AMD has announced that its Ryzen 9000 processors, which were due to launch on July 31st alongside reviews of four new models, are delayed. It is also splitting the launch schedule, with the Ryzen 9 9950X and 9900X launching on 15th August and Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X a week earlier on 8th August.
Questions around the availability of review samples were being raised this week, with the launch just a week away and no samples for reviewers in sight. Usually they are handed out around two or three weeks before a launch to give reviewers enough time to benchmark. The company reached out to journalists earlier today to explain why – a somewhat refreshing change from Intel’s secretive handling of its current stability issues.
It seems that issues have arisen during testing of the first batch of new CPUs and when asked, AMD stated that ‘During our continuous validation of the initial production material an issue was discovered in our packaging test and validation system which could result in a small number of Ryzen 9000 processors not meeting our standards.’
It’s currently replacing samples that have shipped to its channel partners and due to a knock-on effect with availability, review and retail samples won’t be available in enough quantities to meet the demands of a July 31st launch.
The full statement from AMD can be found below.
“We appreciate the excitement around Ryzen 9000 series processors. During final checks, we found the initial production units that were shipped to our channel partners did not meet our full quality expectations. Out of an abundance of caution and to maintain the highest quality experiences for every Ryzen user, we are working with our channel partners to replace the initial production units with fresh units. As a result, there will be a short delay in retail availability.
The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors will now go on sale on August 8th and the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X processors will go on-sale on August 15th. We pride ourselves in providing a high-quality experience for every Ryzen user, and we look forward to our fans having a great experience with the new Ryzen 9000 series.”
For now, AMD hasn’t elaborated on what the issues actually were, but did stress there were no issues with the manufacturing process or the CPUs themselves. It initially mentioned the possibility of bringing the review schedule forwards depending on availability. This appears to be confirmed with a new statement arriving moments before this article’s embargo expired with the new split embargo above.
The new CPUs landing are the Ryzen 9 9950X, 9900X, Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X, which have the same core counts as the Ryzen 7000 series. As yet there’s no concrete pricing for the new models, though, expectations are they’ll retail for similar prices to the previous generation’s launch pricing.
AMD should be commended for making this move. These things happen, but it’s far better to meet the issues head-on and early and enthusiasts will likely appreciate that, even if it does mean waiting another couple of weeks for reviews and retail availability. I’ll be reviewing the new Ryzen 9000 CPUs next week so follow me here on Forbes using the blue button below, Facebook or YouTube to get the latest news, analysis benchmarks.
