AMD just took the one thing Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs had going for them and slapped it right out of their hands

HardwareProcessorsIntel Core Ultra 9 285KAMD just took the one thing Intel’s Arrow Lake CPUs had going for them and slapped it right out of their handsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor

Today’s best Ryzen 7 9800X3D deals$590.47ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best pricesThe newAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3Dlaunches today, after a fanfare of review scores accompanied the full reveal yesterday, and with that the best gaming CPU is now out in the wild and available to anyone looking to build the ultimate gaming rig. And the final nail in the coffin of Intel’s brand new Arrow Lake CPU generation has been hammered into place, taking the one thing it had left—namely, gaming efficiency—and easily stealing it away.Intel must be looking at the CPU market ashen-faced right now because when it comes to helping a GPU fling frames around a screen at a spectacular rate, its once seemingly unassailable lead in gaming performance has now completely evaporated. The practically all-TSMC-made latest Intel processors, code-namedArrow Lake, arrived only recently, putting their all into low-power, efficient running.Unfortunately, that has come at the expense of practically everything. Sure, in some heavily multithreaded applications theIntel Core Ultra 9 285Kand itsimpressive Efficient coresare doing some serious work, and delivering great benchmark numbers, but when it comes to gaming the chips are often well behind its previous generations of processors.But they’ve been mightily, impressively efficient, and therefore very cool-running.That was some consolation for the Intel-faithful (what few are left), especially after consistent generations of CPUs that relied almost exclusively on higher clock speeds and ever-higher power consumption to hit its performance numbers.But here comes AMD saying “Hold my pint” while it rolls out theRyzen7 9800X3D with the highest gaming frame rates of any tested CPU of this generation, the lowest gaming power draw, and the lowest operating temps.For our latest CPU benchmarking suite we’ve been using Baldur’s Gate 3 as our gaming temperature and efficiency benchmark; it scales really well with different processors and can really highlight a given chip’s high and low points. Within that test, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D delivers nearly 50% higher gaming frame rates alongside those lower temp and power draw numbers.It was the last thing Intel had to offer gamers, a potential small form factor mini-beast of a CPU. But even that is now gone thanks to the new 3D V-Cache chip. Where does Intel go from here? Back to the CPU schematics board, I would guess.Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drive: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSD: Plug-in storage upgrades.

Today’s best Ryzen 7 9800X3D deals$590.47ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices

Today’s best Ryzen 7 9800X3D deals

$590.47View

AMD RYZEN 7 9800X3D 8-Core,…

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$590.47View

$590.47

We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices

The newAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3Dlaunches today, after a fanfare of review scores accompanied the full reveal yesterday, and with that the best gaming CPU is now out in the wild and available to anyone looking to build the ultimate gaming rig. And the final nail in the coffin of Intel’s brand new Arrow Lake CPU generation has been hammered into place, taking the one thing it had left—namely, gaming efficiency—and easily stealing it away.

Intel must be looking at the CPU market ashen-faced right now because when it comes to helping a GPU fling frames around a screen at a spectacular rate, its once seemingly unassailable lead in gaming performance has now completely evaporated. The practically all-TSMC-made latest Intel processors, code-namedArrow Lake, arrived only recently, putting their all into low-power, efficient running.

Unfortunately, that has come at the expense of practically everything. Sure, in some heavily multithreaded applications theIntel Core Ultra 9 285Kand itsimpressive Efficient coresare doing some serious work, and delivering great benchmark numbers, but when it comes to gaming the chips are often well behind its previous generations of processors.

But they’ve been mightily, impressively efficient, and therefore very cool-running.

That was some consolation for the Intel-faithful (what few are left), especially after consistent generations of CPUs that relied almost exclusively on higher clock speeds and ever-higher power consumption to hit its performance numbers.

But here comes AMD saying “Hold my pint” while it rolls out theRyzen7 9800X3D with the highest gaming frame rates of any tested CPU of this generation, the lowest gaming power draw, and the lowest operating temps.

For our latest CPU benchmarking suite we’ve been using Baldur’s Gate 3 as our gaming temperature and efficiency benchmark; it scales really well with different processors and can really highlight a given chip’s high and low points. Within that test, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D delivers nearly 50% higher gaming frame rates alongside those lower temp and power draw numbers.

It was the last thing Intel had to offer gamers, a potential small form factor mini-beast of a CPU. But even that is now gone thanks to the new 3D V-Cache chip. Where does Intel go from here? Back to the CPU schematics board, I would guess.

Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drive: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSD: Plug-in storage upgrades.

Best SSD for gamingBest NVMe SSDBest external hard driveBest external SSD

Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drive: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSD: Plug-in storage upgrades.

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More about processorsIf you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage

More about processors

If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage

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If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 off

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AMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage

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