Water cooling company says liquid cooling is recommended for AMD’s first 200W desktop CPU
EK says Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 users may be leaving some performance on the table by sticking to air cooling. The company is using AMD’s new flagship AM5 chip to promote its latest custom loop blocks, with the usual argument that lower temperatures help sustain higher boost behavior under load.
The Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 is AMD’s new 16-core, 32-thread Zen 5 desktop processor for the AM5 platform. It boosts up to 5.6 GHz, has a 200 W TDP, first such CPU from AMD. It’s main feature is dual 3D V-Cache on both CCDs. That dual-stacked cache design is the main difference from earlier X3D parts, which only used extra cache on one chiplet.
Source: AMD
As for pricing, EK’s current AM5 lineup starts with the EK-Quantum Velocity³ at €112. Older EK-Quantum Velocity² AM5 blocks cost more, from €138 to €147 depending on finish. The older Magnitude AM5 series sits much higher, ranging from roughly €213 to €329, so even EK’s entry point for this platform is still well above basic air cooler pricing.
The bigger issue for EK is not the cooling pitch itself, but the company’s image. EK spent the last two years dealing with reports about unpaid obligations, management problems, and restructuring, and that did lasting damage to buyer trust. Even if its AM5 block performs as expected, the company has lost a lot of face, and it will be much harder now to convince enthusiasts to spend more than €100 on EK hardware.
AMD has not yet confirmed pricing for the new CPU, it is unlikely to be lower than the initial 9950X3D price (single 3D V-Cache die), which was $699. The CPU will be released on April 22nd, and the price should be announced a week or day prior (we hope).
Source: EK
