AMD has just unveiled its latest lineup of CPUs and has surprised everyone with a completely new naming scheme for some of its chips. Using the much-anticipated new Zen 5 architecture, AMD has unveiled the new AMD Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs for desktops and AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series CPUs for laptops. Not only that, but the AMD Ryzen 9000 release date is coming much sooner than expected.
We’ve long been anticipating that these new AMD Zen 5 desktop chips will be contenders for a top spot on our best gaming CPU guide but there is of course no guarantee until we test them. However, with a 16% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC), AMD has delivered a decent jump up in raw speed, which should translate to faster gaming performance.
AMD Ryzen 9000
Let’s start with the really juicy stuff when it comes to desktop gaming PCs, as AMD has unveiled a comprehensive lineup of new Ryzen 9000 chips, ranging from the 16-core / 32-thread AMD Ryzen 9 9950X to the six-core / 12-thread AMD Ryzen 5 9600X.
These chips are also powered by the new Zen 5 architecture when it comes to the main CPU cores. Unlike the new laptop chips, there’s not much new here beyond the architecture. There are no NPUs or “console class” graphics here. Instead, it’s just a straight CPU speed upgrade.
| Model | Cores / threads | Boost / base Frequency | Total cache | PCIe | TDP |
| AMD Ryzen 9 9950X | 16 / 32 | 5.7GHz / 4.3GHz | 80MB | Gen 5 | 170W |
| AMD Ryzen 9 9900X | 12 / 24 | 5.6GHz / 4.4GHz | 76MB | Gen 5 | 120W |
| AMD Ryzen 7 9700X | 8 / 16 | 5.5GHz / 3.8GHz | 40MB | Gen 5 | 65W |
| AMD Ryzen 5 9600X | 6 / 12 | 5.4GHz / 3.9GHz | 38MB | Gen 5 | 65W |
The new chips will slot into existing AM5 motherboards, making for an easy upgrade, but will also be launching alongside new AMD X870E and X870 motherboards with support for technology such as Wi-Fi 7, USB4, and PCIe 5 (the latter was previously only available from the CPU, rather than the motherboard chipset). AMD has also committed to saying that the AM5 socket will be supported until at least 2027.
Back to the new CPUs, AMD isn’t revealing too many details as to what makes the new Zen 5 core tick, but it points to a 2x increase in instruction bandwidth, data bandwidth, and AI performance. We expect the chips are going to be made using TSMC’s latest 4nm process, but this hasn’t been confirmed by AMD yet.
The AMD Ryzen 9000 release date is July 2024 so you only have a few weeks to wait before you can buy these new chips.
AMD Ryzen AI 300
The confusing bit here, then, is that AMD has introduced a new naming scheme for its mobile chips, switching to a new AMD Ryzen AI 300 brand that bears some similarities with the changed-up naming system used in Intel’s Core Ultra 100 and 200 CPUs.
| Model | Cores / threads | Boost / Base Frequency | Total cache | GPU | cTDP | NPU |
| AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 | 12 / 24 | 5.1GHz / 2.0GHz | 36MB | AMD Radeon 890M Graphics | 15-54W | Yes (50 TOPs) |
| AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 | 10 / 20 | 5.0GHz / 2.0GHz | 34MB | AMD Radeon 880M Graphics | 15-54W | Yes (50 TOPs) |
As you might have guessed, the AI part of the name refers to the introduction of an AI coprocessor called a neural processing unit or NPU. This is powered by the company’s new XDNA 2 architecture and offers 50 TOPs (trillions of operations per second) of processing power, which is double that of the company’s Ryzen 8040 series.
You also get AMD Radeon 890M graphics, which AMD bills as having “console class” gaming performance on the go. There are currently just two new AI 300 chips, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, which will be used for top-tier gaming and workstation laptops. These feature 12 and 10 cores (24 and 20 threads) respectively, and clock speeds of up to 5.1GHz and 5GHz.
For more from the Computex 2024 trade show where AMD made this announcement – including the new Asus ROG Ally X – check out our Computex news story hub.