Early Gaming Leaks Suggest AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D Is Only Marginally Faster Than 9800X3D
With official Ryzen 7 9850X3D reviews expected to break on January 28, early leaked gaming charts are painting a very familiar picture for anyone who has tracked recent X3D cycles: small uplifts in a handful of CPU sensitive titles, and near parity everywhere else. The latest leak comes from a screenshot shared by X user chi11eddog, comparing Ryzen 7 9850X3D against Ryzen 7 9800X3D across 7 games at 1080p using a GeForce RTX 5090.
If the chart is accurate, the uplift ceiling is modest. Counter Strike 2 reportedly shows the biggest gap at around 6.38% in favor of 9850X3D, while several other titles land in the 3.53% to 4.95% range, including GTA V Enhanced, Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail, and Cyberpunk 2077. Meanwhile, games like Battlefield 6, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Doom The Dark Ages appear to move only slightly, suggesting the newer chip is not delivering a sweeping generational jump in average frame rate at 1080p.
In practical gaming terms, these deltas are the kind that can disappear into normal variance depending on patch versions, memory tuning, background tasks, and the exact graphics presets used. Even when the raw number difference looks big in absolute FPS at extreme frame rates, it is difficult to argue that most players will feel a meaningful change between roughly 775 FPS and 825 FPS without very specific conditions. High refresh competitive panels can expose input and motion benefits, but the value proposition still hinges on the rest of the stack, including display capability and game engine behavior, not just the CPU.
The bigger strategic read here is positioning. Based on what is being circulated, 9850X3D appears to be less of a new class of gaming CPU and more of a refinement pass over 9800X3D, where clock uplift is the primary lever. That does not make it a bad product, it just frames expectations: if you already own 9800X3D, the upgrade case looks niche, but if you are building fresh at the top end, even small gains plus better overall tuning can still justify choosing the newest bin.
The real validation checkpoint is the full review stack on January 28, where we should see consistent methodology, multiple resolutions, and frametime analysis that better explains whether the uplift is sustained in real gameplay or concentrated in a few best case scenarios.
What do you value more in an X3D upgrade, a small but consistent esports FPS uplift, or broader gains in heavy single player games and productivity workloads?
