There’s a lot of enthusiasm surrounding AMD’s next-gen desktop CPUs, which were announced for a release at the end of this month. I’m sorry to report that you’ll need to curb it, at least for a couple of weeks. AMD has amended the launch date for the Ryzen 9000 series to August 8th for Ryzen 5/7 chips and August 15th for Ryzen 9. Apologies for the technical industry jargon, but: phooey.
An AMD representative told PCWorld that the delay is due to a quality issue with the first wave of chips. The company wanted to be abundantly cautious, and considering the high-profile issues Intel has had with its most powerful chips as of late, it seems like a little caution is warranted. AMD assures us that every chip that makes it to retailers at launch will be screened.
Here is AMD’s full statement from Jack Huynh, SVP and GM of Computing and Graphics:
“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 experiences for every Ryzen user, we are working with our channel partners to replace the initial production units with fresh units. As a result, there will be a short delay in retail availability. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors will now go on sale on August 8th and the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X processors will go on-sale on August 15th. We pride ourselves in providing a high-quality experience for every Ryzen user, and we look forward to our fans having a great experience with the new Ryzen 9000 series.”
We’re still waiting on the pricing for the launch series of chips — the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X, 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X, 8-core Ryzen 7 9700X, and 6-core Ryzen 5 9600X. Note that the last-gen Ryzen 9 7950X started with a retail price of $700, though there have been plenty of opportunities to get it at a significant discount. X3D variants, with the popular game-boosting V-Cache feature, will undoubtedly follow later this year or in early 2025.
Early testing leaks claim that the flagship Ryzen 9 9950X can beat Intel’s latest and greatest Core i9-14900K by 30+ percent in at least some benchmarks, with impressive cooling at identical power levels. Naturally performance enthusiasts are champing at the bit to try them out, especially since they should work fine in existing motherboards with the AM5 socket.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.