What you need to know
- AMD added two new members to its family of third-gen Ryzen chips today.
- The new Ryzen 9 3900 and Ryzen 5 3500X are only available to PC manufacturers.
- The 3900 will be available in systems around the globe, while the 3500X is restricted to the Chinese market.
AMD has introduced two new additions to its Ryzen 3000 series of CPUs today. The new Ryzen 9 3900 and Ryzen 5 3500X are only available as OEM parts for PC manufacturers, but they bring the total number of available Ryzen 3000 series chips up to seven following the series' launch earlier this summer.
Aside from restricting these chips to PC manufacturers, AMD has made the Ryzen 5 3500X available only to the Chinese market. The Ryzen 9 3900, however, will be available in pre-built systems shipping globally.
In terms of specs, the Ryzen 9 3900 packs 12 cores and 24 threads with a 3.1GHz base clock and a boost clock of up to 4.3GHz. The Ryzen 5 3500X, meanwhile, includes six cores and 12 threads with a 3.6GHz base frequency and boost clock of up to 4.1GHz. Both chips are based on AMD's 7nm process, are fully unlocked, and support PCIe 4.0.
Beyond these two new chips, we're also expecting to see AMD ship the Ryzen 9 3950X and the 3rd Gen Threadripper starting in November. Both chips are targeted to the higher end of the market, with the threadripper packing 24 cores.
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X vs AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: Which CPU should you buy?
When only the best will do
It's not quite Threadripper levels of amazing, though it does match the older entry-level Threadripper processor, but the Ryzen 9 3900X is a special case. It houses 12 cores and 24 threads inside a package that can be installed on an AM4 motherboard. Wait ... what?
