AM4 is alive and well as AMD announces Ryzen 5000XT CPUs at Computex 2024
AMD announced the new Ryzen 5000XT series update for its older AM4 socket at Computex 2024 in Taipei, Taiwan, consisting of two new processors. From July you can get your hands on the Ryzen 9 5900XT and the Ryzen 7 5800XT, both with improvements over their predecessors.
You won’t necessarily punish your wallet too much, either. That’s because the Ryzen 9 5900XT retails for $359 (about £280 / AU$536) and the Ryzen 7 5800XT for $249 (about £195 / AU$373). For context, that’s a lot cheaper than what the 5900X ($549 / £420 / AU$760) and 5800X ($499 / £399 / AU$700) sold for at release.
While AMD just unveiled the Ryzen 9000 series for the AM5 socket, Team Red clearly hasn’t forgotten that its customers are running older CPU hardware. The upcoming Ryzen 9 5900 XT features 16 cores and 32 threads with a maximum boost clock speed of up to 4.8 GHz and 72 MB cache at a TDP of 105 W.
Conversely, mid-range gamers will not be left in the dark after an upgrade, as the Ryzen 7 5800XT has eight cores and 16 threads with a boost clock of up to 4.8 GHz and 36 MB cache and a 105 TDP. The boost clocks here are the big draw, as Team Red can squeeze the last drops of life out of the four-year-old hardware.
As a frame of reference, the 2020 5800X has the same eight cores and 16 threads, but a weaker boost clock of 4.7 GHz. Thanks to this new chip, you get slightly improved performance at a price that’s hard to beat. It also comes with an included Wraith Prism RGB cooler.
However, things get more exciting with the jump from the older 5900X to the 5900XT. That’s because this new chipset increases the number of cores from its predecessor’s 12 to 16, the same number of cores as the 5950X. If you’re using an older AM4 chipset with less under the hood, this upgrade can be a cost-effective way to achieve much better gaming and productivity performance.
AM4 lives on
It’s an excellent move by AMD to continue supporting customers who are still gaming on AM4 and who haven’t made the jump yet. Since this socket type first appeared in 2017, it has a huge install base across three different Ryzen CPU generations, with last-gen gamers able to get huge boosts with the XT models.
Team Red seems committed to socket longevity and we saw what this means with its AM5 socket at Computex 2024 with the unveiling of the Ryzen 9000 series. As the second generation using AM5, there are no signs of slowing down as AMD promises to support the platform until at least 2027. That’s a similar time frame to AM4, so if you have an older Ryzen 2000, 3000, or weaker 5000, then this could be an excellent time to upgrade.