A last minute search for golden samples or perhaps AMD are just waiting for Intel to embarrass themselves further in regards to mitigating their 13th and 14th Generation CPUs to stop killing themselves.
AMD was originally scheduled to officially release its Zen 5 (Ryzen 9000) series processors on July 31st. By this time, outlets and influencer tech tubers would have likely received their samples, giving them about a week to conduct performance evaluations and present their reviews.
However, in an unforeseen turn of events, AMD has delayed the launch of its Ryzen 9000 series processors by a little more than a week due to some production units failing quality checks. The chipmaker hasn’t shared the exact nature of the issue, but given the short week-long delay, it’s likely something minor that can be fixed by a microcode update.
Now, we’re looking at a staggered launch: the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will be available on August 8th, and the Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X will follow on August 15th.
Understandably, reviews and performance comparisons will also be affected, with different embargo dates for the midrange Ryzen 5/Ryzen 7 and the high-end Ryzen 9 SKUs. The staggered release, with the entry-level Ryzen 5 and 7 units launching a week ahead of the high-performance Ryzen 9 family, has led to speculation that the delay may be related to issues with memory or fabric interconnects. However, this is purely hypothetical.
According to The Verge, who spoke with Stacy MacDiarmid, the legitimate reason for the staggered release is that some of the stockpiled units failed to pass all appropriate testing procedures. This means that some units did not pass AMD’s quality assurance standards.
This situation is quite embarrassing for AMD, as CPUs that failed or hadn’t passed QA almost made it into the hands of customers and the tech press.
AMD has taken appropriate action by recalling units that were already shipped. However, the fact that this mistake happened in the first place is surprising for a company as large as AMD. It’s clear that someone was not paying attention, prompting the Red giant to swiftly recall all shipments and take the necessary time to reevaluate the units before distributing them to reviewers and retailers worldwide.
Intel could learn from AMD’s approach to taking swift action and accountability for such mistakes. Recently, Intel has had to issue another mitigation update for its Raptor Lake CPUs, which are experiencing severe silicon degradation, leading to system instability and, in some cases, complete failure of the affected units.
Intel recently announced another “fix” to their ongoing issues, having previously imposed a “baseline power limit” to manage the steep current draw of selective unlocked 13th and 14th Generation Intel Core processors.
Intel now attributes elevated voltages as the direct cause of sporadic silicon degradation, which is unsurprising. Intel is set to release a microcode update to address the issue by mid-August, which will likely result in another decline of system performance for selective Raptor Lake processors.
In comparison, AMD discovered that some units within the initial batches of their Zen 5 processors failed to pass QA. They promptly recalled these shipped units before they could reach reviewers or go on sale and delayed the release by a week or two.
On the other hand, Intel has been exposed for egregiously sacrificing CPU longevity on selective high-binned unlocked K-series CPUs across two entire generations, which seemingly have a 100% defect ratio according to game developers like Alderon Games.
Server providers are switching to Ryzen-based systems due to system instability on their Raptor Lake machines, with game servers frequently crashing and disrupting gameplay for countless players who might otherwise blame the game and stop playing or demand refunds.
Intel has not provided a clear date for when the range of Raptor Lake processors affected by severe degradation due to high current draw and elevated voltages will be addressed. This artificial power limitation in BIOS and elevated voltages to boost core frequency have caused significant issues for users that have been circulating around the internet for months.
Another crucial aspect of this ordeal is that AMD has yet to clarify specific pricing information for the Zen 5 processors, or even base frequencies for that matter.
With Intel continually fumbling the ball with defective Raptor Lake units that have either failed completely or must regress in performance to maintain stability / longevity, it is possible that AMD could be using this delay as a means to hike prices for their impending Ryzen 9000 series processors due to Intel’s incompetence and general lack of comparative performance in the market.
Given that AMD’s next generation will have no real competition on the market for several months until Intel releases Arrow Lake on desktop, this speculation seems plausible.
Additionally, AMD might be waiting for Intel to release microcode updates for Raptor Lake CPUs to ensure their processors appear far superior against the competition, but this is also speculative.
Either way, PC gamers will have to wait another couple of weeks before they get a glimpse at genuine reviews and performance evaluations of AMD’s next generation CPUs, while Intel seemingly only knows how to go backwards.
