In the current state of PC affairs, those who want to get the best gaming performance with the latest hardware should opt for AMD processors with stacked 3D V-Cache. Right now, the highest-spec model is the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D with 128MB of level-3 cache (L3), but AMD is about to take this chip to a new level.
Rumors about AMD preparing a new processor with 3D cache appeared several weeks ago, with hints pointing at a dual-level-3 cache Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 processor. While we wait for AMD to reveal the processor officially (most likely in January at CES 2026), the first benchmarks reveal what to expect from the upcoming flagship.
PassMark benchmark results show that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 processor has similar specs as the "regular" 9950X3D, except for the level-3 cache, which is 64MB more, totalling 192MB over 128MB. While the single-core score is nearly identical (4,716 over 4,739), the multi-core result is notably higher, at 71,585 over 70,154 points.
As for Geekbench, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 scored 21,062 in the multi-core test and 3,456 in the single-core test.
According to multiple reports, AMD managed to increase the amount of level-3 cache by a massive 50% thanks to placing it on both CCDs or chiplets. Typically, the higher L3 cache gets, the better gaming performance the processor delivers, which is why Ryzen 3D chips quickly became fan-favorite go-to gaming processors since their introduction in the Ryzen 5000 series. However, due to cache limitations, those chips were locked for overclocking, and in the Ryzen 7000 Series, AMD managed to eliminate that, allowing overclocking of its 3D chips. Now, with stacked cache making its way to all CCDs, AMD"s gaming-focused chips are about to give the company an even stronger hand against struggling Intel chips.