Oops, ASRock says motherboards will support 'newly launched' AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 CPU that has definitely not yet been launched
The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 was a no show at this year's CES, fuelling concerns it may never fully surface. However, at least one motherboard manufacturer briefly acted like the dual 3D V-Cache CPU had already enjoyed a grand reveal.
A since deleted press release from ASRock detailed that the manufacturer's AM5 motherboards would support the "newly launched" AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, "delivering unparalleled performance for gamers worldwide" (via VideoCardz). The problem is that this press release was dated March 16 and the AMD chip in question has not yet materialised.
Besides a brief allusion to the chip's dual-CCD 3D V-Cache offering "more cache than ever, giving it higher gaming performance on top of the already extremely [high] performing processor", no other chip specifications were mentioned.
To date, vanishingly few specs have been officially confirmed—though unofficially, this leaker did cryptically hint at something for AMD's next-gen Zen 6 architecture.
ASRock's press release was clearly never meant to go live, seeing as it's now been deleted. As such, it doesn't seem unreasonable to suspect we also may never see the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 fully revealed. But, given the chip's appearance in official AMD documents at the start of the year, and that various partners have basically confirmed the chip will eventually release, I don't think that's the case here.
It seems more likely to me that ASRock's press release was simply scheduled with an incorrect publishing date.
The press release assures that the AM5 motherboards will be able to support the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 "by simply downloading and installing the latest BIOS," which at the time of VideoCardz's reporting would have referred to BIOS 4.03.
However, the outlet says that's perhaps unlikely because that could suggest support on A620 motherboards as well and, for a chip with 200 W TDP, that doesn't really add up. What seems more likely is a full reveal of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 later in the year, coinciding with support from a later BIOS iteration.
Whether the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 will be worth buying if it does materialise is another question altogether. There may be some cases where more cache provided by 3D V-Cache beneath both CCDs is a benefit—those times when a workload spills over eight cores, for example. Though, for gaming, the benefits may well be limited with even AMD suggesting as much a year ago.
It could be that AMD has changed its plans, however. It initially planned to launch the chip, then held it back. If it doesn't show up soon, it may miss the boat entirely. AMD is still planning to launch Zen 6 chips later this year, with new X3D processors likely to follow shortly after.