AMD Has Left Intel Far Behind in Latest Gaming Benchmarks

German specialists from ComputerBase have updated their ranking of the fastest gaming processors on the market. The tests, conducted in early August 2026, pitted the latest AMD and Intel chips against each other across nine popular titles. The testing conditions were deliberately pushed well outside the comfort zone: a 720p resolution paired with a flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card—all to put maximum stress squarely on the CPU.

Unsurprisingly, the top spot went to the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D with its extra 3D V-Cache. Its lead over the closest competitor came in at around 5%. That margin may not sound dramatic on its own, but in the race for maximum frame rates, those numbers are make-or-break for enthusiasts. Right behind the flagship sat the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which previously held the top spot. The real intrigue in this ranking, however, isn't so much about the changing of the guard as it is about the new chip's peculiar behavior. The testers also ran a separate set of benchmarks with the processors in single-channel memory mode—using just one stick of RAM instead of the usual two. Under these conditions, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D delivered performance identical to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D running in a full dual-channel setup. That's a crucial detail given the persistently sky-high prices of DDR5 memory on the market right now.

The third spot went to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition—a chip that AMD positions as a hybrid solution for both gaming and productivity. It trails the leader by that same 5% margin, but with the caveat of a significantly higher price tag and TDP. Fourth place belongs to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D (8% behind the leader), while the top five is rounded out by the tried-and-true Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which lags 15% behind the flagship. Despite newer generations hitting the shelves, this model still remains a solid, sensible choice for those who aren't chasing the prestige of owning the most powerful rig on the block.

Over on Intel's side, the outlook is far less rosy. The best chip from the blue team in gaming workloads turned out to be the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. Its deficit against the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D came in at a hefty 22%, reinforcing a trend we've seen over the past few years: Intel's Core Ultra (Arrow Lake) architecture has made massive strides in productivity workloads, but when it comes to gaming, going up against AMD's 3D-caching tech is still a losing battle. The rest of the Core Ultra 200S lineup sits further down the list, trailing even some of AMD's mid-range offerings.

The publication also took a separate look at the pecking order in productivity and multi-threaded applications. Here, the undisputed leaders were, as expected, the Ryzen Threadripper 9000X family, purpose-built for 3D modeling and rendering workloads. On the single-core performance front, however, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K turned in the best result, making it a solid contender for a versatile workstation build. ComputerBase's ranking makes it abundantly clear that AMD continues to hold onto the gaming crown thanks to its 3D V-Cache technology—though the generational gap is no longer as colossal as it once was.

Would you take the plunge and build a system with a flagship processor but only a single stick of RAM to save some cash, or does dual-channel memory remain an untouchable golden standard for gaming? Drop your take in the comments.