AMD has cut prices on Ryzen 5000 - "best gaming processor" Ryzen 7 5800X3D now costs $329

AMD has cut prices on desktop Ryzen 5000 processors on Zen 3 architecture in its official online store.

    Portal VideoCardz notes that the price of individual models has dropped by $250.

    The flagship 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X model was offered for $799 at the start of sales.Now the price of this processor is $549.

    The twelve-core Ryzen 9 5900X has dropped in price by $200, and is now offered for $349 instead of the original $549.

    Ryzen 7 5800X3D with increased cache memory has also dropped in price.AMD is offering it for $329 instead of the original $449.

    The Ryzen 7 5800X is down to $249 from $449, and the junior six-core Ryzen 5 5600X model is selling for $159 instead of the original $299.When you buy Ryzen 5000 series processors from the official online store, AMD is also giving away a copy of the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection game collection. 

    The listed price of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D in the U.S.is currently the lowest.It costs $369 at MicroCenter retailer, $349 at Amazon for the processor, and $331 at Newegg.However, the chip is not available in all stores.

    The price of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D has also been reduced in Europe, VideoCardz notes.If at the start of sales it was offered for 499 euros, now the processor can be purchased for 349 euros.

AMD prepares for further revenue decline - PC market situation will improve only in 2023

AMD quarterly conference revealed that the company's revenue in the consumer segment on the background of declining demand for new PCs decreased by 40% compared to the same period last year.
At the same time, the trends in which the market is developing at the moment are not so unambiguous as to characterize them by any single definition.
It is only clear that now the market is falling, but recovery is not far off, believe AMD.Source image: AMDFirst, AMD CEO Lisa Su (Lisa Su) explained that revenue in the client area in the third quarter decreased, among other reasons, due to lower number of processors sold.
Their average selling price also declined in a sequential comparison, as more expensive processors were depleted faster in terms of inventory.
In year-on-year comparisons, the average selling price went up, and this can be explained by the continuing tendency to shift the focus towards more expensive models.
The head of AMD even added that the company's position is strong in the premium, gaming and corporate customer market segments, and it expects to strengthen its position in these areas going forward.
In the long term, the price structure of AMD products supply in the client segment should not change, as the head of the company is convinced.As noted earlier today, AMD management expects to reduce the number of computers sold in the whole market by 20% this year, and next year's decline will be limited to 10%.
The company will continue to actively get rid of inventory in the fourth quarter, and this process is somewhat accelerated in a sequential comparison, and in general by the end of the year AMD will be in better shape, but it should be understood that the revenue in the current quarter slightly reduced in the client segment, as well as in the gaming.
In the latter case, such dynamics can be explained by the fact that the peak demand for components for gaming consoles occurred in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter it traditionally declines.
New gaming video cards with RDNA 3 architecture, which will be presented this week, though will be able to revive the market in the fourth quarter, losses from the decline in demand for game consoles components will not be able to cover.
But next year AMD expects to maintain revenue in the gaming segment at the level of the current year, which, given the high base effect formed by the last stages of the cryptocurrency boom is quite optimistic.In general, speaking of the PC market, AMD management expects to overcome major problems in the current quarter and early next year, and the rest of 2023 should already contribute to the PC market recovery, according to Lisa Su.
In the customer segment, she promises to introduce some new products (most likely the new Ryzen 7000), which, combined with the recently announced Ryzen 7000 processors, will help revive interest in the brand's products.Moreover, at retail, even in the third quarter, sales volumes of Ryzen 5000 processors grew, according to Lisa Su, but only when it comes to desktop models.
With the expansion of the range of motherboards with socket AM5 more affordable models in the current quarter will increase the popularity of the new family of Ryzen 7000 processors, as the company's management expects.
AMD is not ready for the aggressive pricing policy for the sake of reducing the inventory, because it is important for it to maintain the profitability indicators.
Last year, for example, the company did not fight for the segment of Chromebooks, because it was based on too cheap processors, the release of which was unprofitable for the company.

The unreleased eight-core Ryzen 7 5700

AMD may release another Cezanne series processor.
The Ryzen 7 5700 has been found in the Geekbench 5 synthetic test database.
Apparently, the chip is a version of the hybrid APU Ryzen 7 5700G, lacking an integrated graphics core.Image source: AMDThe Ryzen 7 5700 processor's affinity with the Ryzen 7 5700G is hinted at by its equipment.
The chip is built on the Zen 3 architecture, has eight physical cores with support for 16 virtual threads and received 16 MB of L3 cache memory.
The difference between models is in clock speeds.
The Ryzen 7 5700G has a base frequency of 3.8 GHz, while the Ryzen 7 5700 model has 3.7 GHz.
At the same time, the maximum frequency in both cases is the same - 4.6 GHz.
But the main difference between the chips, as mentioned above, is the Ryzen 7 5700 model's lack of integrated Radeon Vega graphics.
So why can't it be the Ryzen 7 5700X version? At least the latter has twice as much cache memory of the third level, and the base frequency is lower.Image source: Tom's HardwareThe Ryzen 7 5700 scored 1546 points in the single-core test, and 8502 points in the multi-core test.
By comparison, the Ryzen 7 5700G scores 1,547 points in the single-threaded test and 9,032 points in the multi-threaded test.
In other words, the Ryzen 7 5700G is about 6% faster in the second case.
All indications are that the Ryzen 7 5700 is still the same Ryzen 7 5700G, but only with base frequency lowered by 100 MHz and without the mentioned iGPU.
Source image: GeekbankshAt the moment, it is unknown whether AMD plans to release the processor to retail or it will be distributed through PC OEM manufacturers.
Or maybe AMD will not release this chip at all.
Recall that the Ryzen 7 5700G cost $359 at the launch of sales.
Now it has dropped to $289.
How much cheaper the Ryzen 7 5700 will be priced is still unclear.
The forecast is also complicated by the fact that the more productive Ryzen 7 5700X model now sells for about $287.

All MSI 300-series chipset-based motherboards get support for Ryzen 5000 processors

MSI announced that all of its 300-series AMD chipset-based motherboards (A320, B350 and X370) get support for Ryzen 5000 CPUs based on Zen 3 architecture, including the latest Ryzen 7 5800X3D with 3D V-Cache extended memory technology.
Picture source: MSIThe company notes that support is provided by new BIOS firmware based on AMD AGESA COMBO PI V2 1.2.0.7 library set for mainboards.
Release of updated versions of BIOS will begin in the middle of this month.The manufacturer also announced that it will begin releasing beta versions of BIOS based on the specified AGESA libraries for AMD 400 and 500 series motherboards at the beginning of June.
The update will address the problem of Windows 10 and 11 freezes on systems with Ryzen and fTPM enabled.

ASRock started to provide AMD X370 motherboards with Ryzen 5000 support - only the firmware for X370 Pro4 is supported so far

ASRock has released BIOS update for X370 Pro4 motherboard on AMD X370 chipset, which adds support for Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) and Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) processors. It looks like AMD is really working on making motherboards with AMD 300-series chipsets compatible with current generation CPUs.

AMD keeps reiterating that adding support for new CPUs to old motherboards & ; is not an easy task. In no small part, the problem is related to the limitations of the BIOS memory where data about support for certain processors is entered. Some issues are also related to the design specifics of older motherboards & ; not all of them have effective enough power supply subsystems (VRM) to provide the declared performance level of all Ryzen 5000 processor models. In addition, older boards do not have support for some technologies, such as PCIe 4.0, which is supported by the newer CPUs. Nevertheless, some unofficial modified BIOS versions for AMD 300-series boards with partial Ryzen 5000 support have appeared earlier on the web. Some manufacturers even claimed to release official BIOS versions for these boards, but then quickly removed their announcements and updates. ASRock has released two versions of BIOS for the X370 Pro4 board, installation of which allows you to eventually use the new AMD processors on it. However, the installation process will require patience. First of all, you need to install BIOS version 7.00. It is a transitional BIOS. The company warns that before installing it on the X370 Pro4 motherboard, make sure that no Bristol Ridge series processor (AMD A-series and Athlon X4 models) is used in the system, as the new firmware has removed support for these chips.

After that, you need to install BIOS version 7.10, which adds support for Renoir and Vermeer processors. The company does not recommend installing this version of BIOS if the PC owner uses Pinnacle Ridge (Ryzen 2000 and Ryzen 2000 Pro models), Raven Ridge (Ryzen 2000G, Athlon 200 and Athlon 200 Pro) and Summit Ridge (Ryzen 1000, Ryzen 1000 Pro) processors with the X370 Pro4 board and does not plan to switch to Ryzen 4000 and Ryzen 5000 processors. New BIOS versions for X370 Pro4 board with support for AMD Renoir and Vermeer processors can be found on the official ASRock website. There you can also check the list of supported CPUs;

ASUS and Gigabyte unexpectedly add support for Ryzen 5000 chips on their AMD A320 chipset

Some motherboard manufacturers released new versions of BIOS, which add support for AMD Ryzen 5000-series processors to their motherboards equipped with AMD 300-series chipset. According to Tom’s Hardware, ASUS and Gigabyte have done just that.

Ever since the release of Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) processors, it has been known that they are not supported by older motherboards. To get around this limitation, some owners of AMD X370 chipset based models, at their own risk, started to use modified versions of BIOS, which provided support for new chips. However, using this firmware does not guarantee the stability of the system. Modified versions of BIOS have not become widespread, as they were released only for certain PC models. The official support for Zen 3 on A320 chipset allows us to use the latest AMD processors.

New version of ASUS Prime A320M-K motherboard BIOS.

We would like to believe, that when ASUS and Gigabyte make official flash files available, other manufacturers will follow suit in the near future. Tom’s Hardware reporters approached AMD to see if the company has changed its attitude towards Zen 3 compatibility with 300-series boards. At the time of publication, the company has not responded to the request. Socket AM4 processor socket is one of the longest-lived on the market at the moment & ; it has seen four generations of AMD Ryzen processors. Motherboards with A320 chipset usually have BIOS chips with very limited capacity, so ASUS and Gigabyte had to make some sacrifices to make them work with Ryzen 5000 processors. In particular, the companies removed support for 7th generation AMD A-series processors and Athlon X4 (Bristol Ridge) series chips from the new firmware. However, this is a minor compromise for those who would like to be able to use the new AMD processor without significant costs.

First mini-PC based on flagship AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor announced

Morefine Focus and Minisforum announced that they are developing compact nettops equipped with AMD Ryzen 5000H mobile processors. Both systems will use the flagship eight-core Ryzen 9 5900HX with up to 4.6 GHz.

Only Morefine Focus has provided more details about its upcoming new product. The MoreFine S500+ MiniPC will get an eight-core and sixteen-thread Ryzen 9 5900HX with an unlocked multiplier and automatic overclocking function up to 4.6GHz. There's enough space inside for two M.2 2280 NVMe drives as well as one additional SATA SSD or 2.5" HDD.

The compact nettop will be able to offer up to 64 GB of DDR4-3200 or LPDDR4 memory with up to 4266 MHz. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 will provide wireless networking capabilities for your compact PC.

The package of external interfaces will include DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 slots and two LAN ports with data transfer rate up to 2.5 Gb/s. In addition, it will have seven USB ports: two USB 3.2 Type-A and one Type-C on the front and four USB 2.0 & ; on the back.

Minisofurm MiniPC based on Ryzen 9 5900HX

Both companies have not yet announced official announcement dates for their new products, as well as their prices.

Dell releases first Alienware gaming laptop on AMD processor in 14 years

Dell has officially unveiled the Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition gaming laptop. The last time an Alienware gaming laptop powered by an AMD processor was released was in 2007. It was a model Alienware mALX on AMD Turion 64 ML-44 chip. For the 2021 novelty, the manufacturer is ready to offer a choice of two chips - Ryzen 7 5800H and Ryzen 9 5900HX. Both of them are octa-core and have a standard TDP level of 45W. The first offers a maximum frequency of 4.4 GHz, the second offers 4.6 GHz.

As a graphics subsystem, the Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition is ready to offer mobile versions of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or GeForce RTX 3070. For each, the claimed TDP level can be as low as 115W. NVIDIA Dynamic Boost technology improves clock speed and with it, gaming performance, and can add 10 watts to the TDP.

Also, the notebook is ready to offer up to 32 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and up to two NVMe SSDs with up to 4 TB of total storage space.

The manufacturer offers three choices for the Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition 15.6-inch display: a panel with Full HD resolution and refresh rate of 165 or 360 Hz and the brightness level of 300 cd/m2, and also a panel with 1440p resolution, 240 Hz refresh rate and brightness of 400 cd/m2. Support for NVIDIA G-Sync technology is claimed for the latter two variants. The 1440p version of the display offers 100 percent DCI-P3 color space coverage. The Full HD variant offers 100% sRGB color space coverage.

The Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition gaming laptop has two USB 3.2 Type-C connectors, two USB 3.2 Type-A, as well as HDMI 2.1, audio combo jack and 2.5 Gigabit network adapter. Wireless networking capabilities provides new items support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. In China and the U.S. gaming laptop Alienware m15 R5 Ryzen Edition will be available on April 20. The price of portable gaming station will start at $ 1795. In other countries, the novelty will go on sale from May 4.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X price has dropped to the recommended, and in Russia - even lower

AMD's fight against scarcity and high prices of Ryzen 5000 series processors continues. Two days earlier it was reported that the price of the eight-core Ryzen 7 5800X model was reduced to the recommended price. Now the HotHardware resource notes that the price of another processor of the aforementioned series has been reduced to the manufacturer's recommended value. We are talking about the junior six-core Ryzen 5 5600X model.

At the moment of this processor announcement its recommended price was $299. However, due to the shortage of supply, this chip was actually sold at a price of $350 to $400. As pointed out HotHardware, the three largest U.S. retailers & ; Amazon, Walmart and Newegg & ; cost up to $299 for the processor. However, offers at this price are already sold out. The same Amazon promises new shipments on March 25. In Russia, too, there is a decrease in the price of the Ryzen 5 5600X. Recall that in November last year, the recommended price for this processor in BOX-version was 27 400 rubles, and for OEM-version & ; 24 900 rubles. Statistics Yandex.Market shows that the peak price for this chip was in December & ;then the cost Ryzen 5 5600X almost reached 35 thousand rubles. However, since January began to decline to 33 thousand rubles. As of March 2021, the average cost of the BOX-version of Ryzen 5 5600X is 26 900 rubles. OEM-version, which is shipped without complete box and cooler, also became cheaper. In this state, the chip is offered from 22,000 rubles. The Ryzen 5 5600X CPU offers six physical and 12 virtual cores, it runs in the frequency range from 3.7–4.6 GHz. The nominal TDP level of the chip is 65W.

AMD has established supplies of Ryzen 7 5800X. The price of the processor in Russia has fallen below the recommended

It looks like AMD has overcome the shortage of at least one of the Ryzen 5000 series processors. We're talking about the Ryzen 7 5800X eight-core chip (3.8–4.7GHz), which has seen a worldwide price drop, HotHardware notes. Whether the supply will remain stable for long & ; time will tell. After all, there is a serious shortage of semiconductors on the market at the moment.

At the time the Ryzen 5000 processors on the Zen 3 architecture were announced last October, the manufacturer announced a recommended price tag of $449 for the Ryzen 7 5800X. During several months this processor, like other chips of the new series, was very difficult to find on sale. And where they appeared, they were priced considerably higher than the recommended price & ; at least by $100. According to the resource HotHardware, at the moment Ryzen 7 5800X can be easily found on Amazon and Newegg, where the model is offered for $449.99 and $449.00 respectively. In addition, the chips are available at AMD's proprietary store, as well as at major retailers BH Photo and Adorama. For Russian market the official recommended price of BOX-version of Ryzen 7 5800X CPU announced in November was 40 900 rubles, but it was impossible to find it at this price. The dynamics of the average CPU price according to Yandex.Market statistics shows that CPU price peaked at 51,000 rubles in December and then in January the price of this model decreased to 47,000 rubles, and then in February it went down sharply to 37 790 rubles, which is even lower than the recommended price.

AMD prepares desktop Ryzen PRO 5000G - octa-core model is marked in CPU-Z

One of the users of Chinese forum Chiphell shared CPU-Z screenshot which confirms AMD plans to release AMD Ryzen PRO 5000G (Cezanne) series hybrid desktop processors for Socket AM4 socket. According to VideoCardz resource, this picture may indicate AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5750G model specifications.

According to Chinese enthusiast, who provided the screenshot, AMD is not likely to release Ryzen PRO 5000G processors to official retailers. Instead, these processors will be intended exclusively for computer manufacturers (OEM) and system integrators.Recall that the manufacturer did the same with the previous generation of Ryzen 4000G (Renoir) series chips, which did not prevent them from appearing in retail stores. The illuminated sample of Ryzen PRO 5000G series has 8 cores and 16 virtual threads. The configuration of cores implies that we are looking at the Ryzen 7 PRO 5750G, as the younger Ryzen 5 PRO 5650G should offer 6 cores and 12 virtual threads.

The processor is not compatible with PCI Gen 4.0 interface and is equipped with Radeon graphics core, but Vega generation, not Navi, as many would like. Against the background of full desktop chips Ryzen 5000 series (Vermeer) hybrid chip has a smaller amount of Level 3 cache memory. However, this information is not new, because there are already on sale laptops based on mobile Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne) chips, which are based on the same crystals. Image source also reported that the latest version of the BIOS for ASUS Crosshair VIII motherboard does not have full support for this chip. It requires a firmware version based on newer AGESA 1.2.0.0 microcode. The Infinity Fabric Bus (FCLK) frequency of this sample is 2300 MHz, but some engineering samples of Ryzen 5000G hybrid processors have FCLK frequency up to 2500 MHz, which allows for DDR4 memory with effective frequency up to 5000 MHz. As for the clock speed range, the source says the processor can automatically overclock up to 4.05 GHz on all cores, but the owner was able to manually overclock it to 4.75 GHz. It is also noted that the chip comes with the same cooler as the Ryzen 7 5800X processor.

AMD to release at least two Ryzen PRO 5000 processors for business notebooks

AMD at CES 2021 in the first half of this month announced, among other things, Ryzen PRO 5000-series mobile processors. Now details about two members of the new family of chips for professional notebooks have been revealed from various sources.

Recall that last year AMD released three mobile Ryzen PRO 4000 processors based on Zen 2 architecture. What sets them apart from the consumer Ryzen 4000 is support for more advanced encryption to protect information, such as Memory Guard, as well as technologies such as Microsoft Endpoint Manager for cloud management. The environment in which these processors are used is business laptops. The new 5000-series will get the same features. The UserBenchmark database found a Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor model, which is probably based on the regular Ryzen 7 5800U (Zen 3). The processor has a base frequency of 1.9GHz, which is identical to the regular Ryzen 7 5800U. There is no information about the maximum frequency of the chip in UserBenchmark. It only states that the average frequency value within the test was 3.65GHz.

Missing data was found on the HP website, which states that the Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U can automatically overclock up to 4.4GHz, which is also similar to the regular Ryzen 7 5800U model.

HP's website doesn't list information about the processor's graphics subsystem, but we wouldn't be surprised if its specs are exactly the same as the regular version of the chip. According to HP, the upcoming Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U will be used in the HP ZHAN 66 PRO A 14 G4 laptop.

Image source: VideoCardz

AMD itself has said that it intends to introduce the Ryzen PRO 5000 series of processors during the first half of this year. No information has been made available about the range of the series. However, another model of the future series, Ryzen PRO 5650U, has been revealed on the same HP website, copying the specifications of the regular AMD Ryzen 5 5600U. The latter is based on six Zen 3 cores with speeds ranging from 2.3 to 4.2GHz. It is also possible that AMD will release a new Ryzen 3 PRO chip.

Ryzen 5000 has allowed AMD to double its presence in gaming notebooks, but things aren't going well with graphics

AMD has promised to make impressive strides in gaming laptops this year, and so far, judging by the range of gaming laptops available for order or pre-order, the trend is indeed showing.

Video blogger GizmoSlipTech has compiled a list of gaming laptops with GeForce RTX 30-series accelerators that are available for purchase or pre-order. As of January 15, 28 of these laptops are based on Intel processors and 13 & ; based on AMD processors. That is, AMD owns quite a respectable share of 32 % of gaming laptops versus 68 % for Intel. But the list doesn't include several announced, but not yet released models like Lenovo Legion and Alienware m15 and m17, and also ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, TUF 15 and TUF 17. Recall that Lenovo and ASUS models are based on AMD Ryzen, and Alienware & ; on Intel Core. Considering these models AMD share is already 36 % vs. 64 % from Intel.

AMD processors share among 2021 gaming notebooks (as of January 15)

Of course, Intel Core still dominates the models, but the dynamics are clear. In a similar selection in 2020, Intel accounted for 85 % of notebooks with GeForce RTX 20 or GeForce GTX 16 series gaming graphics cards.

Similar graph for 2020

AMD's key achievement & ; the emergence of notebooks where its processors are used in conjunction with high-end graphics cards like GeForce RTX 2070 or RTX 2080. In the days of the Ryzen 4000, the best AMD could have hoped for & ; was GeForce RTX 2060 graphics. AMD and notebook makers on this occasion explained that they were initially cautious in their predictions and didn't expect much demand for AMD processors in flagship gaming notebooks.

AMD's share of 2021 flagship gaming notebooks

Things are looking up for AMD this year. As many as nine laptops now use the Ryzen 5000 bundled with the GeForce 3070 or GeForce 3080 (up from zero last year). And that's just the start of the year & ; perhaps 2021 really will be AMD's stellar time in the mobile gaming PC market.

In 2020, AMD processors in flagship gaming laptops simply weren't there

Of course, it's one thing & ; announced models, and quite another & ; the actual number of systems sold. But while high-end laptops with AMD processors are selling out like hotcakes & ; supply is clearly not keeping up with demand. So the chances of success are very high.

Gaming notebook graphics accelerator manufacturers' shares

But the real dominance of high-end gaming notebook market is not Intel or AMD at all, but NVIDIA & ; the power of the latter is undivided, that is literally 100 %. AMD introduced several Radeon mobile graphics cards last year, but it's impossible to buy them in a real gaming notebook. And now the situation is exactly the same. But with RDNA 2 in 2021 AMD might start to change the situation in this area.

Some AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5800X have found a second dormant CCD chip

Some AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5800X processors actually have two CCD (Core Complex Die) & ; chipsets containing eight processing cores each. This was found out by well-known programmer-enthusiast Yuri 1usmus Bubliy, who developed the program ClockTuner for Ryzen (CTR) for efficient overclocking of processors of generation Zen 2, and then Zen 3. This finding has been confirmed by the authoritative resource Igor's Lab.

Officially, six-core AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and eight-core Ryzen 7 5800X have one CCD chiplet, while the older members of the Vermeer family (Ryzen 5000) with 12 and 16 cores are based on two chiplets, each containing 6 or 8 physical cores. But as 1usmus, which debugged the CTR 2.0 utility for Zen 3, found out, some of the lower-end Ryzen 5000 processors come with two CCDs, but one of them is somehow blocked.

As Igor's Lab points out, the «special gold versions» of the Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5800X with two chips, which happen to be the ones that reviewers get most often, are actually «degraded» 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X and 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X. Apparently, one of the available CCD chipsets in them has not passed quality control checks at the manufacturing facility and has therefore been deliberately disabled. There is no way to find out exactly which chiplet & ; CCD 0 or CCD 1 & ; is disabled in any particular CPU sample at this time. According to Igor's Lab, however, indirect verification is possible. Chips with an inactive CCD 0 chiplet cause minor interface errors in some utilities for low-level frequency and voltage control of the CCX complexes of Ryzen processors. It is due to such bugs that these «special processors» were discovered by Igor Wallosek, editor-in-chief of Igor's Lab, and enthusiast 1usmus. According to Igor's Lab, in theory it should be possible to enable the deactivated chiplet, which would thereby turn the «happy» 6- and 8-core Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5800X back into the 12- and 16-core Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X. However, the feasibility of this conversion is in question, as AMD would be unlikely to reduce the value of the senior processors to the junior models without a good reason. On the other hand, the story of the Athlon II X3 and Phenom II X3 triple-core, which could easily be turned into quad-core by enabling the inactive core via BIOS, is still fresh in the memory.

MSI showed Ryzen 9 5900X overclocking via voltage reduction with AMD Curve Optimizer

AMD previously promised to release a new version of AGESA protocol with AMD Curve Optimizer tool in January 2021. Support will be introduced starting with AGESA version 1.1.0.0 Patch D in BIOS updates for 400 and 500 series motherboards. AMD Curve Optimizer is part of AMD Precision Boost Overdrive 2 technology which allows the CPU voltage to be adaptively adjusted.

The goal of the tool & ; is to reduce the voltage in minimum and maximum load scenarios whenever possible. However, instead of simply applying a fixed voltage offset across the entire range, the technology will use internal sensors (workload metrics, temperature, and so on) to adapt the voltage as needed. With AMD's tool, the processor can change the voltage up to 1000 times per second. In fact, we are talking about an official way to automatically overclock the chip by reducing its power consumption figure. Wccftech has obtained several MSI screenshots which show AMD Curve Optimizer tool running on B450 Tomahawk motherboard with Ryzen 9 5900X processor. As you can see in one of the images, the feature is activated through the BIOS and not through the AMD Ryzen Master application.

In the table below you can see the result of AMD Curve Optimizer. During the single-core Cinebench R20 test, it allowed you to increase the processor frequency by an additional 50 MHz over the stated official value. As a consequence, the chip's performance increased by an additional 1.6%. In multi-core tests, we managed to increase the performance by an additional 2%, and frequencies & ; by 100 MHz over the declared nominal value.

Image source: VideoCardz

More importantly, AMD Curve Optimizer's performance allows you to keep the CPU's temperature level unchanged for the worse even at higher CPU speeds. MSI used a Curve Optimizer value of «-15» for the test. When using «-30» value, the system started working unstable. The manufacturer has confirmed that they will release a new version of BIOS with fresh AGESA firmware for MSI B450 MAX motherboard in the coming days. The rest of MSI's motherboards will receive the corresponding software updates next year.

MSI showed Ryzen 9 5900X overclocking via voltage reduction with AMD Curve Optimizer

AMD previously promised to release a new version of AGESA protocol with AMD Curve Optimizer tool in January 2021. Support will be introduced starting with AGESA version 1.1.0.0 Patch D in BIOS updates for 400 and 500 series motherboards. AMD Curve Optimizer is part of AMD Precision Boost Overdrive 2 technology which allows the CPU voltage to be adaptively adjusted.

The goal of the tool & ; is to reduce the voltage in minimum and maximum load scenarios whenever possible. However, instead of simply applying a fixed voltage offset across the entire range, the technology will use internal sensors (workload metrics, temperature, and so on) to adapt the voltage as needed. With AMD's tool, the processor can change the voltage up to 1000 times per second. In fact, we are talking about an official way to automatically overclock the chip by reducing its power consumption figure. Wccftech has obtained several MSI screenshots which show AMD Curve Optimizer tool running on B450 Tomahawk motherboard with Ryzen 9 5900X processor. As you can see in one of the images, the feature is activated through the BIOS and not through the AMD Ryzen Master application.

In the table below you can see the result of AMD Curve Optimizer. During the single-core Cinebench R20 test, it allowed you to increase the processor frequency by an additional 50 MHz over the stated official value. As a consequence, the chip's performance increased by an additional 1.6%. In multi-core tests, we managed to increase the performance by an additional 2%, and frequencies & ; by 100 MHz over the declared nominal value.

Image source: VideoCardz

More importantly, AMD Curve Optimizer's performance allows you to keep the CPU's temperature level unchanged for the worse even at higher CPU speeds. MSI used a Curve Optimizer value of «-15» for the test. When using «-30» value, the system started working unstable. The manufacturer has confirmed that they will release a new version of BIOS with fresh AGESA firmware for MSI B450 MAX motherboard in the coming days. The rest of MSI's motherboards will receive the corresponding software updates next year.

AMD does not plan to support Ryzen 5000 on X370 boards, but ASRock disagrees

As you know, AMD decided to support Ryzen 5000 processors with Zen 3 architecture on 400-series chipsets, under public pressure, though it was not originally planned. Comments from company's representatives say that this trick won't work with the 300-series chipsets. But there are reasons to believe that ASRock will do it in its own way.

The popular Japanese blogger KOMACHI ENSAKA found out that unofficial alpha versions of BIOS P6.61 are available for ASRock X370 Taichi and X370 Professional motherboards, which provide support for Vermeer and Renoir processors. The former belong to the Ryzen 5000 family, the latter came out some time ago as part of the Ryzen 4000G family with integrated graphics. These BIOS versions are dated December 8 this year and can not be found on official ASRock website, but they are already available on some computer-related websites.

Image source: Twitter, KOMACHI ENSAKA

It is quite dangerous to flash the alpha BIOS into the motherboard you bought with your own money, that's why ASRock board owners are recommended to wait for the results of practical experiments that will not only demonstrate the compatibility of Ryzen 5000 processors with these motherboards, but also confirm that there are no serious problems with system stability. The ability of ASRock motherboard based on AMD A320 chipset to support Ryzen 5000 processors has already been proven in practice, so this precedent allows us to hope for the successful outcome of this new initiative. What is most interesting is that in their comments to Tom’s Hardware website AMD representatives confirmed that the company has no intention to officially support Ryzen 5000 processors on AMD 300 series chipset-based motherboards. So, all attempts to do so may come either from motherboard manufacturers or individual enthusiasts who modify BIOS at their own risk.

Ryzen 5000 secured record sales of AMD processors in one of German stores in November

The deficit of AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards, as well as AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs this autumn prompted many online stores to openly share statistics on the number of copies received for implementation. November data from a German online store shows that not so few Ryzen 5000 processors were shipped.

Image source: AMD

Ingebor enthusiast who collects such statistics on a regular basis on Reddit pages reported that in November German online store MindFactory managed to sell about 5500 copies of AMD processors of Ryzen 5000 family before stocks were exhausted. If we compare this number with the results of the first month of presence of Ryzen 3000 processors on the market, it will be almost twice less. But on the other hand, in the case of the Ryzen 5000, the bill goes to thousands of copies, not hundreds or tens, as in the case of AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards of the latest families.

In fact, in November, MindFactory was able to sell a record number of AMD processors since 2015. In a sequential comparison, it increased by more than one and a half times. Sales volumes of Intel processors also increased in November, but not so noticeably. The balance of power in the range of products MindFactory looked as follows: 84 % for AMD and 16 % for Intel & ; both in physical and monetary terms.

Six-core AMD Ryzen 5 5600X generally broke into the fourth line of popularity of a particular store, in November it was sold 3020 copies. This is more than half of all sold in a month Vermeer processor family. On the second position broke out Ryzen 5 3600XT, it gave way to its place Ryzen 7 3800X. Closes a dozen bestsellers 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X, which has a circulation of 1500 copies. Eight-core Ryzen 7 5800X is satisfied with the 13th place and 1170 realized copies. First place still confidently takes Ryzen 5 3600;

In terms of revenue, all three processors of the Vermeer family have entered the top ten most popular in the same sequence, and Ryzen 9 5900X due to the relatively high price lags behind the leading Ryzen 5 5600X very slightly. In this ranking, the flagship 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X got 19th place, although in physical terms, it did not get into the top twenty at all.

AMD promised for Ryzen 5000 overclocking adaptive voltage reduction: acceleration up to 10%

One of the ways that enthusiasts squeeze all the juices out of their processors is overclocking: an attempt to increase performance by increasing the frequency and voltage to the limits of the system. There is another way to do this - by lowering the voltage to lower the temperature and increase the heat reserve (and reduce power consumption). AMD engineers have worked in this direction.

Any chip has a minimum voltage, at which it works normally at a given frequency. Most modern processors have a substantial margin in this regard. Lower operating voltages also mean lower power consumption or additional features for higher overclocking, so manufacturers use different methods to make the processor cores run at the lowest possible voltage. However, there is always the possibility of more aggressive voltage management: manufacturers have to count their algorithms on millions of processors with spare. And specific users can go further to optimize the algorithm for their own chip. The new AMD Curve Optimization tool, which will be supported in firmware starting with the AGESA 1180 in BIOS updates of 400 and 500 series motherboards, is designed just to track user voltage. The purpose of the tool is to reduce voltage in scenarios with minimum and maximum load, but instead of simply applying a fixed voltage offset over the entire range, the technology will use internal sensors (workload, temperature, etc.) to adapt the voltage as needed. With the AMD tool, the processor can change the voltage up to 1000 times per second. The Curve Optimization tool will be part of the AMD Precision Boost Overdrive 2 technology suite, i.e. its use will void the hardware warranty, but AMD knows that a number of users like overclocking or undervoltage and want to get the most out of their equipment. The company said this adaptive methodology will improve performance in both single and multithreaded workloads, unlike standard voltage changes, which, according to the company, only have an effect in multithreaded tasks. The settings will allow you to test the limits within which adaptive voltage reduction can be allowed. AMD has configured this feature so that the user can choose how many "steps" he is willing to allow for voltage reduction. Each such step corresponds to 3-5 millivolts and the maximum value is 30 steps. This means that by setting 10 steps the voltage will be reduced by 30-50 millivolts depending on the workload and where the control circuit considers it appropriate. AMD estimates that this new method can provide an additional 2 % increase in single threaded performance or 10 % increase in multithreaded performance for the Ryzen 9 5900X processor. AMD said this method will be supported on all future Ryzen processors, but will not appear on the Ryzen 3000 as it requires some engineering optimizations that cannot be ported. Initially, users will be able to enable Curve Optimizer via BIOS, and next year AMD will add the tool to the AMD Ryzen Master for Windows utility. On some motherboards this feature is already present in the AGESA 1100 firmware, but the official deployment will take place after upgrading to the AGESA 1180 - the corresponding firmware will start to appear for different motherboards in early December.

ASUS has promised to equip the boards with AMD B450 and X470 support for Ryzen 5000 in a couple of weeks.

Good news for owners of ASUS motherboards based on AMD X470 and B450 chipsets. Taiwan manufacturer via Twitter confirmed that it will soon release new versions of BIOS based on AGESA 1.1.8.0 microcode, which will provide support for new Ryzen 5000 series processors.

The company indicated that the new firmware versions will be released in the coming weeks.

⚡️ News Flash! ⚡️ ASUS 400-series motherboard BIOSes updates (AGESA 1.1.8.0) for AMD Ryzen 5000-series CPUs will drop in a couple of weeks! #Zen3 #Ryzen5000 #X470 #B450 pic.twitter.com/fEygfSXHlK & ; ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) November 18, 2020

The day before ASRock Company ASRock introduced new beta BIOS versions for its motherboards on B450 chipset with support for new AMD Vermeer processors on Zen 3 architecture. However, ASRock has new versions of microcode based on the earlier version of AGESA 1.1.0.0 protocol. The manufacturer also plans to provide appropriate support for motherboards based on AMD X470 chipset. The release of special BIOS versions supporting new processors based on Zen 3 architecture by the old boards seems to have started earlier than expected. Earlier, many manufacturers announced that they will release new versions of the microcode only in January next year, when AMD will present a special version of the AGESA protocol to initialize new Ryzen 5000 processors. According to the resource Wccftech, some manufacturers have confirmed that the new AMD processors based on Zen 3 in the future will also be able to work with boards based on the 300-series chipset AMD (A320 and X370). Special BIOS versions will also be released for them. Indirect confirmation of this has been observed only recently. For example, the 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X « started raquo; on the old budget board ASRock A320, apparently due to the beta version of the new firmware.