AMD
AMD released more information about its next-generation Ryzen 9000 processors and their core Zen 5 CPU architecture this week ahead of their release in late July. The company reiterated some of the high-level performance claims it made last month – a low to mid-double-digit performance increase over the Zen 4 in both single- and multi-threaded tasks. But AMD also boasted the chips’ power efficiency compared to the Ryzen 7000, stating that they will reduce power consumption despite the performance boost.
Priority of energy efficiency
AMD said it lowered the default power limits for three of the four Ryzen 9000 processors – the Ryzen 5 9600X, Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 9 7900X – compared to the Ryzen 7000 versions of those same chips. Despite the lower default power limit, all three chips still boast a double-digit performance improvement over their predecessors. AMD also says Ryzen 9000 CPU temperatures are reduced by up to 7º Celsius compared to Ryzen 7000 chips at the same settings.
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Ryzen 9000’s low double-digit performance gains come despite the fact that the company has lowered the default TDP of most of its chips. These TDP settings determine how much power one of AMD’s processors can use (though not necessarily how much will usage).
AMD
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Because the TDPs are lowered, AMD claims that the Ryzen 9000 chips will have slightly more overclockability than the Ryzen 7000.
AMD
It’s worth noting that we generally tested the original Ryzen 7000 CPUs at multiple power levels, and for most chips – most notably the 7600X and 7700X – we found that the increased TDP levels didn’t help performance all that much in the first place. The TDP drop in the Ryzen 9000 could be enabled in part by architectural improvements or a newer manufacturing process, but AMD already had some leeway to lower those power consumption figures without affecting performance too much. TDP is also best thought of as power limit rather than the actual amount of power the processor will use for a given workload, even when fully maxed out.
Still, we appreciate AMD’s focus on power efficiency for the Ryzen 9000 series, especially since Intel’s high-end 13900K and 14900K have been plagued by crashes that It seems be related to high power usage and incorrect motherboard configurations. Intel has yet to release a definitive statement on what the problem is, but it’s plausible (maybe even likely!) that it’s a side effect of these chips being pushed to their thermal and electrical limits.
Ryzen 9000 processors can still be pushed further by users who want to push those power limits and try overclocking – AMD says all chips have more headroom for automated overclocking with Precision Boost Overdrive, precisely because the default power limits leave a little more performance on the table. But while the chips still perform well at their default settings, people who just want to build a PC without doing a ton of tinkering will be better served by chips that run cooler and use less power.
More clock time for socket AM5
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AMD has committed to supporting the AM5 socket until “2027+”, two years longer than the “2025+” it promised in late 2022.
AMD
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The Ryzen 9000 will be released alongside several minor updated chipsets, although existing AM5 boards will be able to use these chips after a BIOS update.
AMD
Another small but notable change buried in AMD’s slides, and good news for anyone who has already invested in a Socket AM5 motherboard or has plans to do so in the near future: AMD has officially extended the socket’s guaranteed support dates to at least 2027 d. leaves the door open for support beyond that point. That’s a two-year extension from the “2025+” schedule the company laid out in late 2022.
Of course, “support” can mean many different things. AMD still officially supports socket AM4 with new CPU releases, and continues to rely on AM4 as a budget platform as socket AM5 costs remain stubbornly high. But all of these “new” releases have been repacks of various iterations of late 2020 Ryzen 5000 processors, not truly new products. Still, AMD’s official commitment to socket AM5 longevity makes it a a little easier to recommend for people who upgrade their processors regularly.
Ryzen 9000 chips will be able to fit into any current AM5 motherboard after a BIOS update. The company is also announcing a range of 800-series chipsets for new motherboards, though these typically only come with minor improvements over the 600-series chipsets they replace. The X870E and X870 are guaranteed to have USB 4 ports, and the X870 supports PCIe 5.0 speeds for the GPU slot, while the X670 only supports PCIe 4.0 speeds for the GPU slot. The lower-end B850 chipset still supports PCIe 5.0 speeds for SSDs and PCIe 4.0 speeds for GPUs, while the even lower-end B840 chipset is limited to PCIe 3.0 speeds for everything. The B840 also won’t support CPU overclocking, although it can still overclock RAM.
Listing image from AMD
