It is a rare sight for AMD these days not to blow the socks off reviewers and fans alike with each new generation of CPUs it brings. However, that is pretty much what the company managed to pull off this time with its Ryzen 9000 series processors. AMD promised around a 16% IPC (instructions per clock/cycle) boost with its Zen 5 micro-architecture that powers the Ryzen 9000.
However, upon the lifting of review embargoes, the tech media and fans were left rather unimpressed. Compared to the previous launches, Zen 5 performance gains were just about okayish, especially on Windows. The only redeeming factor is that they were not too expensive, and they seem to be dropping in price already.
AMD blamed Windows optimization, or rather, the lack thereof, and promised a performance patch soon. In the meantime, the hidden Windows Administrator account could help work around the issue.
Following AMD"s announcement, testing revealed that Windows 11 24H2, where the patch was supposed to land, showed a very impressive 11% average performance boost when gaming. However, later, this patch was introduced to 23H2 PCs as well via a preview update that will land next month"s Patch Tuesday.
Aside from Windows, a new firmware was also promised that would add an option to bump up the TDP of the Ryzen 9000 X-series SKUs from 65 watts to 105 watts. This extra power headroom should help sustain higher performance for longer.
MSI has become the first motherboard vendor to release the new AGESA (AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture) firmware. As you can see in the screenshot above, there is a new option to enable "TPD to 105W" after you install the new AMD AGESA BIOS PI (Platform Initialization) 1.2.0.1 update.
The company says the Cinebench R23 sees a 13% performance uplift on the octa-core Ryzen 9700X with this new update in terms of multi-core performance, though nothing has been said about single-core/thread gains. Ryzen 9600X owners should also see decent improvement.
MSI has also provided a list of the motherboard models where the new firmware is available:
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MEG X670E GODLIKE
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MPG B650 CARBON WIFI
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MEG X670E ACE
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MPG B650 EDGE WIFI
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MPG X670E CARBON WIFI
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MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI
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MAG X670E TOMAHAWK WIFI
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MAG B650M MORTAR WIFI / MAG B650M MORTAR
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X670E GAMING PLUS WIFI
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B650M GAMING PLUS WIFI
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PRO B650-P WIFI
You can find MSI"s announcement post here on its official website.