Zen 5 delayed by AMD to August 15th, due to "not meeting quality standards" of first production run

[anonpuffs]

 

[anonpuffs]

theverge article

AMD is slightly delaying its Ryzen 9000 desktop CPUs ‘out of an abundance of caution’​

It doesn’t anticipate any further delays.​

AMD was set to launch its new Zen 5 processors on July 31st, including the 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 9950X, a chip it’s calling “the world’s most powerful desktop consumer processor.” Instead, it’s now announcing a one- to two-week delay “out of an abundance of caution.” The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will now launch on August 8th, while the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X will go on sale on August 15th.
This is not because AMD’s found any issues with the actual chips, spokesperson Stacy MacDiarmid tells The Verge. Rather, AMD discovered some of its chips didn’t go through all of the proper testing procedures, and the company wants to make sure they do.
Here’s the full statement from AMD computing and graphics SVP Jack Huynh:

We appreciate the excitement around Ryzen 9000 series processors. During final checks, we found the initial production units that were shipped to our channel partners did not meet our full quality expectations. Out of an abundance of caution and to maintain the highest quality experiences for every Ryzen user, we are working with our channel partners to replace the initial production units with fresh units. As a result, there will be a short delay in retail availability. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors will now go on sale on August 8th and the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X processors will go on-sale on August 15th. We pride ourselves in providing a high-quality experience for every Ryzen user, and we look forward to our fans having a great experience with the new Ryzen 9000 series.

AMD already recalled the chips that needed the additional testing before they could go on sale, and it sounds like that testing is going smoothly; AMD’s engineers are confident the chips won’t be delayed further, according to MacDiarmid.

AMD’s new desktop chips also include the Ryzen 9 9900X, Ryzen 7 9700X, and Ryzen 5 9600X. Image: AMD
I can understand why AMD might feel the need (and opportunity) to be extra cautious right now, issue or not. Intel is still dealing with the fallout from its sometimes unstable 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors, including the Core i9-13900K and i9-14900K, which is turning out to be worse than we thought. While Intel has finally identified the root cause, a patch won’t arrive until August, and there’s apparently no fix for chips that are already unstable.
Tom’s Hardware reports that those crashing Intel chips have been permanently degraded and will need to be returned to Intel; we’ve reached out to Intel with a list of questions about how it’s handling the situation.
AMD is about to launch its Zen 5 laptop chips, too, codenamed Strix Point and formally known as Ryzen AI 9 300. AMD recently revealed a new higher-end chip in that lineup, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, with a more powerful 55 TOPS NPU.

 

[anonpuffs]

Tom's hardware article

AMD announced today that it has delayed its Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 launch due to an unspecified quality issue. As a result, AMD tells us it has pulled back all Ryzen 9000 units it has delivered to retailers and OEMs worldwide. The company will now launch the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors on August 8, while the higher-end Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X will be delayed until August 15. We have AMD’s official statement below, but we have also learned additional important details — like that the company discovered the issue during its packaging testing flow.

This is an unprecedented move for AMD, at least in recent history. During final processor checks, AMD discovered an unspecified quality issue with the Ryzen 9000 processors that had slipped past its internal inspection processes. Chips with the issue were then delivered for the first wave of retail products.


AMD says that out of an abundance of caution and to ensure that not a single chip with a quality issue is delivered to a customer, it is now pulling back all Ryzen 9000 chips it has shipped globally to replace them with fresh units. The Ryzen AI 300 mobile processors remain on track for launch at the end of the month.

AMD says that out of an abundance of caution and to ensure that not a single chip with a quality issue is delivered to a customer, it is now pulling back all Ryzen 9000 chips it has shipped globally to replace them with fresh units. The Ryzen AI 300 mobile processors remain on track for launch at the end of the month.

A company representative told Tom’s Hardware that the issue doesn’t require a redesign or re-spin of the Ryzen 9000 silicon and will not result in changes to the already-defined specifications for the various models. AMD will re-screen the chips pulled from the field to identify any with potential issues and then return unaffected models to retail channels. This indicates that not all chips suffer from the issue.

An AMD representative told us that the company “identified an issue with our package product testing process for Ryzen 9000 series processors that could result in a small number of products reaching the market that do not meet our quality standards.” AMD specifically cited the package testing process, implying that the issue resides in the packaging implementation (more on that below). However, AMD has declined to specify the specific nature of the quality issue.

AMD is making every effort to ensure that no customers receive the first wave of Ryzen 9000 processors it has shipped — a daunting task given its supply chains that reach across the globe. We do know that at least two processors have already been sold to customers in various countries, and it is possible that a few more could slip through. AMD is also recalling samples that have been delivered to its OEM/ODM partners.

It is unclear if preorders will be canceled or delayed, but it’s logical to think this would vary by retailer. As you would imagine, reviews are also delayed — AMD isn’t taking any chances of shipping defective units anywhere.

Interesting it's claimed to be a packaging issue. I wonder what that means exactly, did they misalign the chips when attaching them to the substrate?

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Interesting it's claimed to be a packaging issue. I wonder what that means exactly, did they misalign the chips when attaching them to the substrate?

Probably just some logistics error or malfunctioning equipment in the quality pipeline:

This is not because AMD’s found any issues with the actual chips, spokesperson Stacy MacDiarmid tells The Verge. Rather, AMD discovered some of its chips didn’t go through all of the proper testing procedures, and the company wants to make sure they do.

 

[anonpuffs]

Probably just some logistics error or malfunctioning equipment in the quality pipeline:

Yeah but the fact that they're recalling and replacing them instead of issuing a microcode update means it probably had some sort of material impact. And it wouldn't cause them to delay the launch.

Maybe a small batch of them had an issue with the wrong chiplets being packaged. Like maybe a 7900x got labeled as a 7950x because some 6core dies got packaged on the wrong line. Idk, it doesn't sound too serious but it is curious. Maybe they are just trying to wait out the Intel update to see if it will lower their performance for more benchmark wins lmao

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Yeah but the fact that they're recalling and replacing them instead of issuing a microcode update means it probably had some sort of material impact. And it wouldn't cause them to delay the launch.

They're recalling to retest with the steps that were missing, and then they're probably putting those back in the distribution channels.

It could be that some of the CPUs being recalled will get detected as faulty, but they don't seem to expect this to be a common occurrence.