July 31 should have marked the date we saw new Ryzen processors hit store shelves, until AMD delayed their launch by just over a week or two. While much of the news cycle continues to centre on the company’s Zen 5 chips, they aren’t the only new models coming to market. Curiously, the release date of Ryzen 5000XT CPUs has also shifted.
As a reminder, following the Ryzen 9000 series delay, we’ll now see the company’s upcoming best CPUs materialise on August 8. This release date only applies to Ryzen 5 9600X and 7 9700X, though, as Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X will arrive on August 15. Meanwhile, the laptop space is already enjoying the fruits of Zen 5, as Ryzen AI 300 series chips aren’t subject to the same setback. AMD claims it pushed back these launches due to issues with quality assurance, which makes the shift for Ryzen 5000XT CPUs all the more curious.
In lieu of an official word from AMD, retailers have revealed Ryzen 5000XT processors will also launch later than expected. B&H listings (via Zed__Wang) for Ryzen 7 5800XT and 9 5900XT state pre-orders for the chips will begin August 8 and August 15, respectively. Sadly, there’s still no sign of pricing on either product page.
Without a full explanation from AMD regarding Ryzen 9000’s delay, it’s impossible to know why these Ryzen 5000XT are also late to the party. Given the differences between each group of processors in their architecture and socket, it’s unlikely that the latter is beset by the same vague “quality” issues that the company cites.
Were I to take an educated guess, I’d employ Occam’s razor: consolidation. Rather than manage three embargoes, it’s simpler for AMD and reviewers to adhere to two release dates for coverage. Sticking to the original July 31 launch would arguably give these 5000XT processors a bigger spotlight, but it would perhaps distract from the company’s core focus, which is Zen 5.
Expect Club386 reviews for Ryzen 9000 series CPUs to arrive in the coming weeks, complete with fresh benchmarks. In the meantime, give our Ryzen 9 7950X review and Core i9-14900K review a read to reacquaint yourself with the best chips on the market today.
