AMD introduces new processors and graphics cards

Nvidia has introduced new graphics cards that AMD will have a hard time competing with. Some time ago, the second largest graphics card manufacturer said that they were withdrawing from the highest price range, where they simply could not keep up with the performance offered by the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090. Perhaps this is also the reason why they focused more on processors for desktops, laptops and handhelds during their presentation. They did not even mention graphics cards, although they sent materials to the media for the new RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards before the event.

Why they didn't mention graphics cards, more on that later. First, let's take a look at the new processors.

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is the fastest processor for gaming and creators

AMD has unveiled its latest flagship desktop processor, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, at CES. After the 9800X3D impressed us with its gaming performance, we've been waiting to see what AMD's second-generation 3D V-Cache technology can do with more cores and higher clocks. AMD says the 9950X3D will be "the world's best processor for gamers and creators," and judging by the official specs, we believe them.

The 9950X3D features 16 Zen 5 cores (32 threads), a top frequency of 5.7 GHz, and 144 MB of shared cache. It has a higher TDP than the 9800X3D (170 W instead of 120 W), but this trade-off is worth it given the increased performance offered by the new chip.

AMD says the 9950X3D is about 8 percent faster on average than the previous 7950X3D, based on benchmarks conducted across 40 games at 1080p. Gaming performance is said to be nearly identical to the 9800X3D, or within 1 %. AMD boasted that the 9950X3D is 20 percent faster than Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K in the same games. Intel is expected to release an update for its processors in January that will address some of the flaws and improve performance.

In creative tasks, the 9950X3D is said to be about 6 % faster than the 7950X3D in Premiere Pro and about 13 % faster in Photoshop. AMD says the 9950X3D will be an average of 13 % faster in creative tasks than the 7950X3D, based on 20 applications tested. AMD's big claim is that the 9950X3D will be 10 percent faster than Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K processor. If that's true, then Intel will have a hard time convincing customers to go with their processor. Maybe price and performance can tip the scales in favor of the blue camp.

AMD is also introducing the Ryzen 9 9900X3D processor with 12 cores (24 threads), a maximum clock speed of 5.5 GHz, 140 MB of cache and a 120-watt TDP. Like the 9800X3D, both new X3D chips use the second generation of AMD's 3D V-Cache technology, where the cache is now located below the processor cores. This change allows the processor cores to have better access to cooling, and the cache is now less sensitive to high temperatures.

Both processors will be available in March, prices have not yet been revealed.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT – enough performance to beat Nvidia?

Why didn't they introduce new graphics cards? Company representatives clarified the situation after the event. The official reason is time constraints. They didn't want to rush the presentation and give such an important product only a few minutes in the spotlight. They want to take their time, but at the same time reassure journalists and users and assure them that the development of the new cards is going according to plan and meets all performance and efficiency goals. The unofficial reason, however, is most likely that they were waiting to see what Nvidia would present and that they could adjust their strategy for launching new cards in the coming weeks.

What do we know about the new graphics cards? The new generation is based on the latest RDNA 4 architecture, which includes artificial intelligence-assisted resolution upscaling FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4). The Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 will be available in the first quarter from various graphics card manufacturers, but AMD has not yet provided details on specifications, pricing, or exact release dates.

AMD says it built this architecture from the ground up, and that GPUs built on RDNA 4 will include “significant increases in AI.” AMD has optimized the compute units in RNDA 4, improved the ray tracing engine and its performance, and upgraded the quality of media encoding. The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 cards, built on a 4nm process, will include AMD’s second-generation AI accelerators, third-generation ray tracing accelerators, and second-generation ray tracing display.

FSR 4 is a machine learning-powered update to AMD's resolution upscaling and frame generation technology, developed specifically for the RDNA 4 system and its dedicated AI acceleration hardware. This means that you can now only get FSR 4 with the Radeon RX 9070 graphics card, and it will be supported in games that already have FSR 3.1 built in. It's not yet clear how AMD's technology will compare to competing DLSS.

It's also not entirely clear how the RX 9070 series will perform, especially compared to Nvidia's new cards. At this point, it's most likely that they'll compete with the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 Super.

New Fire Range processors for laptops

They have eased the disappointment of missing graphics cards by introducing new chips for laptops, which are putting additional pressure on Intel, which has been fighting fires in various areas all year. They recently had a successful launch of new graphics cards, so they were able to breathe a little, but now AMD will give them gray hairs again.

They introduced three new chip families.

The Strix Halo series features Ryzen AI Max and Ryzen AI Max Plus chips with the most powerful graphics AMD has ever put into a chip, with up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, 16 Zen 5 processor cores, and a new memory interface with 256GB of bandwidth per second. AMD claims that the top-of-the-line AI Max Plus 395 model has over 1.4x the graphics performance and 2.6x the 3D rendering performance of the Intel Core 9 288V, and enough power to beat Apple's MacBook Pro M4 Pro in certain areas. At least that's what AMD claims.

The table shows how the chips will differ from each other. An important piece of information is the consumption, which can go up to 120 W, which means that you will have the laptop plugged into an outlet most of the time. HP will install the new chips in the Z2 Mini G1a mini computer and the ZBook Ultra G1a laptop, and Asus in the ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet.

Fire Range is AMD's codename for new parts for its HX and X3D series laptops, which don't have their own integrated GPUs, but are designed to connect to dedicated cards. They do feature a new version of the flagship gaming laptop chip with 3D V-Cache, which has been so popular for boosting fps in AMD's desktop chips.

Previously only available in the 7945HX3D chip, the new Ryzen 9 9955HX3D chip will now boast 144 MB of 3D V-Cache. In addition to this chip, we will get two models with slightly lower cache capacity, frequency, and number of cores and threads.

Finally, they also introduced the new AMD Ryzen Z2 chips for handhelds like the ROG Ally or Lenovo Go. Valve has already confirmed that they will not be updating the Steam Deck with the new chip.

The Z2 Extreme is an interesting mix of Zen 3 and Zen 5c processor cores with RDNA 3.5 graphics, which has four more graphics cores than the previous generation and a slightly higher TDP (by 5 W).

The lowest-end Z2 chip has the same core count as the Z1 Extreme, with the same RDNA 3 architecture and likely the same CPU cores, but AMD hasn't said exactly what improvements this chip is making. The Z2 Go has fewer CPU cores than the current Z1 and is based on the older RDNA 2 architecture, but it has 12 GPU cores, three times more than the Z1, and four more GPU cores than the Steam Deck.

We don't have an official result yet.

These are the most interesting details from AMD's presentation. They will likely continue to dominate in the processor field, but will look to Nvidia for support in the graphics field.