AMD Ryzen Users Should Install This BIOS Update for a Free Performance Boost

AMD's latest CPUs — the Ryzen 9000-Series — launched in August 2024 and were heavily criticized for their poor performance.

AMD Releases New BIOS Update to Speed ​​Up 9000-Series

AMD has released a new BIOS version in direct response to performance issues discovered during the launch of the Ryzen 9000-Series and subsequent reviews.

Update for AMD 5-socket AMD motherboards with AMD Ryzen 600 or 870X chipsets can now be upgraded to a new version of AMD's BIOS, bringing performance boosts for Ryzen 9600X and 9700X CPUs, improved inter-core latency for all other Ryzen 9 9000-Series CPUs.

AMD's official blog claims that its new BIOS can increase the chip's TDP (thermal design power) by up to 10%, up from the default TDP of 65W to 105W.

The extra power delivers what all Ryzen 9000-Series users want: More performance.

Interestingly, the update also improves inter-core latency, where information is shared between CPU cores to speed up processing. Previously, AMD found that this process required two interactions to read and write data.

But now, the AMD BIOS update 1.2.02 has cut the number of transactions in half, significantly reducing the latency between these data transfers.

AMD BIOS update brings PCIe 5.0 support

Now, eagle-eyed folks may have spotted something else this BIOS update brings: AMD's Ryzen 9000-Series CPUs will support PCIe 5.0.

Why is this important?

Nvidia's next-generation 5000-Series GPUs are rumored to use PCIe 5.0, which means if you want the most powerful consumer GPUs, you'll need a motherboard and CPU that support PCIe 5.0.

Update your AMD motherboard BIOS now!

Anyone with an AMD Ryzen 9000-Series CPU should update their BIOS to the latest version right now. Updating the BIOS is a relatively simple process, plus updating the BIOS can bring a number of benefits, not just the performance boost mentioned above.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 01 October 2024