Roundup Of The Two High End Zen 5 Chips

AMD’s Ryzen 9 9900X And Ryzen 9 9950X

The initial reviews are out, but as you’ve probably heard these will not be the last.  The aggressive power savings on the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X have made reviewing somewhat of a challenge.  The benchmarks many run were inconsistent, in part due to the steps you need to properly set up a Zen 5 system.  AMD recommends, among other things, a fresh Windows install, the XBox Gaming bar to be installed and running as well as your Power plan to be set to Balanced, even on a desktop.  That definitely means if you plan to grab a Zen 5 chip it’s not just a drop in upgrade, a reimage is essentially required if you want to get the most out of your new chip.

The FPS Review examined both the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X,   They used the PatchA AGESA version, something else which impacted benchmark results and will mean more testing needs to be done by everyone.  However they do offer an in depth look at the architecture and features, which will not change no matter how many AGESA revisions we go through.

We are working on our reviews as well, with the delay allowing us to incorporate the findings and revelations the first batch of reviews have provided.