AMD announced the Ryzen 9 3950X, a 16-core mainstream processor

At E3 2019, AMD announced the Ryzen 9 3950X, a 16-core, 32-thread processor aimed at the mainstream. This makes it the highest core count chip ever released for a mainstream audience.

This beast of a processor not only rocks 16-cores, but it also features a whopping 72MB of L3 cache, a boost clock of 4.7 GHz and it does all of this while maintaining a low 105W TDP.

This will be one of the biggest PC components of the year
You'll want to pair this with one of the best graphics cards
The Ryzen 9 3950X is the star of AMD Zen 2

And, while we won't have any hard performance numbers until we get it in-house for a review, this spec sheet alone is enough to promise some mighty performance. AMD showed off some rapid-fire quotes like "world record Cinebench score", but we'd take that with a grain of salt.

It should be noted, however, that while the rest of the Ryzen 3rd Generation lineup will be hitting store shelves on July 7, the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X will come out in September 2019 for $749 (about £590, AU$1,080). That's a lofty price tag for a mainstream component, but with its 16-cores it's kind of in a league of its own.

At that price tag, it might be a hard sell to mainstream audiences, but for creatives and professionals looking for a more affordable alternative to an HEDT chip like the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, the Ryzen 9 3950X seems like a no-brainer.

E3 2019 is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.