Despite the high expectations surrounding AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series of desktop processors, their initial release earlier this year was met with disappointment. Since then, AMD has focused on damage control, attributing the underwhelming performance to flaws in its testing methodology and rolling out a series of corrective measures. The company’s latest firmware update aims to enhance performance and provide more options for desktop users.
In a recent press release, AMD announced that the new firmware for X870 motherboards and Ryzen 600 chipsets will enable the Ryzen 9600X and 9700X processors to utilize a new 105-watt thermal design power (TDP) profile. While this capability existed at launch, the updated BIOS options allow users to harness higher performance from these more affordable chips without risking their warranties.
Additionally, AMD is addressing an increase in core-to-core latency that some reviewers noted when comparing the Ryzen 9000 series to the 7000 series. The update, designated 1.2.0.2, reportedly reduces the number of transactions in these cases by half, significantly decreasing core-to-core latency in multi-chiplet designs. This improvement is particularly beneficial for CPU-intensive games and benchmarks, an area where PC gamers often seek to demonstrate their hardware’s prowess.
For those who have invested in the latest generation of AM5-compatible motherboards, it’s crucial to apply the latest BIOS updates as soon as possible. AMD has also confirmed that the X870 and X870E boards will support new DDR5-8000 RAM with the EXPO profile, facilitating incredibly fast memory overclocking. This new profile is akin to Intel’s XMP and represents AMD’s latest advancements in RAM performance.
