Ryzen 9950X or 9950X3D?

[Templar560]

Hi I've just ordered a 9950X Ryzen 9 for DCS I've seen mixed reports about X3D causing problems. I Currently have a Ryzen 7 5000 series so either will be a big boost. but that's not the issue. It's which of these will be the best as the price difference isn't enough to stop either.

Info welcome thanks!

[speed-of-heat]

the x3d only causes problems if you are not using the correct CCD for games, usually this is solved by installing the recommended software ;in this case making sure gamebar is installed... or you can use can use process lasso to manually make sure that DCS is using the right CCD.. e.g. the ones with the 3dvcache 

[Templar560]

Thanks for the reply, I don't what game bar or CCD is though. I have no idea how I'd know how to make DCS use the right 3dvcache.... I've never gone down that particular rebbit hole..

 

[speed-of-heat]

Windows Game Bar , helps assign games to the correct CCD , on the X3d there are two CCD (think of the as chips, each with 8 physical cores each capable of running a physical and virtual core for a total of 16 cores on each chip .... so an available 32 cores in total in this your two CPU's are identical, the x3D on the first chip has a 3d vcache this essentially is superfast memory that helps with processor operations. that makes the performance difference between the two processors.  If you dont use windows game bar and windows doesn't recognise the application as a game , it can end up using the wrong CCD and you wont get the performance you paid for ... 

Edited Saturday at 02:41 PM by speed-of-heat

[Templar560]

Oh I see that makes perfect sense thank you! I don't use MS gamebar. So the big question I face is: Do I cancel very quickly the 9950X I've ordered and grab the 9950X3D? 

[speed-of-heat]

gamebar is installed by default in windows from memory and is trivial to install if not...  the x3d is significantly faster ... 

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=681cc0e6852335654fa21317524af951debb717139000fa6816e70f89715cdebJmltdHM9MTc1OTUzNjAwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=20fa17ed-2fca-61c7-19e9-01b12bca63c4&u=a1L3ZpZGVvcy9yaXZlcnZpZXcvcmVsYXRlZHZpZGVvP3E9OTk1MHgrdnMrOTk1MHgzZCZtaWQ9NTA0NkVFMEEyMUU1RDBDQ0RFRUY1MDQ2RUUwQTIxRTVEMENDREVFRiZGT1JNPVZJUkU

[Templar560]

6 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

gamebar is installed by default in windows from memory and is trivial to install if not...  the x3d is significantly faster ... 

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=681cc0e6852335654fa21317524af951debb717139000fa6816e70f89715cdebJmltdHM9MTc1OTUzNjAwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=20fa17ed-2fca-61c7-19e9-01b12bca63c4&u=a1L3ZpZGVvcy9yaXZlcnZpZXcvcmVsYXRlZHZpZGVvP3E9OTk1MHgrdnMrOTk1MHgzZCZtaWQ9NTA0NkVFMEEyMUU1RDBDQ0RFRUY1MDQ2RUUwQTIxRTVEMENDREVFRiZGT1JNPVZJUkU

Ok cool. I asked around on the ED discord and seemingly DCS tends to look afteritself pretty well. I'm going to try and change my order.... Thanks so much for the advice man!

[PacFlyer23]

Also this short YT on how to enable it...

 

[speed-of-heat]

5 minutes ago, Templar560 said:

Ok cool. I asked around on the ED discord and seemingly DCS tends to look afteritself pretty well. I'm going to try and change my order.... Thanks so much for the advice man!

de nada

[Templar560]

Thanks Pac!

[Aapje]

21 hours ago, Templar560 said:

Hi I've just ordered a 9950X Ryzen 9 for DCS I've seen mixed reports about X3D causing problems. I Currently have a Ryzen 7 5000 series so either will be a big boost. but that's not the issue. It's which of these will be the best as the price difference isn't enough to stop either.

If the only heavy thing with the PC you do is gaming, then neither of the 9950X or 9950X3D are the best choice. You are better off with the 9800X3D.

 

[Dogmanbird]

I have a 9950x3d. There's a notable difference in performance between forcing DCS onto the cached cores versus the regular cores, using Process Lasso,. If this is an indication of the difference between the x3d v non x3d cpu, I'd certainly go the x3d version  

If you run simhub, streaming software or other apps in the background, I think you'll see the benefit of the 9950x3d versus the 9800x3d, if you use process lasso to assign the various processes accordingly. Process Lasso can be configured to auto detect the games so it's all automatic.

p.s.  9950x3d came down to $969 aud delivered, recently in Australia. It might have just gone back up in price a bit.

Edited 19 hours ago by Dogmanbird

[Rockett]

On 10/5/2025 at 12:39 PM, Aapje said:

If the only heavy thing with the PC you do is gaming, then neither of the 9950X or 9950X3D are the best choice. You are better off with the 9800X3D.

 

I'm looking at system upgrade for DCS too. I'm not especially budget limited, so I was also eyeing up the 9950X3D. Are there any disadvantages to running this over say the 9800X3D in DCS? (don't do a great deal of other gaming at the moment other than MSFS2020 & MSFS2024).

[Dogmanbird]

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/927060      Currently $948 if you use the code at checkout

I don't believe there is any disadvantage over the 9800x3d (except price difference) 

[Dogmanbird]

The second half of this video shows how to create affinity profiles that load automatically when the game is started

 

[Aapje]

12 hours ago, Rockett said:

I'm looking at system upgrade for DCS too. I'm not especially budget limited, so I was also eyeing up the 9950X3D. Are there any disadvantages to running this over say the 9800X3D in DCS? (don't do a great deal of other gaming at the moment other than MSFS2020 & MSFS2024).

The disadvantage of the 9950X3D is that is has two compute-chiplets, and one of them is not suitable for gaming. So you can have issues if the game decides to run (partially) on the wrong chiplet. That is why you see people messing about with Process Lasso, to manually decide what runs where. With the 9800X3D, you don't have these issues.

The downside is that you have fewer cores, but almost no games use that many cores, so this is more an issue when you also want to use the CPU for heavy video/image editing and such. So the 9950X3D is more of a hybrid CPU, whose primary value is that it is both good for gaming, but also for heavy video/image editing, etc.

If money is no object, I would still get the 9800X3D, so you don't have any hassle, and then save your money for a CPU upgrade later on. Rumor has it that the next generation of AMD CPUs may see much reduced memory latency due to a much better connection between the compute-chiplet(s) and the IO-chiplet. And each compute chiplet is rumored to go to 12 cores.

[Dogmanbird]

If you run apps in the background (streaming, screen recording, simhub) and if money is no object, you could get the 9950x3d and turn on "X3d Gaming Mode" within your bios and this essentially makes it a 9800x3d by disabling the non cached cores. Then when you're ready to brave process lassso, you can turn it back into a 9950x3d via the bios and get the best of everything 

Otherwise, I agree with Aapje and get the 9800x3d