AMD delivers major AM5 improvements with AGESA 1.2.0.2
AMD delivers new TDP options, lowered inter-CCD latencies and more with their 1.2.0.2 AGESA update for AM5
Alongside the launch of their new X870 and X870E motherboards, AMD has released their 1.2.0.2 AGESA update for their AM5 motherboard platform. This update adds new features to AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series CPUs, and addresses some issues that reviewers uncovered at launch.
For starters, this new update adds new BIOS options for AMD’s Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X CPUs. These options allow these CPUs to operate with a TDP of 105W instead of the 65W stock TDP of these processors. This enables boosted CPU performance in all-core workloads. For the Ryzen 7 9700X, this enables up to a 10% performance boost.
Note that AMD’s CPU warranty covers this new TDP option. That means that users can run their Ryzen 5/7 CPUs at 105W without fear of their CPU warranty being invalidated.
Another fix that AMD has added with this new AGESA update is a core-to-core latency fix. AMD states that this fix is an optimisation for a “corner case” scenario. That said, this fix has been shown to deliver a 60% latency reduction in testing. This fix only applies to dual-CCD Ryzen 9000 CPUs, like the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X.
AMD has noted that the “real-world” performance boost this update delivers is minimal. However, it is noted that games like “Metro, Starfield, and Borderlands 3” run faster thanks to this fix. AMD may call this a “corner case” fix, but it brings some real performance gains to AMD’s highest-end Ryzen 9000 CPUs.
This was mainly due to some corner cases where it takes two transactions to both read, and write, when information is shared across cores on different parts of a Ryzen 9 9000 series processor. However, we’ve been working on optimizing this since the launch of the 9000 series. In the new 1.2.0.2 BIOS update, we’ve managed to cut the number of transactions in half for this use case, which helps reduce core-to-core latency in multi-CCD models.
While this will show up on some core-to-core latency benchmarks, the real-world improvement is most noticeable in a very specific gaming scenario: in heavily threaded games that don’t trigger core parking. Our lab tests suggest Metro, Starfield, and Borderlands 3 can show some uplift, as well as synthetic tests like 3DMark Time Spy.
– AMD to Techpowerup
AGESA 1.2.0.2 brings DDR5-8000 EXPO support to AM5
Thanks to their new AGESA update, AMD’s AM5 motherboards now officially support DDR5-8000 EXPO memory modules. While DDR5-8000 is faster than DDR5-6000, it should be noted that DDR5-8000 support works on AM5 by using a 1:2 UCLK:MCLK ratio. Remember, a 1:1 ratio is used with DDR5-6000, making it AM5’s performance sweet spot. The benefits of faster memory speeds are countered by lowered UCLK speeds with DDR5-8000 memory. However, faster than DDR5-6000 memory speeds are possible using a 1:1 UCLK:MCLK ratio. Even so, not all CPUs will support these higher speeds, and it requires some BIOS tinkering to enable.
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