Last week, AMD surprised everyone by announcing a delay in the release of its Ryzen 9000 CPUs, pushing back the launch by up to two weeks. Recent findings suggest that a labeling error may have been the reason behind this decision. A review on BilliBilli showcased the Ryzen 7 9700X mistakenly labeled as a Ryzen 9 9700X, a typo also affecting the Ryzen 5 7600X, both mislabeled with Ryzen 9 branding, as reported by Tom’s Hardware.
While AMD has not officially confirmed the reason for the delay, mentioning only an issue with packaging, the split launch dates of the four CPUs provide some insight into the possible cause. The Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X are now expected to be available on August 8, while the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X are set for release on August 15. This segmented launch hints at the delay being related to the mislabeling on the lower-end models.
The discovery of these incorrectly marked CPUs likely played a role in AMD’s decision to recall the products. While the labeling error may have contributed to the delay, there are also speculations about potential deeper issues that AMD may be addressing with the Ryzen 9000 series, especially in light of Intel’s recent challenges with 13th-gen and 14th-gen CPUs. However, there is currently no evidence suggesting a significant quality issue with AMD’s upcoming CPUs.
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The real reason for the Ryzen 9000 delay ….@IanCutress is right. pic.twitter.com/oM6ePWU6WC
— HXL (@9550pro) July 28, 2024
AMD has initiated a recall of all CPUs from the initial batch for re-screening, including those in boxed retail units and prebuilt systems. This recall began before the delay announcement, indicating that the issue was detected early on. Considering the short delay durations — only a week for the Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7, and two weeks for the Ryzen 9 models — it appears that the problem is limited in scope, affecting only the first batch of CPUs.
With the delay in CPU releases, reviews of the products are also being postponed. Hardware Unboxed plans to publish reviews a day before the release date for all models: August 7 for the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X, and August 14 for the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X.
While a simple typo may seem like a minor issue, it could potentially lead to significant complications if there are larger packaging issues at play. This includes mislabeled boxes or completely erroneous model numbers printed on the CPUs. Notably, AMD did not postpone the release of its Ryzen AI 300 laptop CPUs, which utilize the same Zen 5 architecture as the Ryzen 9000 series.
