The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is down to $573.99 in a limited-time deal, a $125 saving off its $699 list price, and it represents something AMD hadn’t offered before: a 3D V-Cache processor with a high enough core count to handle demanding creative and professional workloads without sacrificing the gaming performance that cache stacking delivers. For anyone running one machine for everything, this is the processor the 9000 series has been building toward.
What you’re getting
The distinction worth making upfront is what separates the 9950X3D from the 7800X3D and 9800X3D. Where the 7800X3D/9800X3D are focused gaming processors that trade core count for cache optimization, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D brings 16 cores and 32 threads to the same 3D V-Cache architecture, giving it the processing headroom for video rendering, 3D work, compilation, and heavy multitasking that the eight-core X3D chips don’t offer. The 144MB of total cache still delivers the gaming performance advantage that 3D V-Cache is known for, making this a processor that no longer asks you to pick a priority.
The 4.3GHz base clock and AM5 socket keep the 9950X3D current on a platform with genuine longevity ahead of it. The 170W TDP reflects the demands of 16 cores under load, so a capable cooler is worth factoring into any build around this chip, but the efficiency of the process node means the power draw is well-managed relative to the performance on offer.
144MB of total cache is the number that shapes how the 9950X3D handles gaming workloads, keeping more game data closer to the cores and reducing the latency hit of reaching out to system RAM in the same way the 9800X3D does, just with significantly more processing capacity running alongside it.
Why it’s worth it
High core count processors with 3D V-Cache have historically forced a compromise somewhere in the spec sheet. The 9950X3D resolves that by combining both in a flagship package, and the $125 saving brings it to a price where the case for buying AMD’s most capable desktop processor becomes considerably more straightforward. The limited-time nature of the deal makes this worth acting on before it moves.
The bottom line
The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D at $573.99 is the processor for anyone who wants gaming performance and professional workload capability from a single chip without compromise. The 16 cores, 144MB of cache, and AM5 platform longevity add up to a build foundation that holds up well into the future, and the $125 saving makes this the right moment to commit.
As someone who finds multi-leveled amusement in things that are taboo and inappropriate, I love a good dark comedy. Through sharp, cynical wit, they highlight and critique the absurdities of life while also serving as bridges between comedies and tragedies, with intentional goals of provoking thought from discomfort while simultaneously providing a cathartic release.
As we slide into this special mid-April weekend, we’re doing so with three darkly hilarious shows on Amazon Prime Video—our top pick being a newly released series inspired by true events.
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Weeds
Illegal suburban activity with biting humor
The two-time Emmy Award-winning show Weeds is a darkly hilarious, must-see suburban satire that took a simple comedic premise to an unexpected place. Its complex narrative revolves around an upper-middle-class mother who turns to selling marijuana to support her family in the wake of her husband’s death. The Institute’s Mary-Louise Parker stars alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Bob Odenkirk, Jennifer Jason Leigh, the late Kevin Nealon, and more.
When her husband dies, housewife Nancy Botwin (Parker) is buried under a mound of debt, with a family to support and an expensive lifestyle in an elite Southern California neighborhood. Needing money fast, she starts slinging weed on the DL with her brother-in-law’s friend, Conrad (The 40-Year-Old Virgin‘s Romany Malco), and his family. As the story unfolds, audiences get a fascinating look at how the maven of Mary Jane and her family engage with and push against the status quo and societal expectations of the time. It also explores immigration, privilege, body-shaming, religion, sexuality, and the war in Iraq.
Though the eight-part show is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, contains an easy-to-root-for protagonist, and is riddled with the kinds of dramatic twists you’d see in a soap opera, we’re still unpacking all the ugly societal truths its narrative calls out, including the ways in which the suburbs push conformity on the middle class. You’ll love the biting satirical humor, dysfunctional family dynamics, and all the questionable moral decisions.
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The Horror of Dolores Roach
A comedic descent into becoming a serial killer
A dark comedy-horror series acting as a modern-day Sweeney Todd tale, The Horror of Dolores Roach is set in gentrified Washington Heights in New York City and is an urban legend created by Aaron Mark, who also developed the story into a one-woman off-Broadway play as well as a popular Spotify podcast. Fans of shows like Dexter and Hannibal will love it.
After 16 years in prison, former marijuana dealer Dolores (Justina Machado) seeks a new life upon her release, only to find everything about the life she knew destroyed. With nowhere to go, she lives and works as an unlicensed masseuse in the basement of a friend’s empanada shop. When her stability is threatened and her desperation for revenge and survival awakens, Dolores experiences outbursts of murderous rage. To help keep her safe, her friend Luis (New Amsterdam‘s Alejandro Hernandez) chops up her victims’ bodies and uses them as a secret ingredient in his empanada fillings.
These modern Sweeney Todd-like episodes are fast-paced with a 30-minute runtime and a campy, entertaining tone, so the one-season show makes for a quick, easy binge in its satirical take on gentrification and its thematic explorations of wrongful conviction and survival.
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Population: 11
Comedy meets thriller meets true crime
A very newly released comedy-crime series, Population: 11 is an Australian-based story about a man searching for his estranged, now-missing father in an extremely tiny Outback town with a population of 12 people. Though the premise is quirky, it is loosely inspired by true events and heavily influenced by the 2017 vanishing of a man and his dog without a trace from a small Australian Outback town with 11 residents, where local feuds made everyone a suspect.
American Andy Pruden (Superstore‘s Ben Feldman) travels to the remote, desolate Outback town to visit his estranged father. Upon his arrival, he learns his father has vanished into thin air. None of the town’s 11 residents, who all seem to harbor secrets and what Andy calls “murderer energy,” know his whereabouts. After meeting local podcaster Cassie (Gold Diggers’ Perry Mooney), the two decide, along with a “motley crew” of locals, to investigate what’s really going on.
The show does an excellent job of balancing tension with well-timed wit, and its peculiar blend of, at times, violent, dark comedy is rooted in an underlying foundation of oddball sweetness that keeps you engaged from start to finish. If you like peppy, quirky, fast-paced mysteries chock-full of cleverness and suspense, you’ll enjoy Population: 11, especially if you are a fan of shows like The Tourist. With just 12 half-hour episodes, you can binge this engaging series in one afternoon.
Though Prime Video recently increased its fees, don’t let that deter you from keeping your subscription, as there are variably priced options. Plus, with all the new content set to come our way soon, you don’t want to be left out on all the fun!
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