We sifted through the top CPU coolers to find the best options for the powerful AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D,so you can keep things cool through every session.

While AMD’s first Zen 5 CPUs disappointed everyone in gaming, the latest X3D versions have more than made up for that. The 9800X3D became the best gaming CPU last year, and now the 9950X3D greatly improves creator workloads while mostly maintaining that stellar gaming performance.

AMD is also expected to launch a 3D V-Cache version of its future Zen 6 CPUs, as it has done with the past couple of generations. However, no details about the particular configuration of this—how much cache it will be, whether it will apply to both CCDs, etc.—have yet been announced.

AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D is probably the best CPU you can buy if you're trying to put together a fast gaming PC, thanks to its eight Zen 5 CPU cores and extra helping of 3D V-Cache. You don't really need more CPU cores than this to play games, and most games benefit from the extra cache more than they do from a bit of extra clock speed.

AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X is a chip that delivers on all fronts. It combines the multi-threaded grunt of the 9950X with the gaming prowess of the 9800X3D.

"The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is extremely powerful in games, which makes it easier to recommend than other recent processors like the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K or Ryzen 9 9900X. Especially if you’re building a rig with a powerful graphics card, the 9800X3D is going to be the best way to get the most performance out of whichever GPU you pair it with."