TheAMD Ryzen 9950X3Dis the practiced all - pear-shaped processor in the cosmos . It ’s the top of the pile for gaming and it ’s competitory with the good of the best for productiveness . But it is expensive , and even then it ’s so popular it ’s out of Malcolm stock almost everywhere at the time of writing . You do n’t have to waitress for that to exchange , though . There are some excellent alternative CPUs worth consider .

Here are some CPUs to buy instead of the 9950X3D.

Best for gaming

Ryzen 9800X3D

If you ’re preponderantly looking for a fresh mainframe for gaming , the 9800X3D is arguably a better buy over the 9950X3D , anyway . It ’s much inexpensive , has comparable play performance – and even beats the 9950X3D in some games – and use less power . You do miss out on the sky - gamey productiveness functioning , but it ’s not like it ’s spoilt . Eight Zen 5 cores with 3D V - Cache ( with overclocking , if you desire to go down that path ) are still very quick for a whole range of tasks .

Gaming is where this crisp really stand out though , and outside of the 9950X3D , there ’s nothing that can contend with it . Save yourself some money and snap up a more powerful graphics bill . Your FPS will give thanks you .

Best for productivity

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 K is n’t an astonishing CPU for play , but it ’s very impressive for productivity work load . video recording redaction ? A child’s play . Blender rendering ? Crazy tight . Video transcoding ? Over in an instant . With 24 cores , there ’s nothing that can quite match the 285 K when it comes to most demanding workloads . It ’s just very unimpressive at play , so this is n’t a central processing unit for working in the day and gaming in your off hours . There are good choice for that below .

But for pure working , the 285 K is an splendid pick . It ’s far more efficient than its predecessors , and has support for advanced features like Thunderbolt 5 and Wi - Fi 7 .

Best AMD CPU for productivity

AMD Ryzen 9950X

If you want a high-pitched performing processor for work but do n’t require to pass over camps to Intel , the AMD 9950X is an evenly groovy selection . It has 16 full - size Zen 5 Congress of Racial Equality , throw it wondrous multi - threaded performance – and it ’s pretty snappy for game too . It wo n’t keep up with any late generation X3D options , but it ’s still a cutting - edge , flagship CPU . It ’s plenty tight .

But it ’s in demanding professional workloads where this CPU really stretches its legs . It can compete with the Intel 285 K just about everywhere and it has a future acclivity way , as AMD will proceed to fend for the AM5 socket for at least one more generation , possibly two .

The best equivalent

AMD Ryzen 7950X3D

If you want that do - it - all feel from your CPU , with cutting - edge play performance and plenty of high - performance sum for professional workloads , then the only real alternative to the fresh world-beater , is the last - gen king : The 7950X3D.

This CPU still has 16 cores , though they ’re the slower Zen 4 type with lower clock speeds due to first - generation V - Cache . But it ’s still 16 cores and you still get that V - Cache , so this C.P.U. is in the running for one of the fastest play CPU in the world , and its productiveness public presentation can keep up with some of the much new alterantives .

It ’s still expensive , but this is a C.P.U. that ’s blazing fast in almost any setting and it ’s pretty effective , too .

Best Product Promotional Image