Ryzen 9000 will come out later, the more powerful models in mid-August
It was supposed to be just a few days until the arrival of the expected Zen 5 AMD CPUs. Their desktop version was supposed to come out at the end of the current month (July 31), but surprisingly, we now learn that the release was postponed at the very last minute. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like a big delay, but it is a bit worrying that it is supposedly due to issues caught in last minute testing this late into the launch preparations.
This change in release plans was announced by Jack Huynh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Computing & Graphics at AMD. In a post on Twitter, he states that the company has found unspecified issues with the Ryzen 9000 processors – and it did so while testing the first batches of mass-produced units that have already been distributed for sale. According to Huynh, the processors were found not to meet all of the quality requirements that AMD has set, during latest pre-release tests.
It is not clear exactly what the problems are and how serious they are, but because of them the first batches of already shipped processors will be recalled and replaced with new batches, so hopefully the requirements should be met (perhaps through some change during testing and validation in production). AMD’s statement talks about the recall of this first series being done “out of an abundance of caution“, which is a phrase often used in official communications when the author wants to express a position that the problem is not considered too big, but despite the low severity, strong precautions will be taken to minimize any potential risks, just in case.
The implication associated with this phrase would be that it’s not really anything fatal and in fact the processors could perhaps even go on sale with the problems mentioned, but AMD applies extra caution and replaces them. But note that whether this is really the case and the problem is really not serious, we can’t really know, of course, only AMD does.
We appreciate the excitement around Ryzen 9000 series processors. During final checks, we found the initial production units that were shipped to our channel partners did not meet our full quality expectations. Out of an abundance of caution and to maintain the highest quality…
— Jack Huynh (@JackMHuynh) July 24, 2024
New release dates for desktop Zen 5
According to the announcement, AMD is working with partners to ensure that affected batches of processors in distribution are replaced with new processors and only unaffected versions of Ryzen 9000 are available for purchase upon release. Unfortunately, the release date has been pushed back due to this. Instead of the originally planned July 31, the processors will be released in two phases.
The first to start selling will be the six-core Ryzen 5 9600X and the octa-core Ryzen 7 9700X, which will be out on 08/08 (eight days after the original plan). The more powerful models with two CPU chiplets – the Ryzen 9 9900X (12 cores) and the Ryzen 9 9950X (16 cores, highest model) will come out a week later on 08/15, both of these dates will be Thursdays.
This follows shortly after yesterday’s report that a number of reviewers still haven’t received samples for testing to date, despite only a week remaining to the originally planned release, so people have naturally started to see connection between these two developments. There have also been rumors of problems with memory operation at high clock speeds (8000 MHz via EXPO), but this has not yet been confirmed anywhere. Theoretically, this may be the very problem that AMD found on those first batches that are being recalled, but it could also be something different.
Anyway, we can expect that with this delay in availability in stores, the release date for reviews is also delayed. So we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see how the performance and other features of the Ryzen 9000 turn out.
Considering Intel’s current problems, it begs question whether AMD hasn’t taken special precautions specifically because of the way all eyes are now fixed on CPU reliability and stability. It’s possible that AMD has stepped up to more stringent controls in order to make the initial impression of the Ryzen 9000 release as good as possible, so that the company can build the best image of a reliable hardware solution at a time when Intel processors are a source of uncertainty and potential (or even very real) worries. And incidentally, the tightened controls did indeed reveal that there is room for improvement. So let’s hope that the unnamed issue really wasn’t anything serious and especially nothing that could pose a lasting problem with Ryzen 9000, like the issues with instability and silicon degradation suffered by Intel Raptor Lake processors.
Read more: Confirmed: Raptor Lake CPUs are degrading, Intel preparing fix
Release of mobile version not delayed
AMD is releasing the mobile version of Zen 5 (Ryzen AI 300) first on July 28, which means that strictly speaking the release of the new architecture itself will not be delayed, as the mobile processors are still on schedule (however, their release has probably already been pushed back from the previously planned July 15).
However, the mobile AI Ryzen 300s have a version of the architecture with a slightly less powerful FPU/SIMD unit and also have lower clock speeds (likely as part of optimization for power efficiency). Thus, the full performance potential will only be revealed by the desktop Ryzen 9000 processors, which we will have to wait for that week or two longer.
Source: Jack Huynh / AMD
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
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