AMD just announced that some of its best processors are about to become even better. The company unveiled a number of Ryzen 9000 improvements, ranging from a much higher TDP for some of the CPUs to the core-to-core latency improvements we’ve already heard about. AMD is also now supporting higher-clocked DDR5 RAM, and that’s not even all of today’s announcements.
The latest BIOS update, named AGESA PI 1.2.0.2, brings a few things, but if you ask me, the biggest change is that AMD is increasing the thermal design power (TDP) of two of its CPUs.
The Ryzen 7 9700X and the Ryzen 5 9600X were initially both locked at a TDP of 65 watts, which many found quite limiting when compared to the 120-watt TDP of the Ryzen 9 9900X, not to mention the 170-watt Ryzen 9 9950X. AMD’s explanation for that design choice is that it envisioned the lower-end CPUs as options for efficient performance. To make them more viable for enthusiasts, AMD has now given the 9700X and the 9600X a new TDP of 105 watts.
Raising the TDP by over 60% through a firmware update sounds dangerous, but AMD clarifies that the CPUs have been validated at 105W. What’s more, the 105-watt limit is warrantied — so you can safely unlock it without worrying about voiding the warranty. AMD does note, however, that you’ll need a better CPU cooler to keep all that extra heat at bay.
AMD hasn’t specified how the higher TDP might affect things like clock speeds or performance, and reviewers will likely have to re-test these two CPUs to check what’s going on in that department. Still, given the minimal generational gains from Zen 4 to Zen 5, this TDP change sounds like a good move.
Next is the aforementioned core-to-core latency boost. Early adopters and reviewers alike noticed that the inter-CCD (core complex die) latency on the Ryzen 9000 was about 50% higher than on the Ryzen 7000. Those who already got the new firmware and tested it last week have already confirmed that AMD has addressed the issue, meaning a 50% lower latency on the Zen 5 — as it should be.
Now, for some hardware improvements: AMD has enabled EXPO support for DDR5-8000 memory. RAM clocked that high is among some of the best RAM currently out there, and most gamers don’t currently need these kinds of frequencies. AMD notes that switching from DDR5-6000 to DDR5-8000 boosts the latency by around 1 to 2ns.
AMD also talked about the new X870 and X870E motherboards that are here, offering the most out of what the AM5 socket can supply right now. These motherboards will include support for full-speed PCIe Gen 5.0, both graphics and storage — just in time for the RTX 50-series, which is said to use that interface.
Benchmarks of the new Ryzen 9000 CPUs usually show that they’re great for productivity but they fail to offer any significant improvements in gaming. It also turns out that the CPUs were about 10% slower than they should have been, but all of that should now be fixed with the mandatory Windows Updates that offer branch prediction optimizations. Once all the new updates have been taken into account, we’ll know whether they make a dent in CPU performance or not.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.