AMD is making its new Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X faster, and you don’t need to do anything special to see a performance boost. Although relatively disappointing out of the gate, AMD’s budget CPUs could rank among the best processors thanks to a string of new BIOS updates that should allow the chips to hit higher peak performance.
All of the major motherboard vendors have now released a 105-watt mode for these two CPUs. MSI first released this update, but now Asus and Gigabyte have followed suit. The new power mode comes from AGESA 1.2.0.1a, and it’s available for most 600-series motherboards now. If your motherboard doesn’t have an update yet, you should see it sometime in September.
Gigabyte claims that the new power mode can result in a 13% performance jump in Cinebench R23, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Both the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X come with a default Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 65W. Prior to releasing, some speculated AMD would increase the power of the Ryzen 7 9700X to keep it competitive with AMD’s own Ryzen 7 7800X3D. The default value isn’t changing, but this new power mode lends some credibility to those claims.
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The higher power mode should result in a performance increase, but it’s worth pointing out that it doesn’t fall within AMD’s official specifications. Pushing a higher power limit is a bad idea if you don’t have adequate cooling, so make sure to check out our list of the best CPU coolers if you want to enable the new power mode.
In addition, some applications may see less of a performance boost. In games, for example, the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X aren’t always pushed to their limits, and that’s particularly true in graphically demanding games like the recent Black Myth: Wukong. Games that stress the CPU more should see a performance bump, however, such as Hitman 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.
We haven’t seen BIOS updates from smaller motherboard vendors, but they should roll out with the new AGESA version soon. Although it can be intimidating to update your BIOS for newcomers, the process is fairly straightforward these days. Our guide on what a BIOS is has everything you need to get started, from navigating the BIOS menu to upgrading to a new version.
The BIOS update should help performance, but AMD has boosted the performance of its new Zen 5 CPUs in other areas, too. The latest Windows 11 update, for example, can increase performance by a further 10% due to a better branch prediction implementation.
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
AMD’s historic AM4 legacy may continue on
A recent listing on the European Economic Community (EEC) website suggests that AMD is planning to release the Ryzen 5 5500X3D, a new CPU in the Zen 3 lineup that incorporates 3D V-Cache technology.
This processor is expected to be a more affordable option compared to the previously released Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which was well-received for its impressive gaming performance. The 5500X3D is rumored to target the midrange market, potentially offering gamers an accessible entry point into AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology without the need to upgrade to the newer AM5 platform.
Millions of AMD chips are being ignored in major security flaw fix
Hundreds of millions of AMD CPUs are facing a new vulnerability called Sinkhole. The exploit, which was first reported by Wired, impacts processors dating back to 2006, and it spans nearly all of AMD’s products. That list includes Ryzen, Threadripper, and Epyc CPUs across desktop and mobile, as well as AMD’s data center GPUs. Despite Sinkhole hitting some of AMD’s best processors, only the most recent batch of chips will receive a patch that fixes the vulnerability.
AMD isn’t patching Ryzen 1000, 2000, or 3000 processors, nor is it patching Threadripper 1000 and 2000 CPUs, reports Tom’s Hardware. The company claims that these older CPUs fall outside of its support window, despite the fact that millions are still in use. Still, even the most recent Ryzen 3000 chips were released over five years ago, and it makes sense that AMD would want to focus its support on new chips like the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X.
Intel’s downfall hurts everyone
Intel can’t catch a break. The instability saga we’ve witnessed over the past few months, along with a historically disastrous earnings report for the company, has led Intel into some pretty bleak territory. The company even postponed its Innovation event this year; meanwhile, shareholders are filing a lawsuit against Team Blue. No matter how you slice it, Intel is having a bad time right now.
There’s a lot of understandable anger pointed Intel’s way right now, from game developers saying they’re going to lose money, to gamers who say they’ve been denied returns, to shareholders that claim Intel fraudulently hid how bad things were. Those are all legitimate things to be frustrated about, and I understand the satisfaction you might feel when a company gets what it deserves.
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