AMD is reportedly working on two refreshed Ryzen 9000-series processors for its AM5 platform, boasting a slight increase in frequency and power budget over their predecessors. According to leaker @g01d3nm4ng0 on X, the Ryzen 5 9650X and Ryzen 7 9750X maintain the same core counts as their predecessors, focusing instead on boosting the clock speeds and TDP.
In the same way that AMD’s Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a mere refresh of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, its Ryzen 5 9650X and Ryzen 7 9750X also look like they’ll be refreshes of the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X. To be more specific, the Ryzen 5 9650X reportedly keeps the same six Zen 5 cores with 32MB of L3 cache, but bumps the base clock to 4.3GHz and boost clock to 5.5GHz.
These represent 400MHz and 100MHz uplifts respectively compared to its predecessor, and should allow it to deliver slightly higher performance, especially in single-threaded workloads. To ensure the cores are well fed, the power budget is also apparently seeing an increase to 120W. As a reminder, the Ryzen 5 9600X debuted with a 65W TDP, but later AMD added a 105W BIOS option for those who wanted more performance.
The same apparently goes for the Ryzen 7 9750X, which looks set to retain an 8-core design – likely using a single CCD – alongside 32MB of L3 cache, but sees its base and boost frequencies jump to 4.2GHz and 5.6GHz respectively. Again, these represent 400MHz and 100MHz increases to the base and boost clocks compared to the Ryzen 7 9700X. As with the Ryzen 5 9650X, the Ryzen 7 9750X’s TDP also appears to gain more headroom, now apparently sitting at 120W, instead of the 65W (and later 105W BIOS mode) of its predecessor.
| Model | Ryzen 5 9600X | Ryzen 5 9650X (rumour) | Ryzen 7 9700X | Ryzen 7 9750X (rumour) |
| Cores/Threads | 6/12 | 6/12 | 8/16 | 8/16 |
| Base Clock | 3.9GHz | 4.3GHz | 3.8GHz | 4.2GHz |
| Boost Clock | 5.4GHz | 5.5GHz | 5.5GHz | 5.6GHz |
| L3 Cache | 32MB | 32MB | 32MB | 32MB |
| TDP | 65W | 120W | 65W | 120W |
While your CPU’s power budget can be raised manually via the BIOS, as we explained in our PBO guide, pushing the frequency higher depends greatly on the CPU’s silicon quality. In other words, by choosing a Ryzen 5 9650X over a Ryzen 5 9600X, or a Ryzen 7 9750X over a Ryzen 7 9700X, you guarantee a higher operating frequency and thus higher performance. These gains won’t be outstanding, but if priced correctly, they may be worth considering.
Overall, if this rumour is correct, this looks like a reaction to Intel’s Core Ultra 200S Plus desktop refresh. However, unlike Intel, which added another cluster of four E-Cores to its Plus lineup, AMD looks as though it’s maintaining core counts. Furthermore, Intel plans to sell its new chips at a competitive price. The $199 Core Ultra 5 250K Plus will replace the $299 Core Ultra 5 245K, while the $299 Core Ultra 7 270K Plus supplants the $399 Core Ultra 7 265K. Even when factoring in the current discounted prices, the Plus series look highly competitive.
