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AMD is already recalling — and delaying — its Ryzen 9000 CPUs

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A hand holding AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

AMD just announced a delay of its Ryzen 9000 CPUs. The processors were originally meant to go on sale July 31, but they’ll now arrive in the first two weeks of August. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will launch on August 8, while the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X will go on sale August 15.

Here’s the statement from Jack Huynh, senior vice president of computing and graphics at AMD, in full:

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“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.”

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It’s unclear why exactly the initial batch of CPUs didn’t meet quality expectations, but CPU delays are far from ordinary. Tom’s Hardware reports that a small portion of the initial run had an error in packaging — CPU packaging, not the box — that could impact the quality of the processor. AMD is in the process of recalling the CPUs it has already shipped, which isn’t an easy feat. As we’ve seen from leaked reviews, some of these processors are already out in the wild.

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Boxed processors are being recalled, but so are processors that have already been shipped to system providers. Reviewers have yet to receive samples of the processors yet, either, and the delay in release provides an explanation as to why.

Although we have no reason to believe Ryzen 9000 CPUs are troubled, the delay comes hot on the heels of Intel confirming a massive quality issue with its 13th-gen and 14th-gen CPUs. Clearly AMD is being cautious to not run up against a similar issue. We still don’t know when reviews will go live, but they should be staggered along with the release dates now.

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Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
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