Since July 7, AnandTech forum member Igor_Kavinski has started posting Ryzen 9 9950X sample Blender benchmark results courtesy of an anonymous source — starting with a super-slim 60W TDP. Over the next week, results were also released for 90W TDP, 120W TDP, 160W TDP, and finally the max capacity of 230W TDP. The results give us a comprehensive picture of how power efficiency will improve with AMD’s next-generation Zen 5 processors.
Before we go any further, it’s obvious that the newer Ryzen 9 9950X would outperform the older chip if it were given a more generous power budget. We didn’t test our Ryzen 9 7950X at 230W TDP, but reports from other users in the thread indicate a ~20% performance improvement that still occurs in this scenario. The intriguing results here start at 170W and below.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X vs Ryzen 9 7950X Blender Benchmarks
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Ryzen 9 9950X 230W TDP | Ryzen 9 9950X 160W TDP | Ryzen 9 7950X 170W TDP | Ryzen 9 9950X 120W TDP | Ryzen 9 9950X 90W TDP | Ryzen 9 9950X 60W TDP |
| Blender Monster Benchmark Result | 353.4 | 319.7 | 289.7 | 268.7 | 227.5 | 153.2 |
| Blender “Junkshop” Test Result | 226.1 | 205.8 | 172.8 | 177.5 | 150.6 | 101.8 |
| Blender “Classroom” Benchmark Result | 171.3 | 152.5 | 136.7 | 129.8 | 108.8 | 72.7 |
| Blender – Overall Benchmark Score | 750.8 | 678 | 599.2 | 576 | 486.9 | 327.7 |
*Note: All benchmark results listed above employ AMD Precision Boost Overdrive for a slight performance boost. Additionally, the Ryzen 9 9950X ES is liquid cooled.
At 170W, the Ryzen 9 7950X achieved a Blender composite score of 599.2. The Ryzen 9 9950X achieved a score of 678 at 160W, outperforming its predecessor by about 11% when both models are running at more standard CPU TDP values.
The performance gap between the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 7950X starts to narrow when the newer chip is put under a 120W load. It’s still within ~5% of its predecessor’s performance, despite running at a 50W deficit in comparison.
These engineering benchmark examples aren’t the only insight we’ve gotten into AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 9000 series of processors. Earlier this week, Geekbench results for the Ryzen 9 9900X surfaced, which seem to indicate that the fresh architecture will take the crown in single-core performance, far outperforming the previous-generation Ryzen 9 7950X3D and even the Intel Core i9-14900K.
Overall, we have to say that these fresh benchmarks look pretty good for the future of AMD desktop users. However, pre-release benchmarks like these need to be treated with a pinch of salt. In addition to the raw performance gains, the power efficiency gains bode well for the eventual arrival of Zen 5 laptop chips, and should be generally good for anyone trying to keep their power consumption down. Even the 60W TDP results make this processor seem pretty usable, as these results line up with the Intel Core i9-10980XE, according to Blender’s benchmark database.
