Prices of AMD's flagship desktop processor, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, dropped to under $500 for the first time, with Amazon listing it at $492. This 16-core/32-thread processor features 3D V-cache on one of its two 8-core CCDs, which gives it the gaming performance boost that the technology provides, while leaving its second CCD to sustain higher boost clocks, benefiting multithreaded productivity workloads. Is the 7950X3D a good buy at $492? In a recent interview with Tom's Hardware, AMD confided that the first wave of Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" desktop processors, codenamed "Granite Ridge," don't quite beat the gaming performance of the company's 7000X3D processors, but are significantly faster at productivity workloads, which makes the 7950X3D a tempting buy at $492. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, the fastest desktop processor for gaming, is priced at $339.