AMD Ryzen 7 9700X gets much-needed TDP boost via BIOS update, but only for MSI motherboards

A rumour from earlier said that AMD would give the 65 Watt Ryzen 7 9700X a last-minute TDP boost before the CPU hit shelves. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, resulting in some lackluster performance. While other factors such as Windows 11 contributed to it, multiple reviews have shown the CPU scales well with power. Now, MSI lets you run your shiny new Ryzen 7 9000X at 105 Watts via a BIOS update.

An X user @kuroberumo received the upgrade via the AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS update on their MPG X670E Carbon Wi-Fi motherboard. Switching it on is fairly simple and involves a toggle from the overclocking menu. This comes a few weeks after a leaker on X heralded its arrival. Wccftech says it also works with the Ryzen 5 9600X, allowing you to squeeze more performance out of your Zen 5 mid-ranger.

Currently, there's no word about when other board partners will follow suit, but it shouldn't be long before other OEMs roll it out. It will probably be baked into the next-gen X870 (and ideally B850) motherboards once they launch in October. That, combined with the new Windows update that lets Zen 5 processors run faster, should ideally yield some noteworthy performance gains (double digits) in the coming week.