AMD has already announced its new Ryzen Z2 chips for handhelds, but its CES 2025 keynote also included a whole new generation of graphics cards and new X3D processors for desktops and laptops.
We’ll start with graphics news, as the American firm has detailed two models on the new RDNA 4 architecture – the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 – as well as a long-awaited upgrade to their FSR upconversion technology, FSR4.
The RX 9070 improved multimedia – all areas of AMD’s relative weakness compared to competitors like Nvidia and Intel. The cards are produced using a 4nm process and shipping this quarter, with models coming from Acer, Asus, Sapphire, XFX, ASRock, Gigabyte and PowerColor.
FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 is the first time AMD has used AI for its upscaling, something Nvidia has long adopted successfully. This feature is exclusive to RDNA 4 graphics cards and will hopefully offer a step change from AMD’s previous efforts in what is now a fairly competitive space with companies like Sony, Intel and Nvidia all producing reasonable solutions . As before, frame generation and anti-lag technology are included.
AMD is also leveraging the enhanced AI capabilities of its cards to allow users to generate images, summarize locally stored documents, and ask AMD-related questions to a chatbot. So I’m sure it won’t be long after the maps are released that humorous screenshots of bots’ inappropriate behavior will be released.
The company’s processor announcements may be a little simpler. First, we got what we all expected: two new 9000 X3D desktop processors, the 9950X3D and 9900X3D, both expected in the first half of 2025.
| Model | Cores/Threads | Max Boost/Base | Total cache | PCIe | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 9950X3D | 16C/32T | 5.7GHz/4.3GHz | 144 MB | Generation 5 | 170W |
| AMD Ryzen 9900X3D | 12C/24T | 5.5GHz/4.4GHz | 140 MB | Generation 5 | 120W |
If you’re familiar with the 7950X3D and 7900X3D this is familiar territory, both being two CCD parts but the higher number being a fully activated part and the lower being a reduced version. That means 16 cores for the 9950X3D and 12 for the 9900X3D, with the flagship offering a max boost of 5.7GHz and 144MB of vertically stacked virtual cache. This doesn’t look like cache features on either core, which is a bit disappointing.
The 9950X3D’s performance numbers also look good, with AMD’s numbers showing an eight percent advantage over the 7950X3D across 40 titles. There are some pretty big payouts in some games here too, with a stake of 1.58x in Counter-Strike 2, 1.28x in Far Cry 6, and 1.16x in Starfield. Compared to the significantly less threatening Core Ultra 9 285K, AMD’s labs found a 20% performance advantage on average, with 1.3x or better results in games like Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077, Space Marine 2, Final Fantasy 16, Far Cry 6 and Watch Dogs. : Legion.
Besides desktop chips, AMD also announced its first X3D chip for laptops, the 9955HX3D. The top of a line called the Fire Range that also includes two non-X3D chips, the 9955HX and 9850HX, the flagship X3D chip features 144MB of cache, a max turbo of 5.4GHz, and a 16-core, 32-core design. threads.
| Model | Cores/wires | Max Boost/Base | Total cache | GPU | cTDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D | 16/32 | 5.4GHz/2.5GHz | 144 MB | AMD Radeon 610M Graphics | 55-75W |
| AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX | 16/32 | 5.4GHz/2.5GHz | 80 MB | AMD Radeon 610M Graphics | 55-75W |
| AMD Ryzen 9 9850HX | 24/12 | 5.2GHz/3.0GHz | 76 MB | AMD Radeon 610M Graphics | 45-75W |
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That sounds like a formula for an extremely powerful processor that should outperform even laptops with full desktop chips, but we’ll have to wait until a launch closer to the first half of this year to get performance numbers, it seems .
Overall, this is a pretty impressive set of announcements from AMD, although I’m sure there will be some disappointment as the larger Ryzen 9000 X3D chips won’t go on sale immediately .
Stay tuned for more news as it comes in – with Nvidia next to fire its opening salvo early in the morning UK time.
