AMD denies reports of Ryzen 5000XT launch delay — chips on schedule for release this month

Despite media reports that AMD has delayed its Ryzen 5000XT processors, AMD told Tom's Hardware that the Ryzen 9 5900XT and the Ryzen 7 5800XT will launch as scheduled. The chipmaker had previously slated the 5000XT launch for July, meaning the chips should be available at retail tomorrow.

"There has been no change to the sales embargo of the 5000XT," an AMD representative confirmed to Tom's Hardware.

Fueled by an updated product listing at B&H Photo Video, several media outlets reported today that AMD's Ryzen 5000XT had been delayed. The retailer moved the pre-order launch dates of the Ryzen 9 5900XT and the Ryzen 7 5800XT to August 15 and August 8, respectively, which is 15 days after AMD's target launch date in July. However, AMD has confirmed that this isn't the case.

B&H Photo's delayed pre-order times led to reports that AMD would delay the launch of its Ryzen 5000XT processors, just like what happened to the Ryzen 9000 chips due to quality issues. A branding typo could have contributed to the delay for the Ryzen 9000 chips, but it isn't clear if that is the only underlying issue. In either case, AMD is pulling back the Ryzen 9000 chips in its supply chain to re-screen them for unspecified quality issue(s). AMD will now launch the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors on August 8. The higher-end Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X will be delayed until August 15.   

There are a few possibilities for the sudden change to B&H Photo Video's pre-order listings. For instance, the Ryzen 9 5900XT and the Ryzen 7 5800XT listings could simply be placeholders, which is common with foreign retailers whose pricing and dates don't always match the official information. Or perhaps the person revising the listing mistakenly used the same launch date as the Ryzen 9000 series.

As a quick recap, the Ryzen 7 5800XT is an almost identical twin to the Ryzen 7 5800X, featuring eight Zen 3 cores, 32MB of L3 cache, and a 105W TDP. AMD's only change to the Ryzen 7 5800XT is the 100MHz improvement in the boost clock, going from 4.7 GHz to 4.8 GHz.

The Ryzen 9 5900XT, on the other hand, should provide a significant upgrade over the current Ryzen 9 5900X. Weirdly, AMD chose that model name since the Ryzen 9 5900XT is closer to the Ryzen 9 5950X than the Ryzen 9 5900X. The Ryzen 9 5900XT wields the same 16 Zen 3 cores as the former in addition to the 64MB L3 cache and 105W TDP. The Ryzen 9 5900XT has a 100 MHz lower base and boost clock than the Ryzen 9 5950X.

AMD has kept the pricing under wraps for the Ryzen 9 5900XT and the Ryzen 7 5800XT. However, we should know tomorrow how much the new refreshed chips cost. Don't forget to double back for our review of the two processors and two new 5000XT SKUs.