Recent gaming benchmarks suggest AMD’s Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X processors actually perform better in a 65W mode than in a 105W mode when it comes to gaming. While it’s understood that AMD plans to release an official AGESA 1.2.0.2 patch to support the 105W TDP mode for these CPUs, MSI has already rolled out an experimental AGESA 1.2.0.1 BIOS enabling this feature. Ryzen 9000 owners eagerly await this update, hoping for a significant performance boost, but the results are quite telling.
A Japanese publication has conducted benchmarks on these processors to examine the impact of the 105W TDP mode. The testing was carried out on an ASRock AM5 motherboard with the power limit set to 105W, replicating the conditions users can achieve through “Ryzen Master.” The benchmarks encompassed both synthetic applications and games.
The results show minimal improvement in gaming performance with the 105W mode for both the Ryzen 9600X and 9700X. This outcome was consistently the same across multiple games, including Black Myth: Wukong, Counter-Strike 2, F1 2024, and Starfield, where both processors delivered nearly identical performance metrics regardless of the TDP setting. Even the higher 120W mode for the Ryzen 9700X failed to make a significant impact.
One important point to consider is that Counter-Strike 2 is highly CPU-intensive and supports up to 1000 FPS, yet the 105W mode had virtually no positive effect. The Ryzen 5 9600X showed a meager 2% improvement, which falls within the margin of error, as the FPS was already in the mid-500s range. However, power consumption increased noticeably, which isn’t desirable given the lack of performance gains.
In terms of power draw, the Ryzen 5 9600X’s consumption remained relatively consistent between the 65W and 105W modes, but the Ryzen 7 9700X consumed an additional 18-20W in the higher TDP settings. This indicates that both processors have reached their maximum potential in gaming performance and cannot benefit further from an increased TDP.
However, the story changes when it comes to productivity workloads. Cinebench 2024 benchmarks show a 10% improvement for the Ryzen 7 9700X and a 3% uplift for the Ryzen 5 9600X in the 105W mode, aligning with AMD’s official PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) results. Handbrake: Encoding tests revealed a 15% faster execution for the 9700X and a 5% boost for the 9600X. In UL Procyon, the differences were negligible, given the program’s reliance on single-core performance, which wasn’t significantly affected by the 105W mode.
One significant change noted was the increase in clock frequencies. The Ryzen 7 9700X saw its frequencies jump from the 4.4-4.5 GHz range to nearly 5 GHz with the 105W mode, although the 120W mode didn’t offer any further improvement over 105W.
In conclusion, if you’re predominantly using your CPU for gaming, sticking with the 65W mode for the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X is advisable, as the 105W mode offers no discernible benefits in gaming performance. However, if your work involves content creation or rendering, enabling the 105W mode might provide valuable multi-threaded performance uplifts, particularly for the Ryzen 7 9700X.
