AMD Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPUs Officially Launch on 31st July: Lower Power & Cooler, New Overclocking Features, 9950X, 9900X, 9700X, 9600X Performance & 3D V-Cache Comparisons (2024)

AMD has officially confirmed that its next-gen Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPUs will launch on the 31st of July. The company has also shared new performance metrics for all four chips including the Ryzen 9 9950X, Ryzen 9 9900X, Ryzen 7 9700X, and Ryzen 5 9600X while detailing new features and support.

AMD Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPUs Headed For Retail Launch On The 31st of July: New Ryzen 9 9950X, Ryzen 9 9900X, Ryzen 7 9700X & Ryzen 5 9600X Performance Benchmarks Shared

It's been more than a year since AMD first introduced its AM5 platform alongside a brand new CPU family which we all know as Ryzen 7000 "Raphael". These chips brought in some impressive gains on the single and multi-threaded side of things while enabling higher efficiency than Intel's 13th & 14th Gen CPUs.

The company soon followed the launch with its new 3D V-Cache parts, the Ryzen 7000X3D family, which extended the SKUs range in the 12 and 16-core territory, offering another level of uplift for gamers. It's been more than a year since the launch of these parts and all eyes are on AMD's next-gen family, the Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" Desktop CPUs.

AMD Ryzen 9000 'Zen 5' Desktop CPU Expected Features:

• Up To 16 Zen 5 Cores and 32 Threads
• Up To 16% IPC Improvement With Zen 5
• Brand New TSMC 4nm process node with 6nm IOD
• Up To 23% Faster Gaming Performance Versus Intel 14th Gen
• Up To 56% Faster Multi-Thread Performance Versus Intel 14th-gen
• Support on All Existing AM5 Platforms With LGA1718 Socket
• 800-Series Motherboard Introduction (X870E/X870)
• Faster Dual-Channel DDR5 Memory Support
• Up To DDR5-5600 Native (JEDEC) Speeds
• 28 PCIe Gen5 Lanes (CPU Exclusive / 24 Usable)
• 65W-170W TDPs

The AMD Ryzen 9000 Desktop CPU family, codenamed Granite Ridge, is based on the latest Zen 5 core architecture and targets high-performance Gaming PCs. The family is bringing a range of new features with the Zen 5 cores being the highlight while being supported on existing and upcoming AM5 platforms with improved I/O and DDR5 memory support.

Ryzen 9000 CPU Chip Shot:

AMD Zen 5 Core Architecture - Further Tweaking The Zen Architecture For A 16% IPC Uplift

So before we talk about the Ryzen 9000 Desktop CPU family, we first take a glance at the new and improved Zen 5 core architecture which offers:

• More Instructions delivered per cycle
• Improved branch prediction accuracy and latency
• Higher throughput with wider pipelines and vectors
• Deeper window size across the design for more parallelism
• Dispatch and execution expanded
• Doubled cache data bandwidth
• AI Acceleration

In several aspects, the AMD Zen 5 core architecture offers up to a 2x increase such as the Instruction Bandwidth for the front-end instructions, data bandwidth (L2 to L1 and L1 to FP), and AI perf (AI & AVX512 Throughput). The Zen 5 CPU cores (CCDs) are based on the TSMC 4nm process node while the IOD is based on the TSMC 6nm process node. They come in the same peak config of 2 CCDs and 1 IOD on consumer platforms.

Zen 5 features a dual pipe fetch with an advanced branch prediction unit which enables:

• Branch Prediction: less latency, more accuracy, and throughput
• Instruction cache latency and bandwidth improvement
• Dual decode pipes

The Wider Dispatch & Execute Unit enables:

• 8-wide dispatch/retire
• 6 ALU, 3 multiples
• More unified ALU scheduler
• Large execution window

The increased data bandwidth is offered through:

• 48KB 12-way L1 data cache 4-cycle load
• Double the maximum bandwidth to the L1 cache and Floating Point Unit
• Improved data prefetching

And lastly, there's a 512-bit AI data path which offers:

• AVX-512 with full 512-bit data path
• 6 pipelines with two-cycle latency FADD
• A larger number of FP instructions in flight

These new changes have resulted in a significant IPC uplift averaging 16% versus Zen 4. In certain cases, the Zen 5 core can reach up to +35% IPC such as (Geekbench 5.4 AES XTS) and another key area that has been improved upon is the L2 and L3 cache structuring. AMD also made some significant changes to the IMC which now result in much higher EXPO/XMP memory support and the Infinity Fabric clock has been raised from 2000 MHz on Zen 4 to 2400 MHz on Zen 5 with DDR5-5600 speeds natively supported.

The updated AI engines such as the Math Acceleration Unit offer up to a 32% single-core performance uplift in Machine Learning and up to a 35% single-core improvement in AES-XTS instructions. According to AMD, the large majority of the Zen 5 uplifts come from the Execution/Retire unit, followed by the Decode/Opcache, Data Bandwidth, and Fetch/Branch Prediction (in order).

AMD Ryzen 9000 Desktop CPU Lineup

So as for the lineup, the AMD Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" family is composed of four SKUs to start. These include the Ryzen 9 9950X, Ryzen 9 9900X, Ryzen 7 9700X and the Ryzen 5 9600X. Let's take a look at the specifications of these chips.

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16-Core Desktop CPU

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X "100-000001277" CPU is the flagship offering with two Zen 5 CCDs and a single IOD. The CPU offers 16 cores, 32 threads, a base clock of 4.3 GHz, and a max boost clock of up to 5.7 GHz. It comes with 80 MB of cache (64 MB L3 + 16 MB L2) and has a TDP of 170W. Now in terms of clock speed, while the boost clock is identical to the Ryzen 9 7950X, the base clock is slightly dialed down by -200 MHz but we can expect a lot of efficiency coming out of this flagship product, especially in terms of multi-threaded performance.

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X also packs 3 chiplets, two of which are the Zen 5 CCDs, each with 8 cores, 16 threads, and 32 MB of L3 cache while the third chiplet is the IO die or IOD which is based on the TSMC 6nm process node is nearly identical to the IOD we saw on the Ryzen 7000 chips but with a few minor adjustments. The IOD retains the same 2 compute units based on the RDNA 2 graphics architecture and comes clocked at 2200 MHz. The CPU comes with full support for overclocking on the CPU, & memory, & has all tech support for PBO2, Curve Optimizer, and support within the Ryzen Master utility. AMD also recommends a liquid cooler for optimal performance with this behemoth.

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12-Core Desktop CPU

Next, we have the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X "100-000000662" CPU, the 12-core and 24-thread variant. This chip has a base clock of 4.4 GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.6 GHz with a 76 MB cache. The interesting thing with this chip is that it has a TDP of 120W much lower than the 170W of Ryzen 9 7900X chips.

Once again, while the chip retains the same boost clock speed as the Ryzen 9 7900X, the base clock sees a -300 MHz reduction which is once again to fit within the 120W power limit but once again, the 12-core should be able to boast some nice multi-threaded capabilities. Following are the TDP comparisons between the four chips of this generation with the prior one:

• Ryzen 9 7950X (170W) -> Ryzen 9 9950X (170W)
• Ryzen 9 7900X (170W) -> Ryzen 9 9900X (120W)
• Ryzen 7 7700X (105W) -> Ryzen 7 9700X (65W)
• Ryzen 5 7600X (105W) -> Ryzen 5 9600X (65W)

AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 8-Core Desktop CPU

For the more mainstream users, AMD has the Ryzen 7 9700X "100-000001404" which is an 8-core CPU with 16 threads, a base clock of 3.8 GHz, a boost clock of up to 5.5 GHz, 40 MB of cache (1 CCD with 32 MB L3 + 8 MB L2), and a low TDP of 65W which is also much lower than the 105W TDP featured on its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 7700X.

The Ryzen 7 7700X has a 105W part while the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X has a 65W part which is almost half its TDP and that means that the clocks do take a slight bit of hit with the base clock being -700 MHz lower but the boost clock is rated at +100 MHz. For the 65W SKUs, AMD recommends using a premium air cooler for optimal performance but even with such a low TDP, AMD is making sure that enthusiasts don't miss out on the OC and tuning features as the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 chips come with all the goodies as the higher-end Ryzen 9 SKUs based on the Zen 5 core architecture.

AMD Ryzen 5 9600X 6-Core Desktop CPU

Lastly, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X "100-000001405" CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads. This chip has a base clock of 3.9 GHz maximum boost clock of up to 5.40 GHz and packs 38 MB cache and the same 65W TDP. Only the AMD Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 CPUs see a clock bump over their predecessor while the Ryzen 9 chips retain the same clock speeds.

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X sees a 100 MHz boost clock improvement over its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 7600X but comes with a lower base clock of -800 MHz.

AMD Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" Desktop CPUs Specs:

Sweet Spot DDR5-6000 Again But Upper Limit Enhanced To 6400 MT/s With Over 8000 MT/s OC Modules Easily Support

First of all, the integrated memory controller for the AMD Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" CPUs is similar to the Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" CPUs but comes with slight refinements. We have been told that the CPUs will be able to support DDR5-5600 by default and up to DDR5-6400 memory at a 1:1 fabric clock. Thesweet spot is still going to be DDR5-6000 1:1but on both X670 and X870, the upper limit will be set at 6400 MT/s.

As we already know, the AMD Ryzen Desktop CPUs feature three distinct clock speeds as a part of their internal memory structure, these include:

• Infinity Fabric Clock (FCLK):Governs how quickly CPU cores can communicate across CPU dies and with SOC controllers (e.g. PCIe, SATA, USB)
• Memory Controller (UCLK):Governs how quickly the memory controller can ingest/exgest commands from RAM.
• Memory Clock (MCLK):The frequency of your main system memory.

For those who want to push things higher, the X870E and X870 motherboards will offer a great OC design that is specifically geared towards memory overclocking with new and improved DRAM OC features. AMD's board partners fine-tuned the DDR5 support on existing AM5 motherboards, making them scale past the 10,000 MT/s barrier with ease which wasn't possible at launch.

The advantage that a 1:1 brings to the table is that it will allow for lower latencies and a balanced speed while a higher ratio will allow for better overclocking, & faster data transfer rates but will also lead to poor latencies.

• AMD Ryzen 3000 "Zen 2" Sweet Spot - DDR4-3800
• AMD Ryzen 5000 "Zen 3" Sweet Spot - DDR4-4000
• AMD Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" Sweet Spot - DDR5-6000
• AMD Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Sweet Spot - DDR5-6000 (Upper Limit - 6400 MT/s)

AMD will also be adding some new overclocking features which we will see on existing 600-series and upcoming 800-series motherboards such as Memory Optimized Performance Profiles or OPP, and "Curve Shaper" for CPU overclockers and tuners.

AMD Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPU Performance

AMD also shares a few performance figures for its upcoming Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPUs. The Ryzen 9 9950X has been compared against the Intel Core i9-14900K. It offers up to a +56% leap in productivity performance (+29.8% average uplift) and up to a +23% leap in gaming performance (+13.2% average uplift), a significant jump over Intel's flagship CPU. The performance was done on an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU so it will be interesting to see how these chips fare with the RTX 40 series which loves extra CPU performance.

In gaming, the Ryzen 9 9950X should end up considerably faster than its Ryzen 7000 predecessors but we can expect Zen 5 3D V-Cache to further take this leap forward. AMD states that the improvement in game performance comes from the reduced latencies associated with the chip.

Also, it should be mentioned that AMD has also clarified that while Zen 5 is much faster than its older Zen 4 parts and the competition, Zen 4 3D V-Cache SKUs are likely going to remain the king but the difference between the last-gen X3D and the newest Non-X3D parts will be thinner this time which is great to hear since you can expect 3D V-Cache performance and faster multi-threaded capabilities out of these new Zen 5 chips.

This can be seen in the benchmark above where AMD uses the 5800X3D for comparison against the 9700X. The 5800X3D is based on the Zen 3 architecture and the Ryzen 7 9700X offers an average 12% faster performance than that chip. This would suggest that the Ryzen 7800X3D would still end up faster in gaming versus the 9700X.

Once again, the Ryzen 9000 3D V-Cache CPUs are also expected to launch later this year so for those who are only aiming for faster gaming numbers, it might be better to wait a bit more. AMD also recently updated its 3D V-Cache optimizer suite in the latest Ryzen chipset drivers ahead of the next-gen launch so it looks like the groundwork for them is already being laid out.

Another key area where AMD shows Zen 5's improvements is power and temperatures. We have already reported how Ryzen 9000 CPUs will be cooler and consume lower power than Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" chips and that is confirmed by AMD. The Ryzen 9 9950X should offer a 22% uplift at the same 170W TDP, the Ryzen 9 9900X will offer 16% higher performance at a 50W lower TDP, the Ryzen 7 9700X will offer an 11% uplift versus the Ryzen 7 7700X at a 40W lower TDP while the Ryzen 5 9600X will offer a 17% improvement over the 7600X at a 40W lower TDP.

• Ryzen 9 9950X (170W) vs Ryzen 9 7950X (170W) = +22% Performance
• Ryzen 9 9900X (120W) vs Ryzen 9 7900X (170W) = +16% Performance
• Ryzen 7 9700X (65W) vs Ryzen 7 7700X (105W) = +11% Performance
• Ryzen 5 9600X (65W) vs Ryzen 5 7600X (105W) = +17% Performance

AMD says that the Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" CPUs feature a 15% improvement in thermal resistance, leading to 7C drop in temperatures at the same TDP.

AMD also states that the Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPUs make for the ultimate content creator AI platform with a 100% uplift in graphics bandwidth thanks to dedicated PCIe 5.0 lanes which the current Intel lineup lacks and a 20% AI acceleration in LLMs such as Mistral. Do note that AMD isn't incorporating an NPU on its Ryzen 9000 Desktop CPUs but the new architectural improvements lead to better AI performance than the competition.

Ryzen 9000 CPU Package:

AMD Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPU Pricing & Availability

No pricing details are currently shared, but we can expect the Ryzen 9000 CPUs to cost around the same ballpark as the Ryzen 7000 series. A few online listings suggest that the Ryzen 9 9950X might cost close to $600 US while the rest of the SKUs should be priced relatively around the same range as their predecessors as mentioned above.

Canada Computers has listed the chip for CAD 839.00 which is lower than the CAD 939.00 MSRP of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (the chip is currently listed for CAD 719.00 which converts to $522 US and we have seen it available under $500 US recently). The CAD 839.00 pricing converts to $610 US which is $90 US lower than the MSRP of the Ryzen 9 7950X which cost $699 US at launch and was replaced by the Ryzen 9 7950X3D at the same price but that chip is currently also available close to $500 US.

• Ryzen 9 9950X -CAD 839.00 ($610 US)

Besides Canada Computers, Bermorzone, a retailer based in the Philippines has also listed the preliminary prices for the entire Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPU lineup. The prices are as follows:

• Ryzen 9 9950X -38,000 Pesos ($647.93 US)
• Ryzen 9 9900X -35,000 Pesos ($596.77 US)
• Ryzen 7 9700X -24,000 Pesos ($409.21 US)
• Ryzen 5 9600X -18,500 Pesos ($315.43 US)

Meanwhile, AMD confirms that the CPUs will launch in July and retail listings have pointed out a 31st July retail launch which is very close so we can expect the review spree to begin a few days before that. Overall, the Ryzen 9000 CPUs based on the new Zen 5 core architecture look very impressive and we can't wait to try them out ourselves once they are available.