While AMD’s first Zen 5 CPUs disappointed everyone in gaming, the latest X3D versions have more than made up for that. The 9800X3D became the best gaming CPU last year, and now the 9950X3D greatly improves creator workloads while mostly maintaining that stellar gaming performance.

AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D is probably the best CPU you can buy if you're trying to put together a fast gaming PC, thanks to its eight Zen 5 CPU cores and extra helping of 3D V-Cache. You don't really need more CPU cores than this to play games, and most games benefit from the extra cache more than they do from a bit of extra clock speed.

AMD's latest gaming CPUs, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, are launching today. Here's where to score one.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

AMD loves to build to a crescendo. As it’s shown since 2016, when its first Ryzen CPUs launched, the company progresses incrementally but steadily—until Team Red sits all the way at the top. That time has come for its 3D V-Cache processors,