If you're looking to keep your AM4 socket machine going a while longer yet, or are hankering for a CPU that'll absolutely monster multimedia, rendering and creative tasks while still delivering good performance for gaming, may I introduce you to this AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU, currently available for $380 on Amazon.
As processors go, while it might not be one of the latest Zen 4 models from AMD it is absolutely no slouch, and when it comes to multi-core performance it can still keep up with some of the very best CPUs today thanks to those 16 cores and 32 threads. With a boost clock of 4.9 GHz and a total of 72MB of L2 and L3 cache this chip delivers a serious amount of processing grunt that still punches harder than most, and would make an amazing choice for a home rendering rig, creative workstation or Blender machine.
But what about games, I hear you cry? Well, those silicon muscles aren't just for work. The Ryzen 9 5950X will still crunch through the latest titles with ease, and while it might not be quite as quick as its modern ilk as a gaming processor it'll still deliver plenty of raw performance.
Not bad for a nearly 4 year old CPU, ey? Yep, while the 5950X is getting on a bit it was an absolute pedigree chip in its day, and we reviewed it very highly at the time. The good news is that it's definitely kept those credentials over the years to still make it a great recommendation right now.
There are a couple of things to bear in mind if you're looking to get your hands on one, however. For a start, it does run warm, so really you'll want to get your hands on a liquid cooler to keep those temps in check. Air cooling is not recommended for a chip of this generation with this many cores, although the good news is in terms of power consumption it's actually pretty good compared to its competition.
You could even run it in Eco mode, in which case it'll produce less heat and gently sip on a mere 65W of power, albeit with reduced but still impressive performance to match. In this mode you could stick it in a small form factor system if you really wanted, which would make a hell of a creative machine that would take up much less space on your desk.
The other thing to bear in mind? Well, it's still not what you'd call cheap even at this price, and you might want to consider whether a jump to AM5 with a more modern CPU might make more financial sense. However, if you're sticking with AM4 for the time being then this would make a fantastic upgrade.
It might be getting on a bit, but the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X still makes for a monster CPU, and at this price it's absolutely worth considering. Whether you're looking to build a rendering champion or simply get the most out of your AM4 machine, this is a beast of a CPU to this day, and shall be for some time to come.
