AMD RYZEN 3000XT with quicker clock speed and Asus B550 mobo

27/6/2020

AMD has finally revealed three new processors in the Ryzen 3000-series, the long-awaited Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT and the Ryzen 5 3600XT. The new processors are built using a more refined 7nm process than the one used to manufacture the non-XT counterparts. The result? Slightly higher performance.

The new 7nm process employed to manufacture the XT variants of the AMD desktop CPUs allows for higher performance while maintaining the same TDP as their non-XT counterpart. The focus here really seems to be improving the single-threaded performance, as that was the only real advantage Team Blue’s chips had over the newer Ryzen CPUs.

According to CGDirector, the new Ryzen 9 3900XT posts a single-threaded score that is 4 percent higher than that posted by the Intel Core i9-10900K. However, further testing and benchmarking of the two processors is required before a true winner can be declared.

AMD’s announcement of the three new processors also included a new surprise. While the XT labelled CPUs will carry the same retail price as their non-XT counterparts, this time, AMD is bundling a cooler only with the Ryzen 5 3600XT. The Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 chips will ship without a cooler in the box, something that reduces the overall value proposition.

AMD’s justification for the move is that they observed a significant portion of the users of the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 parts would use a third-party cooler anyway. AMD is recommending a 280mm all-in-one liquid cooler or equivalent air cooler for the two CPUs and has shared this compatibility sheet for the Ryzen 9 3950x as a reference for those who may not be sure what works.

In addition to the launch above, ASUS' new motherboards based on AMD's latest B550 chipset are here at last in Singapore too. The B550 chipset is intended to be a budget version of the high-end X570, similar to the way B450 was a more affordable version of X470.

Compared to B450, the B550 chipset now supports PCIe 4.0 from the CPU, even though you're still more likely to benefit from PCIe 4.0 SSDs than graphics cards at the moment. However, the CPU and chipset are still connected by a PCIe 3.0 bus. Other features include support for SLI and CrossFire and USB 3.2 (Gen 2), which offers speeds up to 10Gbps.

Here's an overview of all the ASUS B550 boards you can buy now and their prices:

ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming - S$499
ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (Wi-Fi) - S$369
ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming - S$389
ASUS TUF Gaming B550-PLUS - S$309
ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-PLUS (Wi-Fi) - S$289
ASUS PRIME B550M-A (Wi-Fi) - S$239

The new ASUS B550 motherboards feature beefed-up VRMs for more reliable and responsive power, with most models utilising auxiliary power inputs with ProCool solid-pin connectors. On top of that, you get things like Wi-Fi 6, 2.5Gbps Ethernet, and support for higher frequency memory.

Elsewhere, the ROG Strix and TUF Gaming boards also come with AI noise-canceling software, which supposedly improves the clarity of in-game communication. With support for 3.5mm, USB, and Bluetooth headsets, the software leverages a large deep learning database to preserve the sound of your voice while cutting out ambient sounds like keyboard clatter and mouse clicks.