Tag: Intel

• Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D are purportedly arriving on March 12
• Reviews are apparently going to be published the day before
• We’re still waiting for a key detail here, and that’s the asking prices of these high-end X3D chips

AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D processors are rumored to be hitting the shelves on March 12.

VideoCardz claims that its sources indicate that this is the on-sale date for the next 3D V-Cache processors for this current Zen 5 generation.

On top of that, a regular leaker on Weibo, Golden Pig Upgrade, reckons that the review embargoes on these two Ryzen 9 X3D chips will be lifted on March 11. That fits with the scenario outlined, as typically reviews will be aired the day before the hardware goes on sale (but not always, mind).

There’s been a fair old gap (and a lot of rumor-mongering) between the announcement of the 9950X3D and 9900X3D at CES 2025, and the (purported) release of the chips. Rumors circulating late on last year suggested we might get these CPUs towards the end of January 2025, but that obviously didn’t happen.

These two Ryzen 9 spins on 3D V-Cache follow the existing Ryzen 7 9800X3D which was released last November and is an 8-core powerhouse processor for gaming.

Analysis: Will the Ryzen 9950X3D be worth it?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The Ryzen 9950X3D is the 16-core flagship for AMD’s 3D V-Cache chips, which are configured with a special kind of cache that’s particularly beneficial when it comes to PC gaming. The 9900X3D is its lesser 12-core sibling, and don’t expect these processors to come cheap – they most certainly won’t.

Pricing was bumped up slightly for the 9800X3D, compared to the MSRP of the 7800X3D before it, and rumor has it that the 9950X3D might tip the scales at $699 in the US (around £550 / AU$1100), with the 9900X3D possibly launching at $599.

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Also, if you’re thinking that the Ryzen 9950X3D will be some kind of total gaming champ, well don’t be led astray by that notion. As AMD has already told us, we can expect this flagship to be roughly equivalent to the Ryzen 9800X3D in gaming, with a bit of give and take – the 9950X3D may be slightly faster for certain games, and the 9800X3D could win out narrowly in others. Expect roughly the same experience with PC gaming, essentially.

Why pay a good deal more for the 9950X3D, then? Because it’s going to be a lot peppier for other tasks away from gaming, so if you use your PC for more serious workloads – and still want a great gaming chip – then this is the CPU to spring for.

If it’s mainly gaming that you’re into, stick with the Ryzen 9800X3D, although this is a popular processor that still remains tricky to buy at its MSRP. Indeed, the price some third-party resellers are currently asking for the 9800X3D is not far off the rumored asking price of the 9900X3D. (And it’s all Intel’s fault, according to AMD).

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• New Linux leak may have revealed Intel Battlemage GPUs
• The recent Linux patch had three code numbers
• If true, this could challenge Nvidia’s 5000 series GPUs

Intel’s upcoming Arc Battlemage graphics cards have gotten plenty of media attention through rumors, reports, and just recently an official reveal from Intel itself. But a recent Linux leak has revealed several new cards, which could possibly pose a threat to Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series.

According to Tomasz Gawroński, a gaming hardware enthusiast on X, the most recent Linux patch may have revealed at least three new Arc Battlemage cards, which could be the anticipated powerful variants. The listing itself shows three code numbers, with the patch notes stating that it’ll “Add 3 new IDs for BMG.” Gawroński interpreted it as Intel adding three new Battlemage IDs in this patch.

Though there hasn’t been anything concrete in the leaked information establishing that these cards are higher-end models, if they are it could absolutely flip the market on its head. Intel’s graphics cards have been competitively priced since the tech giant first entered the market, with the B580 and B570 models proving as such. If Intel were to launch mid-range and high-end cards with that same mindset, this could strike a critical blow against AMD and especially Nvidia.

Of course, that’s if these code numbers turn out to be anything in the long run. This could all be meaningless in the end, which is why it’s important to take this leak with a healthy pinch of salt.

How this could turn the tables on Nvidia

Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series graphics cards managed to buck the expected trend of prices dramatically increasing every new generation. The flagship RTX 5090, for instance, is only a few or so hundred above the RTX 4090’s launch day MSRP, and the RTX 5070 is one-third of the 4090’s price while nearly matching its performance with the use of DLSS.

But even if the Arc Battlemage cards don’t match the performance of the 5000 series or AMD’s RX 9070, a cheaper price point would allow Team Blue to finally gain traction in the mid-range market as it has in the budget space — after all, there are plenty of gamers looking for cards that better fit their more cost efficient PC builds. We already know that the majority of gamers are still at 1080p, with only a chunk at 1440p as their main monitor resolution.

I, for one, truly hope this is the direction Team Blue goes in. As I’ve been saying for quite some time now, Team Green and Team Red need a fire lit under their backsides in terms of offering truly budget graphics cards. And that fire is clearly the threat of real competition.

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• Intel has confirmed its CPU roadmap for the near future
• Panther Lake is due later in 2025, and Nova Lake in 2026
• It’s still not made clear if Panther Lake will skip desktop, but it seems likely that next-gen desktop CPUs won’t be here until next year

Intel has confirmed its future CPU plans and how the firm’s intended roadmap will pan out across 2025 and 2026, albeit while leaving question marks over certain specifics.

We got confirmation of existing plans – that Panther Lake is due this year, and Nova Lake next year – but there’s still no certainty over whether we’ll get a new generation of desktop CPUs later in 2025 (in other words, whether Intel will stick to its usual yearly cadence).

As VideoCardz reports, what Intel’s current (interim) co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus revealed during a recent earnings call is that we can expect Team Blue to release Panther Lake silicon, its next generation, in the second half of 2025.

Holthaus then observed: “2026 is even more exciting from a client perspective as Panther Lake achieves meaningful volumes and we introduce our next-generation client family codenamed Nova Lake.

“Both will provide strong performance across the entire PC stack with significantly better cost and margin for us, enhancing our competitive position and reinforcing our value proposition to our partners and customers.”

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Analysis: Form of the Panther

Okay, so next-gen Panther Lake is still due later in 2025, and 2026 will be the year of Nova Lake, the following generation. Good to know, or rather, to have that confirmed again.

The question is: what form will Panther Lake and Nova Lake take, exactly? The current rumor is that Panther Lake will be mobile chips only, meaning just laptops, not desktop PCs. The sightings of next-gen desktop chips via the rumor mill have been confined only to Nova Lake (so far, and it’s getting late in the day now).

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Based on what Intel’s co-CEO says here, there’s no specific mention of desktop CPUs, so that isn’t helpful. However, what we do get from Holthaus is an assertion that “both will provide strong performance across the entire PC stack” and the key word here is ‘both’ of course.

The “entire PC stack” means mobile and desktop, the works, and what appears to be stated here is that both Panther Lake and Nova Lake together will cover the entire PC stack between them. This is still true if Panther Lake doesn’t have a desktop incarnation.

Alternatively, you could read this as both Panther Lake and Nova Lake will separately cover the full stack, both desktop and mobile, in their own right – but that doesn’t feel like the intention here. By which I mean, for me, this seems to be a way of phrasing things that’s deliberately ambiguous to gloss over whether or not Panther Lake will have a desktop presence.

Take that for what you will, of course, and we absolutely don’t know for sure. Maybe Intel does have Panther Lake desktop chips in the works, but based on the rumors, it seems relatively unlikely.

Another alternative could be that Panther Lake is laptop only, but Intel could bring out an Arrow Lake Refresh on desktop later this year alongside it, as a stopgap before Nova Lake desktop CPUs in 2026. Remember, that’s what happened with Raptor Lake, and it was a very minor generational bump – but past rumors have claimed Intel is not going to carry out such a refresh with Arrow Lake for desktops.

Ultimately, for now, it seems to me that the likelihood is that Intel’s next-gen desktop silicon won’t be here until 2026 when Nova Lake blazes into town.

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