AMD LAUNCHES RYZEN 9000 SERIES

The Ryzen 9000-Series CPUs are available to buy now. Shop Ryzen-9000 series systems at Punch.

Today sees the launch of the first of AMDs Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 ‘Granite Ridge’ series of CPUs. AMD is renowned in the industry for their powerful, efficient processors, that perform strongly in everyday tasks and workloads, but which have really excelled within the gaming and creativity spaces.

With the launch of Granite Ridge and the new 4nm, Zen 5 microarchitecture, AMD have talked about an average 16% increase in instructions per cycle (IPC), and considerable performance gains over Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs; claiming the Ryzen 9 9950X outperforms the Core i9-14900K by 11% in gaming applications on average, and an enormous 21% on average in productivity related tasks. We are also expecting to see improvements to both performance per clock and power efficiency from these latest CPUs.

What’s more, this new generation of chips is still using the AM5 socket, meaning they will work with existing motherboards with AM5 socket, making them a very attractive upgrade option, without having to also upgrade surrounding components.

The new chips will also support latest generation technologies such as PCIe 5.0 and DDR5, and will also be compatible with AMDs 800 series chipset motherboards that are set to launch later this year, adding some future proof reassurance to the launch of their new CPUs.

It’s clear to see there is a lot to be excited about with this new range, and with AMD releasing their own manufacturer benchmarks, we were keen to get hold of the latest chips and run them through our own tests.

It’s worth mentioning that the launch of the 9000 series will be staggered. The initial launch sees the arrival of the Ryzen 7 9700X and the Ryzen 5 9600X, with the Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X coming next week (August 15^th). We are also likely to see second gen models and the much coveted X3D chips with AMDs innovative 3D V-Cache technology, so check back regularly for updates and any advancements.

AMD Manufacturer benchmarks

AMD’s benchmarks certainly look impressive compared to the Intel Core i9-14900K, with up to 41% outperformance in productivity applications and up to 22% outperformance in gaming applications, and these figures remain impressive across the range.

If you’re using your PC for productivity and creation applications, such as photo or video editing or 3D animation, then you are likely going to be interested to see how the new 9000-Series performs against Intel’s upcoming Arrow Lake, but if you’re in the market right now, these are certainly impressive productivity gains and it’s worth noting that the 9000-Series CPUs are drawing significantly less power than the Intel chips they have been benchmarked against.

For gamers, we’re yet to see significant benchmarking of the new 9000-Series over some of AMD’s most impressive gaming chips (the 5800X3D and 7800X3D). We’ll be running our own tests internally, but we do know that, for now, the 7800X3D will outperform the 9000-Series in most gaming applications. That said, AMD has revealed they are working on improvements to the 3D V-Cache technology, so it’s likely that significant advancements are on the way for gamers.

AMD Ryzen 9000 Series specifications

Here at Punch, we’ve been rigorously testing the new CPUs to create our own benchmarks, and to test the chips in the applications we know will matter to you. We’ll be regularly updating our testing results as the new chips are launched, so make sure you check back to stay up to date. See our latest testing below:

Hands on with the Ryzen 5 9600X
Hands on with the Ryzen 7 9700X
The Ryzen 9000 series for productivity and content creation
The Ryzen 9000 series for gaming