AMD has reportedly delayed the launch of its new Zen 5 CPUs because of a typo on the heatspreader. The new AMD Ryzen 9000 CPU lineup was originally scheduled to be released on July 31, but the company then backtracked and issued August release dates for the new chips. AMD said the new processors were delayed because initial units didn’t meet its “quality expectations,” but it thankfully looks as though there’s nothing wrong with the CPUs under the typo.
One of the affected new processors is the forthcoming AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, a new eight-core CPU that the company claims can beat the Ryzen 7 5800X3D in benchmarks, making it a prime candidate for our best gaming CPU guide if the price is right.
There’s just one problem. The metal heatspreader on top of the CPU apparently says “AMD Ryzen 9 9700X” on it, and this is a Ryzen 7 CPU, rather than a Ryzen 9 model. Not only that, but there are also rumors that the Ryzen 5 9600X has a similar typo on it.
AMD hasn’t officially commented on this alleged typo yet, but the report comes from a very reliable source, tech consultant Dr Ian Cuttress, former CPU tech specialist at Anandtech. Cuttress has close ties with a lot of people in the processor business, and really knows his stuff when it comes to CPU tech. In response to tech leaker Olrak29_ saying they hope AMD “discloses the actual issue” behind the delay, Cuttress replied on X (formerly Twitter) that the issue was a “typo on the packaging.”
This was later corroborated by a purported photo from another leaker, HXL, in a post saying that Ian Cuttress is right. The picture (reproduced below) shows a 9700X sample with a tatty-looking heatspreader that very clearly says “AMD Ryzen 9 9700X” on it, rather than AMD Ryzen 7 9700X. The chip looks genuine too, with the correct 100-000001404 product ID for a Ryzen 7 9700X, although the “7” in the last part of the model number looks a bit wonky.
Meanwhile, Tom’s Hardware reports that Ryzen 5 9600X samples have also been shipped to retailers with a “9” instead of a “5” in the model number, with Ryzen 9 9600X reportedly written on the heatspreader.
Of course, none of this has been officially confirmed by AMD, but if this is true, someone (or someones) at AMD is going to be getting it in the neck right now. It’s an easy mistake to make, though. As an editor, the number between “Ryzen” and the final model number in a CPU name is one of the errors I most frequently correct. Missing it on two mass-produced CPUs just before launch is a proper doozy, though.
This also makes us wonder why the new AMD Ryzen 9000 release date is now staggered, with the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X coming first, and the two Ryzen 9 chips coming a week later. What needs changing on the Ryzen 9 chips? Still, at least, if this is true, it’s just a typo and not a problem with the underlying CPU. Given the choice, we’d rather have a chip that works with a typo on it, rather than the other way round.
For more information on what’s coming with these new chips, you can find out all you need to know in our AMD Zen 5 guide, and you can also check out our guide on how to build a gaming PC if you’re thinking of putting together a new Ryzen 9000 rig when the new CPUs come out.