sites, sporadically showing up at some retailers before selling out almost instantly. Its 12 and 16-core CPU siblings have yet to show up on shelves, though rumors indicate that aMarch release is plausiblefor both SKUs that were announced during CES 2025.
AMD’s Ryzen 9 9900X: A Value-Centric Alternative?
The uncertainty of when the next batch of Ryzen CPUs will be released poses an issue for users who are currently unsure about how to proceed when it comes to upgrading their CPU. Depending on the use case, waiting for a CPU upgrade later or even skipping AMD’s X3D offerings entirely might be the way to go. The AMD Ryzen9 9900X,thanks to a series of price cuts, has seen its pricedrop below $400, a significant dip from its initial MSRP of $500. These discounts are due to a mix of softer demand for it versus the highest-end Ryzen9 9950X, along with competitive pricing from Intel’s Arrow Lake-based CPUs. Both brands have been offering frequent sales as consumers get increasingly fickle about spending in 2025.
Another factor is the cost of newer GPUs being offered by Nvidia, with the RTX 5090 increasing by $400 in MSRP, generation on generation. This comes even as AIB partners tack on additional margins over MSRP amid rumors of reduced leeway being offered to them versus the Founders Edition SKUs by Nvidia.
Why Should You Consider The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X?
While AMD’s12-core CPUis not the fastest CPU for gaming out there, it does offer significant multi-tasking performance gains thanks to its four additional cores versus both the Ryzen7 9700Xand the9800X3D. It also delivers higher boost clocks, something that allows it to make short work of most productivity-centric benchmarks on PC. With its12-core, 24-thread configuration, it does come with a significant advantage when handling tasks such as streaming, video editing, and even some AI-centric workloads.
AMD’s Ryzen 9 9900X is a capable current-generation CPU with 12 cores and 24 threads in play.
As a Zen 5-based CPU with a higher TDP of 120W in play than the 9700X which was previously restricted to 65W, it definitely represents better value than the latter, coming in cheaper core-for-core than its octa-core sibling. It also enjoys considerably better availability than the 9800X3D. It’s also cheaper, though the trade-off is that it is somewhat harder recommendation for most gaming needs.
It does, however, run considerably cooler than the competition, offering significantly better efficiency. This also means that it offers a solid upgrade path as a socket AM5-based CPU. Overall, it’s an excellent value-for-money purchase that allows users to save money when it comes to purchasing a cooling solution.
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Coupled with its IPC gains on offer versus AMD’s last generation Zen 4 cores and significantly better performance, especially in AVX-512 workloads, make the Ryzen 9 9900X a no-brainer for users who would otherwise get a last-generation AMD Ryzen CPU, at leastuntil an X3D CPU is availablefor gaming or a cheaper 16-core option appeared on the menu.
