The release of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 has been reviewed, but many hardware media outlets known for their in-depth testing were collectively absent. TechPowerUp, Gamers Nexus, and ComputerBase were not reviewed.TechPowerUp editor-in-chief and GPU-Z developer W1zzard bluntly stated in an article published today that AMD’s product distribution strategy this time makes it difficult not to interpret it as deliberate selection.
W1zzard said that AMD usually takes the initiative to contact the media to provide review products, but this was not the case this time. After waiting for a few days, it proactively contacted AMD to apply for products, and the response it received was "no products available."
Gamers Nexus reacted strongly after being rejected. The latest video directly used the title "Blacklisted by AMD. AMD's despicable methods." ComputerBase, the old top media, also failed to obtain the product for review.
It is worth noting that these three media are well-known for their cache behavior analysis, inter-CCD delay test, power consumption curve, game-by-game CCD sleep strategy and other tests, and these are precisely the most critical dimensions when evaluating dual 3D cache architecture.
W1zzard also pointed out that an article reviewing this $900 CPU only tested one game and used the previous generation RTX 4090 graphics card.
The application performance part of most other evaluations also stays at conventional benchmark tests such as Cinebench, 7-Zip, and AIDA64, lacking coverage of real application scenarios.
AMD has also adopted extremely strict controls on the retail channel side. W1zzard revealed,AMD has issued clear instructions to retailers, prohibiting the sale or lending of any 9950X3D2 to the media before the official release date, and threatening violators with severe consequences.
He contacted many retail friends who have known each other for more than ten years, but they all said that there was nothing they could do. The traditional retail channels for obtaining evaluation prototypes in advance were completely cut off.
W1zzard stated at the end of the article that he currently has no plans to purchase the 9950X3D2 at his own expense, but if AMD is willing to provide the product after release, he will run a complete CPU test process, covering the performance of 50 applications and 14 games at four resolutions.
He also reminded that the current published reviews can still be used as a reference in terms of basic performance, but when reading, you need to pay attention to each company's testing methods, game selection and graphics card matching.
