There will be updates to improve the performance of the Ryzen 9000 series. Increase processing performance by improving TDP and reducing delay between cores

On September 30, 2024 North American time, AMD announced on its official blog that it is a desktop CPU.Ryzen 9000We have released information about the updates that have been implemented to the series to improve performance. This is a summary of the information released so far, so if you're an AMD fan and check information about the Ryzen 9000 series frequently, there are no new updates, but let's give a quick summary.

Two notable updates in AGESA PI 1.2.0.2

Ryzen series firmware, which has already begun to be distributed as a UEFI update on some AM5-compatible motherboards.AGESA PI 1.2.0.2Two major performance improvements have been made.

One is “Ryzen 7 7900X“Ryzen 5 9600X”, TDP (Thermal Design Power,Power consumption settings for thermal design).Maximum 105 wattsMeaning raise it to. The Ryzen 7 7900X and Ryzen 5 9600X at the time of their release had a TDP of 65W. However, according to AMD, the Ryzen 7 7900X and Ryzen 5 9600X were tested and shipped at a TDP of 105W, so AMD has acknowledged that even a much higher TDP is within warranty.

Setting the TDP to 105W will improve performance by up to 10%. Although this comes at the expense of power consumption and heat, this is a welcome update for users who want to prioritize performance. However, AMD warns that users using the 105W setting should use a heat dissipation system that can handle this heat output.

By setting the TDP to 105W, performance can be improved by up to 10% compared to conventional models.

The second is an update that reduces inter-core latency for the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X, which are equipped with two complex CPU dies (hereinafter referred to as CCDs).

According to AMD, the Ryzen 9000/7000 series has a “corner case” (a rare case that occurs under special circumstances) where it requires two transactions to read and write memory, and as a result, compared to previous Ryzen it is said that latency between cores has increased slightly.
The AMD development team worked to improve this issue and succeeded in reducing the transactions. It appears that the results have been integrated into AGESA PI 1.2.0.2.

However, according to AMD, this improvement has almost no impact on applications. Especially for gaming, dual-CCD models use a base stop to reduce latency by keeping one CCD inactive. Therefore, it can be easily assumed that reducing the latency between CCDs will have little effect.
However, even for games, some games such as “Metro Exodus”, “Starfield” and “Borderlands 3” cannot use basic parking because they drive a large number of threads, and benchmark tests such as 3DMark's “Time Spy”. AMD says there will be a slight improvement in performance due to reduced inter-core latency. By the way, in the Ryzen 9000 series testing conducted by 4Gamer, it was confirmed that the Starfield frame rate seems to increase depending on the number of executable threads. This trend was not wrong.

AGESA PI 1.2.0.2 reduces inter-core latency for two CCD models

According to AMD's explanation, it seems likely that Ryzen 7000 series models with two CCDs have reduced inter-core latency. However, in my materials, the description of the performance improvement is limited to the Ryzen 9000. Therefore the impact on the Ryzen 7000 series is currently unknown. Ryzen 7000 series users may want to test it out.

Supports DDR5-8000 EXPO memory on motherboards with AMD 870E

Sales of motherboards equipped with the new “AMD 870E” and “AMD X870” chipsets announced alongside the Ryzen 9000 series have begun.
The difference between the AMD 870E and the AMD X870 is the number of PCI Express (PCIe) and USB 3.x lanes. For example, the AMD 870E has a total of 44 PCIe lanes, but the AMD 870 only has 36 lanes. However, the number of PCIe 5.0 lanes is the same for both, 24, so the AMD 870 has fewer PCIe 4.0 lanes.

A slide summarizing the key specifications of Ryzen's current chipset

As announced at the time of the Ryzen 9000 series release, the AMD 870E will be compatible with the “AMD EXPO Memory” that can be set to DDR5-8000, which is scheduled to be released by the manufacturer of the new memory module. According to AMD, by using DDR5-8000 Expo memory, memory latency can be reduced by about 1 to 2 nanoseconds, making it possible to improve the performance of latency-sensitive games.

AMD summarizes that Expo Memory, which supports DDR5-8000, is not aimed at general gamers, but is the best choice for overclocking enthusiasts. In other words, DDR5-8000 compatible Expo memory will be expensive once it's released. If you're a gamer who seeks optimal performance, it's probably worth paying attention to.

Is the performance improvement after the Ryzen 9000 release a bit of a break for now?

Although it's a bit of old news, there is an update program for Windows 11 that includes improved branch prediction for the Ryzen 9000 series.KB5041587” Released by Microsoft on August 27. The update that includes this improvement is included in Windows 11 “23H2 build 22631.4112” or later or “24H2 build 26100.1301” or later, and if you regularly perform Windows Update, it should be installed Automatically already.

The branch prediction improvement is already distributed via Windows Update

By improving branch prediction, performance can be improved by up to 10%, and with AGESA PI 1.2.0.2, the Ryzen 9000 series can be said to have achieved a significant performance improvement. Moreover, AMD's announcement of a summary of those updates may mean that the updates have been stopped for the time being.
The company is now ready to take on the next generation of desktop CPUs that Intel is expected to introduce in the near future.