AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU Review Roundup

If the release of Nvidia’s new GPUs didn’t tide you over, and you were desperate for more PC tech to be released this year then you needn’t worry, because the brand new line of CPUs from AMD has just launched, and now its time to find out just how the new Ryzen 9 5950X CPU holds up in reviews from across the web!

Remember this as well: No matter what the reviews below say, we still have to find out just how AMD’s smart access memory feature works alongside the new 6800, 6800 XT, and the 6900 XT in the coming months – the brand new feature that is said to work between AMD 5000 series CPUs and 6000 series GPUs to increase speed.

Alright, so before we jump into all the other Ryzen 9 5950X reviews from across the web, lets talk about the bottom line, and what you need to know about this processor. First off, (in case you were wondering) this chip is faster in games than its previous generation counterparts – which isn’t a surprise, but it does take a healthy lead even over it’s last-gen equivalent, the 3950X, with significantly faster in-game performance including more frames per second, significant rendering time boosts and processing times.

That isn’t surprising, but it is definitely worth knowing that this chip is worth the money for the upgrade. What is a surprise is that this CPU blows the Intel i9-10600K out of the water, with the 5950X having an additional 150FPS in CS:GO than the 10900K as an example. Sure, it fell short in a couple of titles that were benchmarked, but these were never significant shortcomings, and it surpassed Intel’s chips in far more tests than it lost in.

When it comes to productivity and multi-threaded performance as well, you are going to be impressed. The 5950X gets a 648 stock single-threaded Cinebench score, with a 10,220 Cinebench multi-threaded stock score when tested, giving it a 3,500 point lead(ish) over the 10900K performance. AMD has always had the high ground when it comes to multi-threaded performance, but now they really are laughing from their position at the top of the leaderboard.

So to sum up, if you need a PC that can run Photoshop, the Creative Cloud, video editing software, DAWs, or even games at a level not seen before in a processor, then the Ryzen 5950X is definitely the CPU to go for. 

Video Reviews:

Linus Tech Tips – Positive
Gamers Nexus – Positive 
JayzTwoCents – Positive 
Hardware Unboxed – Positive 
Hardware Canucks – Positive

Written Reviews: 

Kitguru – Positive 
‘The Ryzen 9 5950X offers superb productivity performance, high gaming frame rates, and excellent power efficiency. This is a superb high-end processor without any notable weaknesses.’
Luke Hill – Kitguru

Techspot – Positive
‘For seriously strong productivity performance, the 5950X will be a great option, as long as you’re ready to part with $800.’
Steven Walton – Techspot

AnandTech – Positive
‘AMD is breaking the 10000 point barrier with the Ryzen 9 5950X in the multithreaded test. We achieved it just by the skin of our teeth, and a good few hundred points above AMD’s ‘reviewer guide’ that accompanies every launch. The only other CPUs to get above this value are 205 W Xeons or Threadrippers, while AMD does it within the 142 W peak power window.’
Dr. Ian Cutress & Andrei Frumusanu – AnandTech

Gizmodo – Positive
‘It’s so good, I can’t even… The clock speeds, the gaming frame rates, the thermals, the power consumption are all great…This is the best Ryzen processor AMD has made to-date, and this generation of Ryzen processors should be everyone’s first pick the next time they build a PC or buy a pre-built desktop. Other than the price, I cannot find anything worth complaining about.’
Joanna Nelius – Gizmodo

Hexus – Positive 
‘The Ryzen 9 5950X has no mainstream performance peer. It’s faster than last year’s 3950X through better architecture, and its IPC and caching benefits really come to the fore in FHD gaming. Want a chip for every tasks? This is it. Want a chip for massive multi-threaded performance on a regular platform? This is it. Want a great chip for gaming? This is, well, it.’
Tarinder Sandhu – Hexus 

Guru3D – Positive
‘Never has single-threaded performance been this fast, never has multi-threaded performance been this fast, never (for AMD) has gaming performance been this fast.’
Hilbert Hagedoorn – Guru3D

PCWorld – Positive 
‘It’s the best CPU for heavy multi-core loads. It’s the best CPU for single-core loads. It’s the best CPU for gaming. Add to it support for PCIe 4.0, compatibility with many existing AM4 motherboards, and actually reasonable prices, and you get what is undoubtedly the best CPU we’ve ever seen.’
Gordon Mah Ung – PCWorld

Overclock3d – Positive 
‘In an uncertain world, the AMD Ryzen range has become a touchstone of excellence, and long may it continue’.
Tom Logan – Overclock 3d

Tom’s Hardware – Positive
‘AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X deliver(s) an almost unbelievable amount of performance improvement over not only AMD’s previous-gen Ryzen processors, but also over Intel’s Comet Lake flagships. The fact that the Ryzen 9 chips regularly break the 5GHz barrier, even at stock settings, is simply icing on the cake.’
Paul Alcorn – Tom’s Hardware