The productivity side does lack compared to the base 9000 series and the 14th intel and 15th, and the price is a little expensive for a lil silicon slab ($669 CAD + tax shipping = around $755 CAD).

but (BIG BUT),

This chip absolutely blows everything out of the water when it comes to gaming performance, there is about 8 - 15% average performance increase from its predecessor which was ALREADY KILLER CPU WITHOUT A COMPETITOR.

Currently the only argument between this chip and the 7800x3d is just the availability, there are more 7800x3ds out there for purchase but the price is base $800 CAD, and if you were lucky enough to snag an 9800x3d for msrp, you will never get that same price anywhere again (unless amd somehow pumps this chip out).

The thermals are way better after its architecture change, it does draw more power though, this allow us for a higher clock in games without throttle, and not to mention, the performance average difference between the new intel chip is a joke.

IMO currently there is no GPU that can max out this chip right now, we might see even more performance gaps when the new RTX 50 series come out.

Overall pretty happy with this upgrade, I had a 11900k which has lower base clock speed, 20 MB Cache only vs 104 for the 9800x3D.

Some numbers with my newly built system (5600MTS 2x32GB Kingston + 2x2TB NVME Kingston + x670E Asus + PNY 4090, XMP enabled (5600), No Manual/AI Overclock, stock bios)

Escape from Tarkov: (Streets because it's the most demanding map)
11900K + RTX 4090 -> 43 FPS 4k, max quality
9800x3D + RTX 4090 -> 77 FPS 4k, max quality

Ark Survival Ascended: (Abberation and Scorched tested in single player and modded server)
11900K + RTX 4090 -> 50-60 FPS 4k, max quality, FG enabled
9800x3D + RTX 4090 -> 90-120 FPS 4k, max quality, FG enabled (results edited after more tests)

Call of Duty Modern Warfare II
9800x3D + RTX 4090 -> 130-135 FPS 4k, max quality, FG enabled

I decided to build a newer AMD rig to replace my 5800x machine. I've been intrigued by the x3d series processors from AMD for a while now and decided to take the plunge.

I'm running an rtx 4070 ti and was not expecting a huge difference at 1440p in gaming. I was wrong. It is much faster than my old machine using the same video card and the same amount of ram. Games that were borderline unplayable with ray tracing effects are much smoother with higher frame rates. Star citizen went from a slideshow in the major cities to very smooth.

This processor is amazing. B&H sent me the processor quickly and it was packaged well. Definitely recommend.

Amazing processor, beyond impressed! I had a 7800x3d so the gains arent as massive coming from a different processor but where this excels in an upgrade is the temps, 1% lows, single core performance and overall productivoty upgrades. I went from 67c gaming to 54c. Hogwarts legacy i would have 1% low dips below 60fps at 3440x1440p with an RTX 4090. This would cause stuttering, especially in the castle. This has aleviated that and dips arent below 80 now. This processor has been exactly what all the reviewers are praising. If you have the cash this should be your next cpu if your a gamer and want the best of the best!