In a surprising turn of events, benchmarking website UserBenchmark has sparked controversy in the tech community with its latest review of AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, challenging widely accepted performance metrics and making claims that have left many industry experts bewildered.
The Controversial Review
UserBenchmark's assessment of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D has drawn significant criticism for suggesting that AMD's success with the processor is primarily due to aggressive marketing rather than actual performance capabilities. The website controversially recommends the Intel i5-13600K or i5-14600K as alternatives, despite substantial evidence from other reviewers showing the 9800X3D's superior gaming performance.
Performance Disparities
Independent testing has demonstrated that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D outperforms Intel's flagship i9-14900K by approximately 33% in gaming scenarios, and surpasses the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K by an impressive 40%. These results stand in stark contrast to UserBenchmark's rankings, which peculiarly places the 9800X3D in 12th position on their CPU performance chart.
Technical Analysis
UserBenchmark's critique focuses on the X3D design's alleged 6% reduction in clock speeds but fails to acknowledge AMD's innovative architectural improvements. The repositioning of the 64MB L3 cache below the cores, rather than above them, has effectively mitigated potential performance impacts, resulting in single-core performance that matches the non-X3D variants while excelling in gaming applications.
Market Impact
The processor's real-world success is evident in its market performance, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D currently sold out in numerous locations. This scarcity has led to some scalpers attempting to resell the processor for up to $1,500, though such prices are not recommended for consumers.
Industry Response
The tech community has largely dismissed UserBenchmark's claims, particularly their assertion that spending more than $200 on a gaming CPU is pointless. This statement, along with their unusual ranking methodology, has further damaged the website's credibility among hardware enthusiasts and tech experts.