AMD has already announced its new Ryzen Z2 chips for handheld PCs, but its CES 2025 keynote also included a whole new generation of graphics cards and new X3D processors for both desktops and laptops.
FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 is the first time AMD is using AI for its upscaling, something long embraced by Nvidia to good effect.
First, we got what we all expected was coming: two new desktop 9000 X3D CPUs, the 9950X3D and 9900X3D, both to come in the first half of 2025.
As well as the desktop chips, AMD also announced its first X3D chip for laptops, the 9955HX3D.
Overall, it’s quite an impressive series of announcements from AMD, though I’m sure there will be some disappointment that the larger Ryzen 9000 X3D chips aren’t going to go on sale immediately.
AMD’s new Ryzen Z2 chips for handheld computers have already been revealed, but the company also unveiled a whole new generation of graphics cards and new X3D processors for desktops and laptops in its CES 2025 keynote.
First, the graphics news. The American company unveiled the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, two models on the new RDNA 4 architecture, along with the much-anticipated FSR upscaling technology upgrade, FSR4.
The RDNA 4 architecture promises enhanced ray-tracing performance, enhanced AI capabilities, and even an enhanced media encoder—all areas where AMD is relatively weak in comparison to rivals like Nvidia and Intel. The RX 9070 XT and 9070 are designed to compete with Nvidia’s mid-tier 40-series and 50-series graphics cards. Acer, Asus, Sapphire, XFX, ASRock, Gigabyte, and PowerColor are among the companies that are producing the cards using a 4nm process, and they will be shipped this quarter.
FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 marks AMD’s first use of AI for upscaling, a technique that Nvidia has long adopted with success. The feature is unique to RDNA 4 graphics cards and should provide a significant improvement over AMD’s earlier attempts in a market that is now highly competitive, with companies like Sony, Intel, and Nvidia all offering affordable solutions. Frame creation and anti-lag technology are included as before.
Soon after the cards are released, I’m sure that amusing screenshots of inappropriate bot behavior will be posted because AMD is also using its cards’ enhanced AI capabilities to allow users to create images, summarize locally stored documents, and ask a chatbot AMD-related questions.
Maybe the company is a little more direct in its announcements about CPUs. The 9950X3D and 9900X3D, two new desktop 9000 X3D CPUs that will be released in the first half of 2025, were the first thing we all anticipated.
Given that both the 7950X3D and the 7900X3D are two-CCD parts, you should be able to recognize them. The lower number indicates a cut-back version, while the higher number indicates a fully-activated part. This translates to 16 cores for the 9950X3D and 12 for the 9900X3D. The flagship component has a maximum boost of 5 GHz and 144 MB of vertically-stacked v-cache. The cache features on both cores are not visible, which is somewhat disappointing.
AMD statistics show that the 9950X3D outperforms the 7950X3D by 8% across 40 titles, which is also good performance data. With a 1.58x turn-out in Counter-Strike 2, a 1.28x in Far Cry 6, and a 1.16x in Starfield, there are also some pretty good gains here in some games. AMD’s labs discovered a 20 percent performance advantage on average compared to the much less dangerous Core Ultra 9 285K, with 1 point 3x or better results in games like Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077, Space Marine 2, Final Fantasy 16, Far Cry 6, and Watch Dogs: Legion.
AMD also revealed the 9955HX3D, its first X3D chip for laptops, in addition to the desktop chips. With a cache of 144 MB, a 5.4GHz max turbo, and a 16-core, 32-thread architecture, the flagship X3D chip is the top of a lineup code-named Fire Range, which also includes two non-X3D chips, the 9955HX and 9850HX.
That seems like a recipe for a very potent CPU that should be able to outperform even laptops with full desktop chips, but it appears that we won’t be able to get some performance numbers until closer to launch in the first half of this year.
Though I’m sure some people will be disappointed that the larger Ryzen 9000 X3D chips won’t be available for purchase right away, overall, AMD’s announcements are pretty impressive.
Nvidia will be the next to deliver their keynote address in the early hours of the UK time zone, so stay tuned for more updates as they become available.
