AMD Increases Officially Guaranteed TDP of Zen 5 to 105W, Resolves Ryzen 9000 Latency Problem, Introduces 800-Series Chipsets
In a move to enhance gaming performance, AMD has introduced a 105W TDP mode for its Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X processors. Originally equipped with a 65W TDP, these CPUs were found to have somewhat lower performance due to power and thermal limitations restricting their boost potential.
The new TDP mode, enabled through updated AGESA firmware and BIOS revisions, provides these processors with more power headroom, allowing them to boost higher and maintain better sustained clocks under load. This translates to improved frame rates, particularly in CPU-intensive titles.
The Ryzen 5 9600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, can now sustain higher boost clocks for longer periods during gaming, leading to better gaming FPS and improved CPU-intensive workload performance.
While specific gaming benchmark numbers comparing the 65W vs. 105W modes are not yet available, the rationale behind the TDP increase is to overcome thermal and power constraints, resulting in noticeable gains in gaming and CPU workloads.
The Ryzen 7 9700X, being a higher-tier model, benefits similarly from the increased power envelope, improving performance in multitasking and gaming benchmarks where CPU performance scales with sustained boost capabilities.
The X870 and X870E motherboards, built around the same Promontory 21 chipset silicon from ASMedia as the 600-series, are now available in the market. These boards are compatible with any Socket AM5 processor and feature standard PCIe 5.0 interface for both storage and graphics, as well as USB 4.0 60 Gbps interfaces, courtesy of third-party controllers like ASMedia ASM4242.
AMD has also made improvements to reduce core-to-core latency in its Ryzen 9000 processors, a change that benefits heavily threaded games that don't trigger core parking. Additionally, AMD's performance-boosting branch prediction optimizations are now integrated into mainline Windows branches.
Moreover, AMD supports DDR5-8000 EXPO memory kits with its new AGESA version, although the sweet spot for Ryzen 9000 remains at DDR5-6000. Games such as Metro, Starfield, Borderlands 3, and 3DMark Timespy may benefit from the latency improvement.
Reviews for the new X870 and X870E motherboards, including the MSI X870E Carbon WIFI, are available now. The PCIe 5.0 interface, previously limited to the E-series boards only, is now standard on the X870 lineup.
In summary, the 105W TDP mode on the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X provides enhanced gaming benchmark performance due to higher and more stable clock speeds under load, allowing these CPUs to compete better against rivals in gaming benchmarks without requiring platform or silicon changes, just firmware and power budget updates from AMD.
In light of this, it's expected that the increased power budget of the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X processors, facilitated by the 105W TDP mode, could propel the advancement of smart-home devices and gadgets, as they now deliver higher performance and smoother operation, thanks to technology such as data-and-cloud-computing.
Furthermore, the benefits derived from the 105W TDP mode extend to future innovation in the realm of gaming and technology, encouraging developers to create more CPU-intensive titles that can fully leverage the enhanced performance of these processors.
