Thursday, June 27th 2024
AMD to Revise Specs of Ryzen 7 9700X to Increase TDP to 120W, to Beat 7800X3D
AMD's Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" family of Socket AM5 desktop processors based on the "Zen 5" microarchitecture arrive in July, with four processor models in the lead—the 9950X 16-core, the 9900X 12-core, the 9700X 8-core, and the 9600X 6-core. AMD is building the CCDs (CPU core dies) of these processors on the slightly newer 4 nm foundry node, compared to the 5 nm node that the Ryzen 7000 series "Raphael" processors based on "Zen 4" are built on; and generally lowered the TDP values of all but the top 16-core part. The company is reportedly reconsidering these changes, particularly in wake of company statements that the 9000X series may not beat the 7000X3D series in gaming performance, which may have sullied the launch, particularly for gamers.
From the company's Computex 2024 announcement of the Ryzen 9000 series, the 9950X has the same 170 W TDP as its predecessor, the 7950X. The 9900X 12-core part, however, comes with a lower 120 W TDP compared to the 170 W of the 7900X. Things get interesting with the 8-core and 6-core parts. Both the 9700X 8-core, and the 9600X 6-core chips come with 65 W TDP. The 9700X succeeds the 7700X, which came with a 105 W TDP, while the 9600X succeeds the 7600X that enjoys the same 105 W TDP. The TDP and package power tracing (PPT) values of an AMD processor are known to affect CPU boost frequency residence, particularly in some of the higher core-count SKUs. Wccftech reports that AMD is planning to revise the specifications of at least the Ryzen 7 9700X.Apparently, the Ryzen 7 9700X will undergo a set of changes to its specifications which see the TDP and PPT values increase. The TDP will be increased to 120 W, which is higher than even the 105 W that the 7700X comes with, and matches the 120 W of the 7800X3D. Given that the 9700X lacks 3D V-cache, the increased power limits should vastly improve the boost frequency residence of this chip. At this point we don't know if the re-spec includes an increase in clock speeds.
As to how AMD plans to go about this change in specs, given that a July launch would mean that chips with 65 W TDP may already have entered the supply chain; we honestly don't know, and the source article doesn't say. If we were to speculate, such an on-the-fly specs change could be deployed through motherboard BIOS updates that see the motherboard override the TDP and PPT values of the 9700X.
The idea behind the specs change, according to Wccftech, is to improve the gaming performance of the 9700X through clock speeds (boost residence) backed by increased power limits, so it gets closer to—or even beat—the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. A 9000X3D series (Zen 5 + 3D V-cache) is very much on the cards, but we don't expect those chips to come out before Q4 2024 at least.
Source:
Wccftech
From the company's Computex 2024 announcement of the Ryzen 9000 series, the 9950X has the same 170 W TDP as its predecessor, the 7950X. The 9900X 12-core part, however, comes with a lower 120 W TDP compared to the 170 W of the 7900X. Things get interesting with the 8-core and 6-core parts. Both the 9700X 8-core, and the 9600X 6-core chips come with 65 W TDP. The 9700X succeeds the 7700X, which came with a 105 W TDP, while the 9600X succeeds the 7600X that enjoys the same 105 W TDP. The TDP and package power tracing (PPT) values of an AMD processor are known to affect CPU boost frequency residence, particularly in some of the higher core-count SKUs. Wccftech reports that AMD is planning to revise the specifications of at least the Ryzen 7 9700X.Apparently, the Ryzen 7 9700X will undergo a set of changes to its specifications which see the TDP and PPT values increase. The TDP will be increased to 120 W, which is higher than even the 105 W that the 7700X comes with, and matches the 120 W of the 7800X3D. Given that the 9700X lacks 3D V-cache, the increased power limits should vastly improve the boost frequency residence of this chip. At this point we don't know if the re-spec includes an increase in clock speeds.
As to how AMD plans to go about this change in specs, given that a July launch would mean that chips with 65 W TDP may already have entered the supply chain; we honestly don't know, and the source article doesn't say. If we were to speculate, such an on-the-fly specs change could be deployed through motherboard BIOS updates that see the motherboard override the TDP and PPT values of the 9700X.
The idea behind the specs change, according to Wccftech, is to improve the gaming performance of the 9700X through clock speeds (boost residence) backed by increased power limits, so it gets closer to—or even beat—the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. A 9000X3D series (Zen 5 + 3D V-cache) is very much on the cards, but we don't expect those chips to come out before Q4 2024 at least.
112 Comments on AMD to Revise Specs of Ryzen 7 9700X to Increase TDP to 120W, to Beat 7800X3D
Eagerly awaiting a review, @btarunr
Wish all cpus were like that. I'd like to be able to push 300 watts into a 7950x 3d when and if I feel like it. Let's hope zen 5 delivers that, I'll be eyeing an 8950x 3d
65W for 9700X was surprisingly low when it came out, and 120W TDP would probably actually do something here. Gonna wait for some actual benchmark first.
Meme aside, I knew it was too good to be true when I read about the "65 W" spec for this SKU. It isn't a dealbreaker, and it doesn't actually change anything. It's still an efficient and performant processor, and now at least it won't look like they completely lied when the reviewers put them on their systems and see power draws similar to the existing Zen 4 processors. If you uncap it, that is. Nonsense, having upgraded from the 5950X to the 13900KS, I assure you that at iso power the Raptor Lake chip is both colder and vastly more powerful, without Zen 3's idle draw issue. That it needs to chug 350 W to perform is a huge misconception, it only provides even more performance if you let it run wild.
Also, buying a certain CPU and underclocking it, as opposed to just buying lower tier CPU gains you what, bragging rights on how efficient and cool your CPU is - but you could spend way less for the same performance?
I blame AMD for not using more TDP values, I bet 95 W would be enough here, or obviously 105 as well. I dunno what the fuss was all about when it was revealed, people reacted like it was a lot more than a 200 MHz difference.
They really need to put this 95C bullshit behind them. They can spin whatever yarn they want about it not affecting long term reliability and it being the era of squeezing every last drop of perf, but at the end of the day it's to hide the fact that every other generation they are simply putting clock targets out of reach of their node of choice's optimal V-F envelope to try and appear more competitive. Not having ridiculous PL2 power and thermals is competition enough.
www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-offers-new-guidance-on-13th-and-14th-gen-cpu-instability-but-no-definitive-fix-yet
It is not the case that you can achieve similar performance with lower end cpus. A 7950x even at let's say 70 watts will be vastly faster than a 7700x even if you are running it at 200 watts. Not to mention much easier to cool.
Besides maximum performance, buying high end cpus like the 7950x and the 14900k is because they can be exceptionally fast while sipping power and very easy to cool
comediestragedies for some reason :shadedshu: