AMD hits the brakes on its Zen 5-powered Ryzen 9000 processors
AMD has delayed its Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 launch as a consequence of an unspecified high quality situation, the corporate introduced at present. Because of this, AMD tells us it has pulled again all Ryzen 9000 items it has delivered to retailers and OEMs worldwide.
The corporate will now launch the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors on August 8, whereas the higher-end Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X will probably be delayed till August 15. We have now AMD’s official assertion under, however Tom’s {Hardware} has additionally realized further essential particulars — together with the truth that the corporate found the problem throughout its packaging testing movement.
That is an unprecedented transfer for AMD, a minimum of in current historical past. Throughout last processor checks, AMD found an unspecified high quality situation with the Ryzen 9000 processors that had slipped previous its inner inspection processes. Chips with the problem had been then delivered for the primary wave of retail merchandise.
AMD says that out of an abundance of warning and to make sure that not a single chip with a top quality situation is delivered to a buyer, it’s now pulling again all Ryzen 9000 chips it has shipped globally to interchange them with recent items. The Ryzen AI 300 cell processors stay on observe for launch on the finish of the month.
An organization consultant instructed Tom’s {Hardware} that the problem doesn’t require a redesign or re-spin of the Ryzen 9000 silicon and won’t lead to adjustments to the already-defined specs for the assorted fashions. AMD will re-screen the chips pulled from the sector to establish any with potential points after which return unaffected fashions to retail channels. This means that not all chips endure from the problem.
An AMD consultant instructed us that the corporate “recognized a problem with our bundle product testing course of for Ryzen 9000 collection processors that would lead to a small variety of merchandise reaching the market that don’t meet our high quality requirements.” AMD particularly cited the bundle testing course of, implying that the problem resides within the packaging implementation (extra on that under). Nevertheless, AMD has declined to specify the precise nature of the standard situation.
AMD is making each effort to make sure that no prospects obtain the primary wave of Ryzen 9000 processors it has shipped — a frightening job given its provide chains that attain throughout the globe. We do know that a minimum of two processors have already been bought to prospects in numerous international locations, and it’s attainable that a couple of extra may slip by means of. AMD can be recalling samples which have been delivered to its OEM/ODM companions.
It’s unclear if preorders will probably be canceled or delayed, but it surely’s logical to assume this might differ by retailer. As you’ll think about, evaluations are additionally delayed — AMD isn’t taking any probabilities of delivery faulty items anyplace.
All chipmakers have a strong screening course of that checks processors for errors at a number of steps within the manufacturing course of. That features checks of the die on the wafer earlier than it’s connected to the bundle to make sure it’s a Recognized Good Die (KGD), after which checks of the finished processor after the packaging course of (whereby the die is mated to the PCB that holds the processor) to make sure the chip performs to expectations. The ultimate checks usually contain working automated software program routines that check the processors in as some ways as possible, together with even loading working methods, to weed out points.
This last testing step can happen both as a part of the packaging testing course of or after the packaging testing. Due to this fact, a problem discovered within the packaging testing movement could or might not be immediately associated to the packaging implementation.
AMD’s packaging flows for its Ryzen 9000 collection processors are comparatively easier than different extra superior types of packaging, like 3D stacking, CoWoS, Foveros, or EMIB. For Ryzen, AMD mounts one I/O Die atop an ordinary natural substrate (the PCB that holds the dies) after which, utilizing a high-speed SERDES, connects it to both one or two dies that maintain compute cores. It is a well-known and very mature course of movement, so yields are a lot larger than that discovered with different extra unique forms of packaging.
This packaging tech is considerably lovely in its simplicity, excessive yields, and cost-effectiveness, and make no mistake: AMD has used this straightforward packaging approach to disrupt the market. Nevertheless, a number of points may probably crop up, akin to contaminants within the supplies used within the course of or different unexpected elements. The PCB additionally options connections for the pads that mate with the CPU socket, and attainable points may additionally happen with the underside of the substrate.
AMD’s situation crops up as its rival Intel has taken an rising quantity of criticism for permitting crashing points to fester for months earlier than asserting a repair days in the past. AMD clearly does not need to make the identical mistake.
We’re following up for added particulars. Right here’s AMD’s official assertion on the matter:
“We recognize the thrill round Ryzen 9000 collection processors. Throughout last checks, we discovered the preliminary manufacturing items that had been shipped to our channel companions didn’t meet our full high quality expectations. Out of an abundance of warning and to keep up the best high quality experiences for each Ryzen person, we’re working with our channel companions to interchange the preliminary manufacturing items with recent items. Because of this, there will probably be a brief delay in retail availability. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors will now go on sale on August eighth and the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X processors will go on-sale on August fifteenth. We delight ourselves in offering a high-quality expertise for each Ryzen person, and we stay up for our followers having an awesome expertise with the brand new Ryzen 9000 collection.” – Jack Huynh, AMD SVP and GM of Computing and Graphics.
