AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16-core/32-thread processor powered by the "Zen 5" microarchitecture saw its price on Amazon Prime reduced to $434. This implies a 33% reduction over the chip's launch MSRP of $649. At this price, the chip ends up around $100 cheaper than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. Our testing shows that the 9950X beats the 285K in productivity workloads, and matches it in 4K Ultra HD gaming. The 9950X was AMD's flagship desktop processor until it was supplanted by the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which sells for roughly $700 owing to its gaming performance that's second only to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, while retaining productivity performance comparable to the 9950X. The Ryzen 9 9950X is a 16-core/32-thread part with two 8-core CCDs, each with 32 MB of on-die L3 cache. The processor ticks at 4.30 GHz base, with a maximum boost frequency of 5.70 GHz, and a TDP of 170 W.

Last month, a confidential presentation in China gave AMD's laptop partners their first glimpse of what's coming next. The slides hinted at modest clock-speed improvements and the addition of more entry-level models, all under the codename "Gorgon Point." Not long after, NBD's shipping manifests today show a series of new FP8, FP10, and FP12 product codes. These identifiers don't match any existing "Strix Point" or "Kracken Point" chips, so it's clear AMD is gearing up for a Ryzen AI 400-series refresh set to roll out around mid-2026. Despite the new name, Gorgon Point sticks with the same winning formula. It still uses Zen 5 and Zen 5c CPU cores alongside RDNA 3.5 graphics and XDNA 2 neural accelerators. Core counts haven't changed, so you'll see configurations ranging from 4 to 12 cores just like before, with up to 4x Zen 5 and 8x Zen 5c cores.

What's different, according to the leaked partner slides, is a slight bump in boost clocks. The top-end Ryzen AI 9 HX 475 and 470 chips are now rated for up to 5.2 GHz, a slight but welcome increase from the previous 5.1 GHz, while maintaining a 28 W default TDP. AMD is also broadening its reach into budget laptops. In addition to the Ryzen 9 HX upgrades, the company will introduce new Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 models. Early leaks mention parts numbered 440 and 430, as well as a mystery Ryzen 3 SKU. These entry-level chips will use the same Gorgon Point silicon but will be tuned for cost-sensitive devices. Branding will likely follow AMD's recent pattern. Given how AMD has renumbered previous families, slotting Gorgon Point into familiar retail channels should be straightforward. Until AMD makes an official announcement, these shipping manifests and partner leaks are the best clues we have about the performance and efficiency gains in the next wave of AI-accelerated laptops.

AMD's next generation UDNA graphics architecture, which succeeds the current RDNA 4, will power the GPU of next generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles, VideoCardz reports. This would put the consoles a generation ahead of the Radeon RX 9000-series, and ready to take on some astoundingly complex AAA titles such as GTA 6. Kepler_L2, a reliable source with hardware leaks, has a some generational performance gain projections for UDNA over RDNA 4.

UDNA is expected to provide a 20% gain in raster performance per CU over RDNA 4, assuming other factors are comparable, such as memory and host platform. UDNA is also expected to offer a 2x ray tracing performance gain over RDNA 4. Kepler_L2 clarified that by this he means a halving in the frame-time incurred in having ray tracing enabled, compared to RDNA 4. What's emerging from these leaks is that the semi-custom SoCs powering next-generation consoles will be contemporary in terms of the architecture of its various IP blocks from AMD. Given that UDNA powers the GPU, the CPU could be equally advanced, based on at least "Zen 5" or "Zen 6," a significant upgrade over the "Zen 2" powering current consoles. There could be other inclusions, such as an NPU.

AMD is giving finishing touches to the Ryzen 5 9600X3D processor, which could improve the company's standing in the mid-range, against Intel's Core i5-14600K and Core Ultra 5 245K. This came to light when AMD inadvertently leaked the SKU in its processor support list for the recently launched Radeon AI R9700 graphics card. The Ryzen 5 9600X3D will likely be a 6-core/12-thread processor based on the "Granite Ridge" silicon with 3D V-Cache memory. The processor is based on the latest "Zen 5" microarchitecture.

3D V-Cache is 64 MB of stacked cache on top of the 32 MB on-die cache, for a total of 96 MB last-level cache. Clock speeds of the 9600X3D could end up similar to those of the 9600X, given that AMD has changed the way the L3D (3D V-Cache die) stacks with the CCD (CPU complex die), inverting them, such that the L3D serves as a base tile for the CCD on top, giving the 9600X3D similar thermal and overclocking characteristics to the regular 9600X. The introduction of 3D V-Cache could significantly improve the gaming performance of the 9600X3D over the 9600X, giving gamers in the sub-$300 processor market segment a compelling alternative to the i5-14600K and the 245K.

AMD today formally launched a slew of new hardware for workstations. These include the new Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 "Shimada Peak" line of high core-count processors, and the Radeon AI PRO 9000 line of graphics cards that cover a range of use-cases spanning from edge AI acceleration to professional visualization. The Threadripper 9000 series is based on the "Zen 5" microarchitecture, and "Shimada Peak" is a variant of the "Turin" MCM powering 5th Gen EPYC processors, which comes with workstation-relevant I/O. Meanwhile, the Radeon AI Pro 9000 series is based on the same RDNA 4 graphics architecture powering the Radeon RX 9000 series gaming graphics cards.

The Ryzen Threadripper 9000 series comes with CPU core counts of up to 96-core/192-thread, with an IPC uplift from the "Zen 5" microarchitecture over the previous Threadripper 7000 series "Storm Peak" processors powered by "Zen 4." More than IPC, workstation users should benefit greatly from the architecture's full 512-bit FPU data-path, offering significant increases in performance of applications that leverage the AVX-512 instruction set. AMD also fine-tuned the IOD (I/O die) to support increased memory speeds of DDR5-6400 (native), AMD EXPO profiles, and CKD. With these changes, and minor increases in clock speeds for certain SKUs, AMD is promising a 16% uplift in performance over the Threadripper 7000 series predecessors in workstation benchmarks, and a significant 25% increase in SPEC Workstation AI and ML benchmarks (comparing identical core-counts and frequency).

AMD began rolling out its latest AGESA ComboAM5 microcode for Socket AM5 platforms, as confirmed by an ASUS BIOS update for its ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard. The company will likely get motherboard vendors and prebuilt OEMs to release BIOS updates with the new AGESA 1.2.0.3e microcode for both AMD 600-series and AMD 800-series chipset motherboards. Version 1.2.0.3e patches a security vulnerability with the firmware TPM (fTPM) component needed to establish a hardware root of trust. This is also a minimum system requirement for Windows 11. The vulnerability discovered by Trusted Computing Group, involves an OOB (out of bounds) read method that could compromise the root of trust.

Interestingly, the ASUS change-log mentions that AGESA 1.2.0.3e introduces support for an "upcoming CPU." We know from older reports that this upcoming CPU is the Ryzen 9000G "Gorgon Point" desktop APU. These processors are based on the 4 nm "Gorgon Point" monolithic silicon, which is a revision of "Strix Point," similar to how "Hawk Point" was to "Phoenix Point." There are no changes to the IP of either the CPU complex, or the iGPU, or even the NPU, but updates to their clock speeds or boosting algorithm. The CPU consists of two CCX, one with four "Zen 5" cores sharing a 16 MB L3 cache; and the other with eight "Zen 5c" cores sharing an 8 MB L3 cache. The iGPU is based on the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, and comes with 16 compute units. The NPU is based on XDNA 2, and offers at least 50 AI TOPS, giving the chip Microsoft Copilot+ local acceleration capability. The PCIe complex is Gen 4, and the main PEG interface is narrowed down to PCI-Express 4.0 x8.

AMD is looking to introduce the Ryzen 7 9700F 8-core/16-thread processor to target a price-point well under $300, possibly around $250. Naming convention dictates that the processor will lack integrated graphics. Given that AMD hasn't released 65 W variants of its Ryzen 9000 series "Granite Ridge" processors, instead giving the 9700X a 65 W TDP out of the box, but with a motherboard BIOS-based "105 W mode" that improves boost frequency residency, the 9700F will likely have either the same or slightly lower clock speeds than the 9700X, a 65 W TDP, and likely even lack this "105 W mode." The idea for AMD would be to offer a decent alternative to the Core Ultra 5 245K.

The Ryzen 7 9700F will be based on the "Granite Ridge" MCM, with one 4 nm CCD that has eight "Zen 5" CPU cores, each with 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache, and sharing a 32 MB on-die L3 cache. The 9700X comes with 3.80 GHz base frequency that boosts up to 5.50 GHz, so the 9700F either sticks with these clock speeds with a 65 W power limit to offer performance resembling the 9700X out of the box, or a 100 MHz lower boost frequency out of the box, but with unlocked multipliers.

AMD today unveiled its Instinct MI350X series AI GPU. Based on the company's latest CDNA 4 compute architecture, the MI350X is designed to compete with NVIDIA B200 "Blackwell" AI GPU series, with the top-spec Instinct MI355X being compared by AMD to the B200 in its presentation. The chip debuts not just the CDNA 4 architecture, but also the latest ROCm 7 software stack, and hardware ecosystem based on the industry-standard Open Compute Project specification, which combines AMD EPYC Zen 5 CPUs, Instinct MI350 series GPUs, AMD-Pensando Pollara scale-out NICs supporting Ultra-Ethernet, and industry-standard racks and nodes, both in air- and liquid-cooled form-factors.

The MI350 is a gigantic chiplet-based AI GPU that consists of stacked silicon. There are two base tiles called I/O dies (IODs), each built on the 6 nm TSMC N6 process. This tile has microscopic wiring for up to four Accelerator Compute Die (XCD) tiles stacked on top, besides the 128-channel HBM3E memory controllers, 256 MB of Infinity Cache memory, the Infinity Fabric interfaces, and a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 root complex. The XCDs are built on the 3 nm TSMC N3P foundry node. These contain a 4 MB L2 cache, and four shader engines, each with 9 compute units. Each XCD hence has 36 CU, and each IOD seats 144 CU. Two IODs are joined at the hip by a 5.5 TB/s bidirectional interconnect that enables full cache coherency among the two IODs. The package has a total of 288 CU. Each IOD controls four HBM3E stacks for 144 GB of memory, the package has 288 GB.

Chinese tech news sites have alluded to the launch of Colorful's brand-new SMART 900 Mini PC in the region. Oddly, the company's various web presences and social media accounts do not mention this diminutive 4-liter (volume) product. At last month's Computex trade show, the TechPowerUp crew happened upon a preview unit—dubbed generically as a "Mini AI PC." The latest press material confirms Colorful's selection of AMD's top-flight 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU. The Team Red "Strix Halo" mobile series leverages "Zen 5" processor cores and RDNA 3.5 integrated graphics solutions. Colorful has joined a small club of Mini PC providers that deal in Ryzen AI Max-equipped hardware. GMKtec seems to be leading this pack; with last month's global release of configurable EVO-X2 Mini PC pre-builds (starting at $1499).

Zotac is readying a competing Magnus EA (2025) range; the TPU team encountered a 12-core Ryzen AI Max 390-equipped example at Computex 2025. In North America, Framework is still working on getting its "4.5L Mini-ITX" Desktop out of the door—hopefully by the third quarter of this year. Colorful's SMART 900 Mini PC design sports a high quality anodized aluminium chassis. An "excellent" heat dissipation solution is advertised as taking: "advantage of the metal body—ensuring that the system can maintain a low operating temperature and a relatively reasonable noise level under high load." Rival manufacturers have outlined memory configurations of 64 GB or 128 GB LPDDR5X, but Colorful has opted for an unusual in-between 96 GB setup. At the time of writing, no SMART 900 Mini PC pricing information was included in local media reports.

Yesterday, ASRock's South Korean office issued a statement regarding problematic hardware pairings; affecting current-gen motherboards and AMD Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" desktop processors. Curiously, the Taiwanese manufacturer's local branch slipped in an intriguing tidbit into its message, addressed to members of the Quasar Zone forum: "ASRock has released a new BIOS version 3.25. This version is based on AMD AGESA 1.2.0.3d, and has been improved to enhance compatibility with next-generation CPUs and optimize PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) settings to enable more stable system operation." Due to media outlets focusing on an important BIOS update, a major hint was largely ignored. Fortunately, VideoCardz's keen eye was not distracted by current affairs.

According to their evening report (dated June 4), their local contacts have confirmed that there are no misunderstandings when Westerners machine translate ASRock Korea's original statement. Naturally, guess work—about the company's teasing of next-gen processors—will land on two upcoming Team Red product families. VideoCardz quickly eliminated a successive "Zen 6" CPU series, aka "Ryzen 10000." Despite recent leaks, industry watchdogs anticipate (at best) a mid-2026 debut. Given the uptick of semi-official Ryzen 9000G "Gorgon Point" leaks throughout Q2'25, VideoCardz reckons that AMD and mainboard partners are preparing for the arrival of this Zen 5 + RDNA 3.5-based APU series. Industry insiders have proposed a fourth quarter launch window.

It seems as though an official international launch for the elusive AMD Ryzen 9000G APUs might still be on the cards for later this year, after all. While an announcement was expected at Computex 2025, along with a full-scale retail launch later this year, AMD was suspiciously quiet about its CPUs at the electronics trade show. Now, it looks as though Gigabyte has seemingly started preparing its B650 motherboard line-up for the arrival of AMD's Ryzen 9000G APUs.

On Gigabyte's B650 Gaming motherboard memory compatibility page, the hardware maker seems to have replaced any mention of Ryzen 9000 series CPUs with "Ryzen 9000 G-series CPUs," altogether. It's unclear whether this change means the same memory compatibility table will apply for both AMD Ryzen 9000 and 9000G CPUs, but that seems to be the case. At any rate, this leak suggests that previous rumors claiming a Q4 launch may have been correct. Those same leaks suggested that the Ryzen 9000G APUs would feature AMD Zen 5 CPU cores paired with AMD RDNA 3.5 iGPUs, with the top-spec iGPU likely being capable of running at least some lighter-weight games and e-sports titles. As it stands, the iGPUs found in recent AMD Ryzen CPUs are merely there for basic video output and diagnostic purposes, while the G-series APUs are generally intended for use without a dedicated GPU. It seems reasonable to expect AMD to launch at least one variant in the AMD Ryzen 9000G APU series equipped with the Radeon 890M, which also powers some of the most popular Windows gaming handhelds on the market.

At Computex 2025 in Taipei, Framework Computer highlighted the growing importance of compact, serviceable hardware by unveiling an AI cluster built entirely from its new Framework Desktop mini PCs. Each 4.5-liter unit is equipped with an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, which combines 16 Zen 5 cores running up to 5.1 GHz and a Radeon 8060S graphics engine with up to 128 GB of unified LPDDR5x memory. In a striking demonstration, four of these desktops were mounted side by side in a 10-inch half-rack enclosure, creating a scalable cluster that delivers up to 200 TOPS of on-device AI performance from the XDNA 2 NPUs alone, before the 8060S comes into play. The rack features integrated Wi-Fi 7 and 5 GbE networking, while its modular expansion card slots allow users to tailor ports to their exact needs. By packaging powerful inference capability into a compact, repairable chassis with efficient cooling and low power draw, Framework is making it simpler for research labs, small businesses, and edge-computing enthusiasts to deploy AI solutions outside traditional data centers.

Sapphire brought unique new hardware to Computex 2025. We begin our tour with the new Sapphire Edge AI line of mini PCs. First up, is the Edge AI 370, a mini PC measuring 117 mm x 111 mm x 30 mm (WxDxH). It is powered by AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" mobile processor, with two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 96 GB of memory. Storage comes from a 1 TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD. The CPU is configured with 12 cores (4x Zen 5 + 8x Zen 5c), while the maxed out RDNA 3.5 iGPU has 16 CU. The XDNA 2 NPU is clocked for 50 AI TOPS, and meets Microsoft Copilot+ requirements.

Next up, is the Sapphire X870EA Wi-Fi PhantomLink Edition motherboard. This is Sapphire's first high-end motherboard in years. The Socket AM5 motherboard is based on the flagship AMD X870E chipset, and offers premium connectivity and I/O features. It's also designed to visually match the company's latest Radeon RX 9070 XT NITRO+ graphics card, but its most striking feature is PhantomLink. This is a backside power delivery feature similar to ASUS BTF. The main PCI-Express 5.0 x16 slot has a trailing power delivery slot that relays power from a 12V-2x6 power input located next to the 24-pin ATX connector on the motherboard. This may not be a complete backside I/O motherboard, but at least keeps the graphics card free from any power cables sticking out. To use PhantomLink, however, you need a compatible graphics card, and Sapphire showed us the Radeon RX 9070 XT NITRO+ PhantomLink Edition.

ASRock proudly announces that its WRX90 WS EVO and TRX50 WS workstation motherboards now offer full support for AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9000 and Threadripper 9000 series processors, delivering outstanding computing performance for HEDT & Workstation platform. Featuring the latest Zen 5 architecture, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9000 / Threadripper 9000 series processors boast up to 96 cores and supports more PCIe 5.0 lanes, setting a new benchmark for industry-leading performance.

ASRock WS series motherboards, including the WRX90 WS EVO and TRX50 WS, support AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9000 / Threadripper 9000 series processors through a simple BIOS update, which is now available to download from ASRock official website.

ZOTAC made a notable impression at Computex 2025 by unveiling a range of compact gaming and AI-ready machines combining high performance and tiny footprints. The highlight was the second-generation ZOTAC Zone handheld prototype, now powered by AMD's top-tier Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU. Equipped with Radeon 890M graphics, the Zone achieves smooth 1080p gameplay on its 7-inch AMOLED display, which offers a 120 Hz refresh rate and up to 800 nits of brightness. Despite its size, the device packs either 24 GB or 32 GB of LPDDR5X memory alongside a 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD to ensure rapid load times and efficient multitasking.

For wireless connectivity, ZOTAC has included Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, dual USB4 ports, and a microSD slot. A built-in kickstand adds flexibility to handheld play, and Hall-effect joysticks, precise triggers, and twin trackpads provide a control scheme designed for accuracy. A 48.5 Wh battery that should support extended gaming sessions is powering all this. ZOTAC also previewed its Manjaro Linux distribution on the Zone, featuring a dedicated handheld interface and Wine-based compatibility for Windows titles.

AMD announced its Radeon Open Compute (ROCm) platform with hardware acceleration support for the Ryzen AI Max 300 "Strix Halo" client processors, and the Radeon RX 9000 series gaming GPUs. For the Ryzen AI Max 300 "Strix Halo," this would unlock the compute power of the 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, with their 80 AI accelerators, and 2,560 stream processors, besides the AI-specific ISA of the up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores, including their full fat 512-bit FPU for executing AVX512 instructions. For the Radeon RX 9000 series, this would mean putting those up to 64 RDNA 4 compute units with up to 128 AI accelerators and up to 4,096 stream processors to use.

AMD also announced that it has updated the ROCm product stack with support for various main distributions of Linux, including OpenSuSE (available now), Ubuntu, and Red Hat EPEL, with the latter two getting ROCm support in the second half of 2025. Lastly, ROCm gets full Windows support, including Pytorch and ONNX-EP. A preview of the Pytorch support can be expected in Q3-2025, while a preview for ONNX-EP could arrive in July 2025.

AMD at Computex 2025 announced the Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 series processors targeting high-end desktops (HEDT) and workstations. These processors are codenamed "Shimada Peak," and are based on the "Zen 5" microarchitecture. "Shimada Peak" is a variation of the EPYC "Turin" MCM, designed for Socket TR5, with slightly modified I/O. The chip puts out up to 128 PCIe Gen 5 lanes but lacks CXL capability on these lanes, and the memory I/O is set to 8-channel DDR5 (16 sub-channels), down from 12-channel DDR5 on "Turin" (24 sub-channels).

The top SKU, the Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9995WX, comes with a 96-core/192-thread configuration, a 128-lane PCIe Gen 5 I/O, and an 8-channel DDR5 memory interface. The chip comes with a maximum boost frequency of 5.40 GHz, and a total of 384 MB of L3 cache (12x 32 MB). AMD claims a significant 10-20% gain in Cinebench 2024 nT performance over the previous generation 7995WX "Zen 4" processor, and nearly 220% gain over the Intel Xeon W9-3595X processor. Across a wide segment of media, design, architecture, science, and LLM inferencing use-cases, the 9995WX is shown posting performance leads ranging anywhere from 44% to 145% over the W9-3595X. The Threadripper PRO 9000 series will be an OEM-exclusive launch through workstation partners such as Lenovo.

Zotac is ready with the Magnus EA (2025) mini PC powered by AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" line of processors. It was inevitable for "Strix Halo" to make its way into gaming-capable mini PCs, given its small PCB and cooling footprint for the kind of hardware chops on offer—up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores, and a powerful iGPU with up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units that makes it capable of 1440p AAA gaming; besides full Microsoft Copilot+ capability with a 50 TOPS-class NPU. The Magnus EA comes in a similar 140 mm-class 1U chassis as the 2025 Magnus One that's expected to be built on Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processors, which is noticeably thinner than the 2025 Magnus EN, which combines a Core Ultra 200H "Arrow Lake-H" processor with GeForce RTX 50-series "Blackwell" mobile discrete GPUs. Zotac is expected to unveil the Magnus EA, the 2025 Magnus EN, and the 2025 Magnus One at Computex, later this month.

Vultr, the world's largest privately-held cloud infrastructure company, today announced that it is one of the first cloud providers to offer the new AMD EPYC 4005 Series processors. The AMD EPYC 4005 Series processors will be available on the Vultr platform, enabling enterprise-class features and leading performance for businesses and hosted IT service providers. The AMD EPYC 4005 Series processors extend the broad AMD EPYC processor family, powering a new line of cost-effective systems designed for growing businesses and hosted IT services providers that demand performance, advanced technologies, energy efficiency, and affordability. Servers featuring the high-performance AMD EPYC 4005 Series CPUs with streamlined memory and I/O feature sets are designed to deliver compelling system price-to-performance metrics on key customer workloads. Meanwhile, the combination of up to 16 SMT-capable cores and DDR5 memory in the AMD EPYC 4005 Series processors enables smooth execution of business-critical workloads, while maintaining the thermal and power efficiency characteristics crucial for affordable compute environments.

"Vultr is committed to delivering the most advanced cloud infrastructure with unrivaled price-to-performance," said J.J. Kardwell, CEO of Vultr. "The AMD EPYC 4005 Series provides straightforward deployment, scalability, high clock speed, energy efficiency, and best-in-class performance. Whether you are a business striving to scale reliably or a developer crafting the next groundbreaking innovation, these solutions are designed to deliver exceptional value and meet demanding requirements now and in the future." Vultr's launch of systems featuring the AMD EPYC 4245P and AMD EPYC 4345P processors will expand the company's robust line of Bare Metal solutions. Vultr will also feature the AMD EPYC 4345P as part of its High Frequency Compute (HFC) offerings for organizations requiring the highest clock speeds and access to locally-attached NVMe storage.

Today, MSI announced a lineup of entry-level servers and server motherboards powered by AMD EPYC 4005 Series Processors. Featuring up to 16 cores based on the Zen 5 architecture, these platforms deliver the performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness that small businesses, new business owners, and system integrators need to build reliable infrastructure, all within limited IT budgets and space footprints.

"We see this launch as a way to make enterprise-grade compute more accessible to smaller organizations," said Danny Hsu, General Manager of MSI's Enterprise Platform Solutions. "By pairing AMD EPYC 4005 Series Processors with MSI's proven hardware design, we're delivering practical, scalable server solutions built for real-world business scenarios—from private cloud and storage to web hosting and office IT systems."

In the weeks leading up to Computex 2025, industry watchdogs have noticed an uptick of next-gen Ryzen Threadripper PRO processor inside info leaks. AMD leadership is expected to introduce "Shimada Peak" 9000WX CPUs during a May 21 on-stage presentation. Despite the company's continued delivery of "silent treatment," external partners and other associates have alluded to an imminent arrival of Zen 5-based workstation-grade processors—very likely positioned as natural successors to Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000WX (Zen 4) options. As of May 6, the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) website has produced another "official leak." The independent/non-profit body's recent publication of a dedicated "AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 WX-Series Processors" page was highlighted by VideoCardz. "Shimada Peak's" certification seems to pave the way for a looming launch; perhaps shortly after a rumored unveiling in Taipei, Taiwan. Processor technology observers reckon that a non-PRO 9000X series will arrive at a later date—so far, succeeding generation Threadripper leaks have not outlined an adjacent High-End Desktop (HEDT) line. Unfortunately, SATA-IO's latest repository update does not contain any additional supportive info.

Unlucky owners of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processors have encountered major problems that largely involve ASRock motherboards. Throughout early 2025, user feedback provided insight into numerous cases of "catastrophic CPU failures." Members of the official ASRock subreddit have kept track of these unfortunate incidents; now closing in on 200 documented "murdered" specimens. Industry watchdogs reckon that even more disagreements—involving the Zen 5-based 9000X3D series and ASRock B- and X- (AM5) boards—exist outside of this community-aggregated log. At the end of February, ASRock pushed out an important BIOS update—this fix did not resolve all problems. Over a month later, AMD weighed in with their findings—in response, ASRock released another update.

Evidently, Ryzen 7 9800X3D products continue to perish—Tech YES City's Bryan Bilowol has added Team Red's Ryzen 9 9950X model to the mix. The tech YouTuber was surprised by the death of his example; apparently caused by an ASRock X870 Steel Legend mainboard. Standard "Granite Ridge" processors—that lack 3D V-Cache—have received less attention, but observers believe that these non-X3D options are still vulnerable. Bilowol did not personally experience the moment of catastrophe—instead, a friend was borrowing an affected PC build. As demonstrated in a new Tech YES City video post-mortem, the completely dead CPU sported some worrying gray marks. Tech YES City has a fairly large audience, so ASRock leadership will likely be cursing after noticing another uptick in public scrutiny. Past reports have pointed out the manufacturer's belief that too much "misinformation" is being spread. Bilowol surmised that the company is keeping this issue: "under the radar—they seem to be hoping that the issue will just go away." Despite collaborating with ASRock for over a decade, Tech YES City will not pull any punches—await for more gory details in upcoming follow-up investigations.

Minisforum is working on a new MoDT (Mobile on Desktop) motherboard lineup featuring mobile versions of AMD Ryzen processors, one of them being the F1FGM model. The motherboard came in a compact microATX form factor built around the AMD X870M chipset and is equipped with the latest AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX processor rather than traditional socket-type processors. This CPU has a boost clock of up to 5.4 GHz and is based on the Zen 5 architecture offering 16 cores, 32 threads, and 64 MB of L3 cache. Interestingly, even if this processor is rated at 55 W by default, in this particular Minisforum implementation it can be pushed up to a whopping 160 W. To efficiently dissipate the substantial 160 W thermal output and considering that mobile CPUs don't have an IHS, the motherboard comes equipped with a pre-installed vapor chamber heat spreader. The VRM features a solid design with 13-phase 60 A SPS DrMOS. Minisforum has also included large heatsinks across the VRMs, M.2 Slots and PCH.

For expansion, the Minisforum F1FGM motherboard offers one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and one PCIe 4.0 x16 slot. Storage interfaces include one PCIe 5.0 compatible M.2 slot, three additional M.2 slots (one is rated at Gen 5 x4), two SATA 6 Gbps connections and two BIOS Debug LEDs. On the connectivity side it features two USB4 ports, one HDMI, one DisplayPort, five Gigabit Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 7 compatibility. The four 5 V ARGB LED control pin headers is a clear step towards DIY users and according to company representatives, the main competition for this motherboard will be ASUS ROG products. PCWatch reports that Minisforum intends to offer the F1FGM motherboard at a price point comparable to a standalone desktop CPU in the second half of this year.

Lenovo today unveiled a refreshed portfolio of ThinkPad devices engineered to meet the evolving needs of modern professionals—from content creators and engineers to knowledge workers and hybrid teams. The lineup includes powerful Copilot+ PCs, such as the ThinkPad P14s Gen 6 AMD and ThinkPad P16s Gen 4 AMD mobile workstations, alongside new ThinkPad L Series business laptops and expands its ThinkPad X1 Aura Editions, delivering the performance, manageability, and intelligence today's AI-powered workflows demand.

Together, these latest ThinkPad systems reflect Lenovo's commitment to delivering smarter, more adaptive solutions that support advanced workloads, sustainability goals, and flexible work models—whether users are building complex simulations or collaborating across teams.

Going back to May 2023, an industry inside report suggested that AMD was planning a new generation Ryzen Threadripper High-End Desktop (HEDT) processor series. At the time, "Shimada Peak" was linked to a possible 2025 launch. Over the ensuing years, shipping manifests have revealed the transfer of various 9000 SKUs between Team Red facilities—starting with a mysterious 96-core prototype. Industry observers have been seeking out newer evidence of AMD's next-gen flagship "Zen 5" Threadripper chip; likely going under a "9995WX" moniker.

Late last week, a fresh leak unearthed a likely sub-flagship SKU: the 9985WX. This alleged 64-core SKU was spotted—by Everest (aka Olrak29)—alongside 9955WX (16-core) and 9945WX (12-core) siblings, in a shipping manifest. As reported on TechPowerUp on March 21, the same source uncovered two other entry-level models: the 9975WX (32-core) and 9965WX (24-core) parts. Unfortunately, Team Red's rumored monstrous 96-core 9995WX processor was not listed within fresh batches of shipping documents. Industry watchdogs expect AMD to repeat its product layout from past generations; spanning from entry-tier 12-core offerings up to the aforementioned 96-core range-topper. The latest leak suggests utilization of the SP6 socket type, and 350 W TDPs (across all product identifiers).