In order to get the most out of your CPU, you need a compatible motherboard with the best parts and settings tuned to take advantage of what your CPU can do. Gigabyte is doing just that with the latest firmware on its X870 and X670 motherboards with AM5 processor sockets.
Gigabyte’s new “Turbo Mode” setting allegedly improves gaming performance of the best AMD Ryzen chips by up to 35 percent. That’s the best-case scenario, of course, using the newly announced Ryzen 9000X3D series of CPUs that are launching next month.
But Gigabyte claims that AMD’s AGESA firmware should see significant performance gains in the Ryzen 9000X (non-3D) and Ryzen 7000 families, too. Ryzen 9000X CPUs will get a boost of up to 20 percent, though it’s not known how much you can expect if you’re running an older processor. Given the dramatic jumps that Gigabyte is promising, even older mid-range processors like the Ryzen 7600X should see a noticeable bump in gaming performance.
Oddly, Gigabyte’s original press release has been removed. It looks like the company confirmed the upcoming release for the 9000X3D series before AMD officially made the announcement. Tom’s Hardware has the information — well, what little there is of it.
Gigabyte’s details on the exact methods used to empower “Turbo Mode” are light, though it did say that the settings could let standard Ryzen 9000X CPUs “achieve similar gaming performance levels as their Ryzen X3D counterparts.” That would be a big deal, as the extra V-cache in X3D CPUs makes them pricier and far more in-demand for gaming PCs.
The improved BIOS software for the X870 and X670 motherboards does not appear to be available yet. It’s based on AMD’s AGESA 1.2.0.2a, which has popped up in a couple of other beta releases with big reductions in inter-core latency for AM5 processors. If Gigabyte is promising those huge bumps in processor performance, it seems likely that competitors like Asus and MSI will try to do the same.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.