I analyzed 25 AMD Zen 4 and Zen 5 CPUs and the Ryzen 9 9900X is the best of them all right now: Here’s why
That is what I found after collecting data across 24 AMD CPUs I could get prices and availability for and crunched the numbers at the time of writing.
The 9900X is AMD’s fourth fastest desktop processor on CPUBenchmark but also the one that got the bigger price cut - nearly 25% - after the launch of the 9900X3D on March 12th.
A price reduction of almost a quarter is nothing to be sniffed at for a CPU near the top performers.
This model is popular with anyone looking for high performance, without a premium price tag, across various workloads like video editing or game development, like in Scan’s 3XS GWP A1-R24 workstation PC.
It sold at Amazon at the time of writing for $374.72 down from $499, its lowest price ever
This Zen 5 part, launched in August 2024, has 12 cores, a base speed of 4.4GHz, 12MB L3 cache as well as a 120W TDP.
It reached 54,836 on CPUBenchmark, my default benchmark for processors.
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That’s a jaw-dropping 146 marks per dollar, almost 10x better than the Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7995WX (15) and 26% better than its bigger sibling, the 9950X.
It also has the cheapest cost per core at just $31.23, the third fastest maximum speed (5.6GHz) and, as for all Ryzen CPUs, it has 1MB of L3 cache per core (in this case, 12MB for 12 cores).
This is the third of several articles based on data I’ve compiled on 41 AMD Zen 4 and Zen 5 CPUs (socketed, OEM). In the rest of the series, I will be looking at the cost per core, performance per core, AMD CPUs that are getting more expensive, all this with the new Ryzen 9 9900/9950 X3D CPUs in the backdrop.
In other words, no processor from AMD delivers more performance per unit dollar than the Ryzen 9 9900X.
The Ryzen 5 9600X is the second model in the pecking order on the value-for-money-meter at 131 marks per dollar or 5000 marks per core, the highest of any AMD processors ever tested on CPUBenchmark - there are still 19 that haven’t been benchmarked on it yet.
The mysterious Ryzen 5 9600
Keep an eye on the Ryzen 5 9600, a CPU that has been released recently and didn’t get as much attention as the bigger models.
It has a slightly lower base speed but I expect it to be the cheapest socketed Zen 5 CPU in AMD’s roster.
A sub $200 retail price and a slightly lower CPUBenchmark score than the 9600X would allow it to breeze past the Ryzen 9 9900X to the top of the leaderboard.
Surprisingly though, neither the Ryzen 9900X nor the Ryzen 9600X have cracked the top 10 best-selling CPU leaderboard on Amazon.com.
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| Row 0 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 192 | 2.25 | 3.7 | 384 | 500 | 100-000000976 | $14,813.00 | $10,034.00 | 32.26% | $77.15 | $52.26 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 1 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 144 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 384 | 390 | 100-000000837 | $13,006.00 | $9,887.00 | 23.98% | $90.32 | $68.66 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 2 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 96 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 256 | 320 | 100-000001445 | $11,048.00 | $6,956.00 | 37.04% | $115.08 | $72.46 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 3 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 128 | 2.7 | 4.1 | 512 | 500 | 100-000001443 | $12,984.00 | $8,802.00 | 32.21% | $101.44 | $68.77 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 4 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 96 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 384 | 400 | 100-000000674 | $11,852.00 | $5,120.00 | 56.80% | $123.46 | $53.33 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 5 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 64 | 2.4 | 4.3 | 256 | 300 | 100-000001447 | $8,992.00 | $4,032.00 | 55.16% | $140.50 | $63.00 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 6 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 72 | 3.15 | 4.3 | 384 | 400 | 100-000001446 | $10,486.00 | $6,838.00 | 34.79% | $145.64 | $94.97 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 7 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 64 | 3.2 | 4.4 | 256 | 360 | 100-000001142 | $7,983.00 | $5,281.00 | 33.85% | $124.73 | $82.52 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 8 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 64 | 3.2 | 4.4 | 256 | 360 | 100-000001142 | $9,826.00 | $6,719.00 | 31.62% | $153.53 | $104.98 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 9 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 64 | 3.3 | 5 | 256 | 400 | 100-000001143 | $11,791.00 | $7,664.00 | 35.00% | $184.23 | $119.75 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 10 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 48 | 3.15 | 4.4 | 256 | 300 | 100-000001448 | $5,412.00 | $4,532.00 | 16.26% | $112.75 | $94.42 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 11 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 32 | 3 | 4.4 | 128 | 210 | 100-000001149 | $3,178.00 | $2,650.00 | 16.61% | $99.31 | $82.81 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 12 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 24 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 128 | 200 | 100-000000694 | $2,495.00 | $2,132.00 | 14.55% | $103.96 | $88.83 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 13 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 36 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 192 | 300 | 100-000001449 | $4,341.00 | $3,460.00 | 20.29% | $120.58 | $96.11 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 14 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 48 | 3.65 | 4.8 | 256 | 400 | 100-000001143 | $7,592.00 | $4,972.00 | 34.51% | $158.17 | $103.58 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 15 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 32 | 3.55 | 4.4 | 256 | 280 | 100-000001450 | $3,694.00 | $2,950.00 | 20.14% | $115.44 | $92.19 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 16 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 8 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 64 | 125 | 100-000001452 | $527.00 | $545.27 | -3.47% | $65.88 | $68.16 | Zen 5 | |||
| Row 17 - Cell 1 | #REF! | 16 | 4.2 | 5 | 512 | 320 | 100-000001145 | $4,256.00 | $2,556.00 | 39.94% | $266.00 | $159.75 | Zen 5 | |||
Ryzen 5 9600 | Row 18 - Cell 1 | #DIV/0! | #REF! | 6 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 6 | 65 | 100-000000718 | Row 18 - Cell 11 | Row 18 - Cell 12 | #DIV/0! | $0.00 | $0.00 | Zen 5 | |
54836 | 146 | 1039 | 4570 | 12 | 4.4 | 5.6 | 12 | 120 | 100-000000662 | $499.00 | $374.72 | 24.91% | $41.58 | $31.23 | Zen 5 | |
30060 | 131 | 1285 | 5010 | 6 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 6 | 65 | 100-000001405 | $279.00 | $229.00 | 17.92% | $46.50 | $38.17 | Zen 5 | |
37145 | 129 | 1222 | 4643 | 8 | 3.8 | 5.5 | 8 | 65 | 100-000001404 | $359.00 | $289.00 | 19.50% | $44.88 | $36.13 | Zen 5 | |
66470 | 116 | 966 | 4154 | 16 | 4.3 | 5.7 | 16 | 170 | 100-000001277 | $649.00 | $572.87 | 11.73% | $40.56 | $35.80 | Zen 5 | |
70392 | 101 | 1023 | 4399.5 | 16 | 4.3 | 5.7 | 16 | 170 | 100-000000719 | $699.00 | $699.00 | 0.00% | $43.69 | $43.69 | Zen 5 | |
56712 | 95 | 1074 | 4726 | 12 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 12 | 120 | 100-000001368 | $599.00 | $599.00 | 0.00% | $49.92 | $49.92 | Zen 5 | |
40069 | 84 | 1066 | 5009 | 8 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 8 | 120 | 100-000001084 | $479.00 | $479.00 | 0.00% | $59.88 | $59.88 | Zen 5 | |
49691 | 65 | 1194 | 3106 | 16 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 64 | 125 | 100-000001451 | $726.00 | $766.00 | -5.51% | $45.38 | $47.88 | Zen 5 | |
83909 | 63 | 832 | 3496 | 24 | 4.2 | 5.3 | 24 | 350 | 100-000001352 | $1,499.00 | $1,327.99 | 11.41% | $62.46 | $55.33 | Zen 4 | |
99086 | 47 | 774 | 3096 | 32 | 4 | 5.3 | 32 | 350 | 100-000001351 | $2,499.00 | $2,099.99 | 15.97% | $78.09 | $65.62 | Zen 4 | |
56886 | 42 | 974 | 3555 | 16 | 3.65 | 4.3 | 64 | 200 | 100-000001150 | $1,214.00 | $1,351.00 | -11.29% | $75.88 | $84.44 | Zen 5 | |
59510 | 38 | 827 | 3719 | 16 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 16 | 350 | 100-000000886 | $3,499.00 | $1,577.57 | 54.91% | $218.69 | $98.60 | Zen 4 | |
Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7945WX | 49814 | 36 | 883 | 4151 | 12 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 12 | 350 | 100-000000887 | $1,399.00 | $1,399.00 | 0.00% | $116.58 | $116.58 | Zen 4 |
96101 | 34 | 846 | 3003 | 32 | 3.55 | 4.4 | 256 | 280 | 100-000001450 | $2,998.00 | $2,821.00 | 5.90% | $93.69 | $88.16 | Zen 5 | |
81350 | 31 | 807 | 3390 | 24 | 4.2 | 5.3 | 24 | 350 | 100-000000885 | $4,499.00 | $2,649.00 | 41.12% | $187.46 | $110.38 | Zen 4 | |
117494 | 30 | 777 | 2448 | 48 | 3.15 | 4.4 | 256 | 300 | 100-000001448 | $4,819.00 | $3,885.00 | 19.38% | $100.40 | $80.94 | Zen 5 | |
135829 | 28 | 663 | 2122 | 64 | 3.2 | 5.1 | 64 | 350 | 100-000001350 | $4,999.00 | $4,782.99 | 4.32% | $78.11 | $74.73 | Zen 4 | |
160211 | 28 | 642 | 1669 | 96 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 384 | 400 | 100-000000674 | $10,811.00 | $5,767.00 | 46.66% | $112.61 | $60.07 | Zen 5 | |
87184 | 28 | 886 | 3633 | 24 | 4.1 | 4.8 | 256 | 320 | 100-000001144 | $3,439.00 | $3,154.00 | 8.29% | $143.29 | $131.42 | Zen 5 | |
95453 | 25 | 746 | 2983 | 32 | 4 | 5.3 | 32 | 350 | 100-000000453 | $5,699.00 | $3,889.00 | 31.76% | $178.09 | $121.53 | Zen 4 | |
92190 | 24 | 758 | 2881 | 32 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 256 | 320 | 100-000001197 | $5,306.00 | $3,913.00 | 26.25% | $165.81 | $122.28 | Zen 5 | |
150920 | 18 | 491 | 1179.0625 | 128 | 2.4 | 3.7 | 256 | 400 | 100-000001444 | $12,141.00 | $8,232.00 | 32.20% | $94.85 | $64.31 | Zen 5 | |
133909 | 18 | 654 | 2092 | 64 | 3.2 | 5.1 | 64 | 350 | 100-000000454 | $7,999.00 | $7,349.00 | 8.13% | $124.98 | $114.83 | Zen 4 | |
139712 | 15 | 416 | 873 | 160 | 2.1 | 3.7 | 320 | 390 | 100-000001458 | $13,564.00 | $9,192.00 | 32.23% | $84.78 | $57.45 | Zen 5 | |
149606 | 15 | 623 | 1558 | 96 | 2.5 | 5.1 | 96 | 350 | 100-000000884 | $9,999.00 | $9,999.00 | 0.00% | $104.16 | $104.16 | Zen 4 |
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Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.
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