Skip to main content

AMD’s new flagship chip just did something unprecedented

AMD’s upcoming flagship desktop chip, the Ryzen 9 9950X, hasn’t even hit the market yet, but early benchmark results are already showing promising performance. According to a recently shared benchmark score, the 9950X can reach impressive boost clock speeds of up to 6GHz.

X (formerly Twitter) user @9950pro posted a screenshot of a Geekbench 6 result for a Ryzen 9 9950X engineering sample. The CPU was paired with an Asus ROG Crosshair X670E motherboard and 32GB of DDR5 memory. Notably, the clock speeds reached 5.95GHz — nearly 300 MHz above its stock maximum boost clock. In these tests, the overclocked chip scored 3,706 points in single-core performance and 26,047 points in multi-core performance, highlighting its substantial capability.

A leaked benchmark score of an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X engineering sample
@9550pro on Twitter/X

Just a few weeks ago, there was a successful attempt at overclocking the Ryzen 9 9950X beyond the 6GHz mark. AMD’s in-house overclocking team managed to push the chip to an astonishing 6.75GHz, breaking the world record on Cinebench R23 with 53,557 points in the multi-core test. This achievement, which also included hitting various other milestones, was only possible using liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooling, a method that’s often used for extreme overclocking, but is not practical for everyday consumer use.

Recommended Videos

The newly leaked Geekbench benchmark score is particularly intriguing because it is believed that the engineering sample was not cooled using LN2. Essentially, this gives us a better idea of what consumers can expect with the upcoming CPU in typical cooling scenarios. As pointed out by Tom’s Hardware, achieving similar overclocking results of up to 6GHz might be possible using off-the-shelf high-performance air cooling or all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling solutions. This opens the door for enthusiasts to push the boundaries of their systems without needing specialized cooling setups.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Despite the promising benchmarks, it’s essential to approach these results with a degree of skepticism, especially since the Ryzen 9 9950X sample used for testing was an engineering sample. Performance and stability can vary in the final consumer versions.

Gaming performance for AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X.
AMD

In a related update, AMD recently announced a delay in the release of its Ryzen 9000 series CPUs, which were originally slated to go on sale on July 31. The new lineup will now be available in the first two weeks of August. Specifically, the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will launch on August 8, while the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X will become available starting August 15. The reason behind the delay, according to AMD, is that the initial production units that were shipped did not meet the company’s “full quality expectations.”

Overall, the early results for the Ryzen 9 9950X are highly encouraging and suggest that AMD is set to maintain its competitive edge in the high-end desktop processor market. Enthusiasts and professionals alike will be keenly watching for further developments and official release details to see how these chips perform in real-world scenarios.

Kunal Khullar
Kunal Khullar is a computing writer at Digital Trends who contributes to various topics, including CPUs, GPUs, monitors, and…
AMD is finally recognizing that Ryzen 9000 CPUs are way too expensive
The Ryzen 9 9950X socketed in a motherboard.

AMD is finally cutting prices on its Ryzen 9000 CPUs. After teasing that its long-awaited Ryzen 7 9800X3D will arrive in November, the company revealed that it'll be slashing prices on its existing Ryzen 9000 range by anywhere from $30 to $50 each. Combined with some impressive performance updates, AMD's latest chips have a better shot at a spot among the best processors than they've ever had.

The company describes the price cuts as an early holiday promotion, though it hasn't put an end date on the discounts. The flagship Ryzen 9 9950X is seeing a $50 price cut, while the remainder of the range is reduced by $30. It's a clear jab at Intel's upcoming Arrow Lake CPUs, which go on sale later this week. Similar to the last few generations, Intel is undercutting AMD on pricing, so this promotion brings the scales back in balance.

Read more
AMD confirms 9000X3D release date — but questions remain
The Ryzen 7 7800X3D installed in a motherboard.

AMD just made a surprise announcement regarding its upcoming processors, but it leaves us with two major questions: What's coming, and how much will it cost? The release date was announced to be November 7, but we're unsure which chips are coming on that date. While details are very scarce, the first listings of the CPU emerged, giving us an idea of the kind of pricing we could expect. We're also seeing more and more benchmarks of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

We knew this was coming, but AMD still surprised us. Various reports claimed that AMD would unveil the Ryzen 7 9800X3D on October 25, meaning one day after Intel launches Core Ultra 200-S processors. However, AMD broke the news today (as spotted by Tom's Hardware), but the announcement is more vague than ever. It's unclear which CPUs are coming in particular, as AMD hasn't specified which X3D model will hit the shelves on November 7. The company may still say more on the matter on October 25.

Read more
AMD’s Ryzen 9000 CPUs just got a lot faster
The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X installed in a motherboard.

AMD just announced that some of its best processors are about to become even better. The company unveiled a number of Ryzen 9000 improvements, ranging from a much higher TDP for some of the CPUs to the core-to-core latency improvements we've already heard about. AMD is also now supporting higher-clocked DDR5 RAM, and that's not even all of today's announcements.

The latest BIOS update, named AGESA PI 1.2.0.2, brings a few things, but if you ask me, the biggest change is that AMD is increasing the thermal design power (TDP) of two of its CPUs.

Read more