The upcoming AGESA update for the Ryzen 9600X and 9700X won’t just unlock the potential of these CPUs with 105W TDP but will also be covered under warranty. This is a good move, which shouldn’t surprise us since AMD is the one who is extending the power limit for these processors.
AGESA 1.2.0.2 will officially add 105W TDP mode for mid-range Zen 5 CPUs
MSI recently announced its AGESA BIOS PI 1.2.0.1 patch to extend the operating TDP of Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X processors from 65W to 105W. This is to improve the power delivery and performance of these chips, which couldn’t achieve the generational uplifts we all expected. While it’s something that is not part of official AGESA 1.2.0.1, it is expected to be a feature that will become a permanent part of future AGESA updates.
Recently, @harukaze5719 asked whether the warranty will cover such updated power limits under ‘AMD Specification’, Hassan from Wccftech replied in the affirmative. He said the official release and specifications will be in the AGESA 1.2.0.2 patch, and the warranty of the processors will be covered with 105W TDP. So, it’s clear that the 105W power limit won’t be considered as an ‘Overclock’, and users can now achieve higher clocks on their Zen 5 CPUs, specifically Ryzen 9600X and 9700X.
This will help both processors reach higher performance than at the current state, which is hardly noticeable in gaming. Even though they offer better thermals out of the box, the 105W power limit will result in more heating and higher power consumption. If users want to take the clock speeds further than the advertised clocks, Ryzen 9600X and 9700X will need 800 chipset motherboards such as X870E/X870 or the upcoming B850 for overclocking. However, with the AGESA 1.2.0.2 patch, the 9600X and 9700X will be able to reach higher clock speeds without overclocking.
Recently, @kuroberumo posted on X, claiming that he gained about 13% higher multi-core score in Cinebench R23 with the 105W TDP option using the Ryzen 7 9700X. This is a huge performance uplift and may actually make these processors more appealing than ever. The AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS update is expected to be released in late September and will be available from different motherboard manufacturers.
