Home > CPU Comparison > Ryzen 9 5900X or Ryzen 9 3950X: what's better?

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X vs Ryzen 9 3950X

59 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
VS
53 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with 12-cores against the 3.5 GHz Ryzen 9 3950X with 16-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (4)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the DeviceFacts Score for desktop CPU.
DeviceFacts Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click โ€œCalculate".
Currency
VS
54.4
(Average)
Value Index
11.4
(Bad)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 3950X and 5900X
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
  • 27% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2263 vs 1782 points
  • Newer - released 11 months later
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.8 GHz vs 4.7 GHz)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
  • Has 4 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Ryzen 9 5900X
vs
Ryzen 9 3950X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Ryzen 9 5900X
1193
Ryzen 9 3950X +15%
1370
Cinebench Scores (112th and 84th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +27%
2263
Ryzen 9 3950X
1782
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +12%
12701
Ryzen 9 3950X
11367
File compression 1170 MB/sec 869 MB/sec
Clang compilation 126 Klines/sec 137.6 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 217.8 pages/sec 204.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 362 Mpixels/sec 335.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 232 pages/sec 145.8 pages/sec
Background blur 38.7 images/sec 41.9 images/sec
Photo processing 85.1 images/sec 73.3 images/sec
Ray tracing 31.5 Mpixels/sec 30.4 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 441 & 615 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +28%
3465
Ryzen 9 3950X
2701
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 9 5900X +1%
38888
Ryzen 9 3950X
38436
Integer math 139.7 GOps/sec 132.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 77.6 GOps/sec 77.8 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 257M Primes/sec 173M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 51.5M Strings/sec 63.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 31 GBytes/sec 37.8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 498.8 MBytes/sec 587.6 MBytes/sec
Physics 1984 Frames/sec 1602 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33.1B Matrices/sec 36.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 27058 & 4053 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Ryzen 9 5900X
316.84
Ryzen 9 3950X +19%
376.65

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 11.4 PPW 13 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 121 PPW 108.3 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 370.4 PPW 366.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 3.02 PPW 3.59 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-03-19 (D)Cinebench 202467 / 893
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-02 (Zoli)Cinebench 202493 / 1254
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-10-12 (Otamatone)Cinebench 202492 / 981
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-10-08 (aref)Cinebench 202494 / 1015
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-08-15 (SnakeyB)Cinebench 2024120 / 380
Add View all (12)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-27 (Elizabeth)Cinebench 202476 / 1398
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-07-18 (Maki)Cinebench 202480 / 1370
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 3950X

General

Vendor Amd Amd
Released October 8, 2020 November 25, 2019
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Zen 3 (Vermeer) -
Integrated GPU No No
Rival Equivalent - Intel Core i9 11900K - Intel Core i9 9900K
Successor - AMD Ryzen 9 9900X -
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (70th and 96th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 12 16
P-Threads 24 32
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.8 GHz 4.7 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 16
Total Threads 24 32
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 35x
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 512K (per core) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache 64MB (shared) 64MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Transistors 4.15 billions 3.8 billions
Fabrication Process 7 nm 7 nm
TDP (PL1) 105 W 105 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 142 W -
Socket AM4 AM4
Peak Temperature 90ยฐC -
Desktop CPU ranking (83rd and 99th place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-3200 - DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 47.68 GB/s 47.68 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site AMD Ryzen 9 5900X official page AMD Ryzen 9 3950X official page
PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 16

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
395 (63.5%)
227 (36.5%)
Total votes: 622

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6. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X vs AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (5)
7. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
8. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X vs AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X or Ryzen 9 5900X?
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Avatar
Mike April 9, 2021 at 04:36 AM
Iโ€™ve ran both on same motherboard the 3950 seams stronger to me
+28 Reply
Avatar
zippyfan December 3, 2020 at 03:03 PM
I'm not really into gaming. I'm thinking of getting a used 3950x. It scores slightly better for multi-core productivity applications. I think amd made great strides in single core performance this time around but not so much in multi-core performance. It's not enough for me to jump to the latest generation.
+3 Reply
Avatar
Ruben October 18, 2020 at 11:44 AM
I'm currently debating whether I should get a used 3950X for 500โ‚ฌ or hope the 5900X retails at MSRP and get that for 550โ‚ฌ. Maybe used prices drop for the former some more after the Zen 3 release.
+45 Reply
Avatar
root October 18, 2020 at 03:31 PM
I'd go for a used 3950X.
+44 Reply
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