MSI Boosts AMD Ryzen 7 9700X & Ryzen 5 9600X CPU Performance Up To 13% With “105W TDP” Mode, Official Release In AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS

MSI has added a "105W TDP" mode to its AM5 motherboards running the latest AGESA 1.2.0.1 BIOS, boosting AMD Ryzen 7 9700X & Ryzen 5 9600X CPUs.

Back in June, we reported that AMD was planning to do a re-spec of its Ryzen 7 9700X CPU to a 120W TDP (officially 65W). The plan was devised to ensure that the CPU delivers better gaming & multi-threaded performance to make it look like a decent generational upgrade over the Ryzen 7 7700X but that didn't happen, at least at launch.

Received new BIOS from MSI, with a new option "TDP to 105W" to increase TDP of Ryzen 9700X/9600X from 65W to 105W. Ryzen 9700X Cinebench R23 multi-core score : 65W: 20,409, 105W: 23,153. It's 13% faster. pic.twitter.com/mt9wh5AnJS

— kuroberu (@kuroberumo) August 28, 2024

Later, it was reported that AMD was planning to introduce a new "105W TDP" mode within the AGESA 1.2.0.1 BIOS update which would be offered on both 65W CPUs, the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X, but it looks like the official plans have now been moved to release the higher TDP mode once the AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS update rolls out.

However, certain motherboard makers such as MSI have decided to integrate this higher TDP mode within their AGESA 1.2.0.1 BIOS releases which are available for download publicly. We have been told that the AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS will be released later in September or early October.

This new mode is called "TDP to 105W" and only works with Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X CPUs.

The first benchmarks of this new "105W" mode have been shared within Cinebench R23 and it looks like the performance upgrade will be noticeable. Using the 105W, AMD's 65W "Zen 5" CPU releases see a 13% increase in performance within the multi-threaded tests.

Now these are just synthetic multi-threaded benchmarks and it remains to be seen if this mode is going to offer any noticeable performance advantages in games too. AMD is working towards CPU optimizations for its Zen 5 architecture with the most recent one being the Branch Prediction patch which is rolling out on both Windows 11 24H2 and 23H2 systems. There are other updates planned for AMD's Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" CPUs too but those will be coming in the months ahead.