With the official release of the X870E/X870 motherboards to the market, AMD announced several major updates, particularly targeting latency issues and architectural optimizations for the Ryzen 9000 series.

AMD acknowledged that some media tests reported high inter-core latency for the Ryzen 9000 series in dual CCD configurations. Despite the rarity of these scenarios and their minimal impact on actual performance, AMD has implemented optimizations to address the issue.

Currently, AMD has officially released the AGESA PI version 1.2.0.2 microcode, which includes updates for the entire AM5 motherboard series, including the X870E/X870. Users can refresh their BIOS to reduce inter-core latency.

Although AMD did not disclose the exact latency improvements, prior testing indicates reductions from 180 nanoseconds to 75 nanoseconds (a 58 percent decrease), and from 200 nanoseconds to 95 nanoseconds (a 52.5 percent decrease).

1.2.0.1

1.2.0.2

Meanwhile, AMD, in collaboration with Microsoft, has released KB5041587, a system patch that optimizes branch prediction for the Zen architecture, significantly enhancing performance.

Previously an optional update, this patch is now part of Windows Automatic Updates, supporting Windows 11 23H2 Build 22631.4112 and newer, 24H2 Build 26100.1301 and newer.

The patch not only optimizes Zen5 but also brings improvements to Zen4 and Zen3.

According to real-world testing, the Ryzen 7 9700X's gaming performance has increased by an average of 11 percent, with some games showing more significant gains: Gears of War 5 (35.1 percent), Fortnite (30.6 percent), Legacy 2 (22.3 percent), Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (21.9 percent), World War 3 (21.5 percent), and Homeworld 3 (20.0 percent).

Similarly, the Ryzen 7 7700X sees an average performance boost of 10 percent, with Gears of War 5 experiencing a substantial 32.6 percent increase.

Currently, it is unknown whether this patch will be extended to Windows 10.

Additionally, AGESA PI version 1.2.0.2 microcode has also officially lifted the thermal design power limit for the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X, increasing it from 65W to 105W, which is expected to deliver up to a 10% performance boost.

All AM5 motherboards, including the new X870E/X870, support this update.

Furthermore, AMD confirms that the ultra-high memory frequency of DDR5-8000 can be achieved on X870E/X870 motherboards simply by enabling EXPO, which is particularly suitable for the X870E.