What kind of 2024 did AMD experience? This year was quiet in some respects for Team Red – with not much activity in the GPU space, with one notable exception – but there was more happening on the CPU front, although the introduction of new Zen 5 processors proved controversial .
New laptop chips for Copilot+ PCs and a new X3D offering were absolute highlights, so without further ado, let’s dig into what was good, bad or indifferent for AMD in 2024.
Vanilla Ryzen 9000 processors swooned at launch
This year we got new Ryzen processors, although the launch of these Zen 5 chips was pushed back a month from July to August – A delay that some considered ominous at the time. The more pessimistic mutterings turned into something of an online outcry when the Ryzen 9000 series eventually arrived, with the PC community seemingly quick to call the new processors a flop.
That’s perhaps a harsh conclusion to jump to, although it’s undeniable that the Ryzen 9000 fell short of the expectations of prospective CPU buyers, especially for gaming performance, where increases were reported to be closer to 5% than the 10% AMD claimed pre-release (which is where the “Zen 5%” joke comes from). The better news is that the Ryzen 9000 quickly gained better performance thanks to fine tuning work in Windows 11 24H2 – although crucially, Ryzen 7000 chips came close to the same (large) increase.
After fairly shaky reviews of the mainstream Ryzen 9700X and 9600X offerings, sales seemed to be flagging out of the gate – partly due to Ryzen 7000 chips still being available at pretty steep discounts, makes them comparatively more attractive.
So the flak AMD caught from a gaming angle wasn’t at all good here, but Team Red had a couple of things going in their favor. Its desktop CPU competitor, Intelspent all of 2024 dealing with far worse problems than a lukewarm reception around playability – with Team Blue’s 13th and 14th generation processors plagued by nasty instability issues (which were eventually fixed). On top of that, Intel’s new Core Ultra 200S (Arrow Lake) desktop processors fared just as badly as the Ryzen 9000 – actually worse – out of the gate in terms of gaming performance.
That gave AMD some breathing room, and then Team Red fired back with a powerful volley to entice PC gamers in the form of a quick launch of its new 3D V-Cache processors.
Ryzen 9800X3D to the rescue
Last year we saw the introduction of 3D V-Cache for Zen 4 processors, and Ryzen 7800X3D caught fire as most popular gaming CPU out there. While AMD normally takes some time to push out X3D chips for a given generation, with Zen 5, these gaming-focused processors arrived very quickly. In fact, the Ryzen 9800X3D debuted in the first week of November, just a few months after the Ryzen 9000 chips.
You could argue that this rushed look was pushed through to remove the bad taste from the Ryzen 9000, and the Ryzen 9800X3D actually did just that for PC gamers. As we found in our reviewthis CPU is seriously beefed up (with the ability to overclock for the first time too), and an excellent gaming chip – we actually called it the best processor release of 2024.
The sticking point for the 9800X3D was the slightly increased MSRP, along with the initial stock sells out very quicklya situation compounded by scalping misery. Still, this was clearly the piece of silicon AMD needed to get out the door to restore its CPU reputation and really take the fight to Intel.
It’s also worth noting that we were treated to a welcome wallet-friendly offering from AMD, Ryzen 7600X3Das a budget gaming CPU (and a perfect fit for small form factor builds) – but as a US-exclusive Micro Center (again).
GPU disappointment – with a big rescue
AMD was a hive of activity with graphics cards last yearcompletes the RDNA 3 series with various models of GPUs, from the lower RX 7600, to the mid-range with the RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT. Before that in 2022, we only had high-end models with the RDNA 3 family.
To say this year was a bit of a contrast is an understatement. Already at the beginning of 2024, we got a new RX 7600 XT, the beefed-up version of the most wallet-friendly RDNA 3 GPU, but it was a modest upgradenot as convincing in the value stakes, and overall it didn’t stack up well against its peers Nvidia rival (RTX 4060).
We were hoping for some new entrants at the real budget GPU market in 2024, below the RX 7600, but rumored RX 7400 and 7300 never shown. (Though, oddly enough, we got some milking old low-end Radeon GPUs).
We also hoped for RDNA 4 with even more fervor, of course, but that didn’t happen either. Although the rumor mill firmly believed that these next-gen graphics cards could debut later in 2024, they didn’t – and the grapevine now has a predicted launch for the first quarter of 2025. Overall, a no-show from RDNA 4 – which is rumored to top the mid-range, with a RX 8700 XT flagship in theory – was one of the biggest disappointments in the PC sphere for us in 2024.
What we got, however, was a rocket-powered rabbit – a Golden Rabbit Edition, or GRE, version of the RX 7900, to be exact. Now, this was a GPU that launched in China in mid-2023, but it wasn’t released globally until February 2024. At that point RX 7900 GRE stormed our list of best GPUs and stole the top position, arguably being the best entry-level option for 4K gambling.
So, it wasn’t a complete wash for Team Red after all, especially when you consider that the RX 7800 XT also topped our best GPU list when it appeared last year. However, GRE was the only thing that was GRE-wide (sorry) about 2024 for AMD’s GPUs.
The Ryzen AI 300 enters the scene to take on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X
As you’ve no doubt noticed, 2024 was the year Copilot+ PCs launched, and the only chips powering these AI laptops were Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X SoCs to begin with.
However, AMD and Intel weren’t too far behind with processors that had a powerful enough NPU to qualify as the engine of a Copilot+ PC, and Team Red’s Ryzen AI 300 (x86) processors (also known as Strix Point) came to laptops which started from July 2024. However, the available models were very thin on the ground to begin with, and indeed the amount of choice with Strix Point PCs remains limited even as this year draws to a close end
The Ryzen AI 300 proved strong for AI, and also general performance and mobile gaming, easily matching Qualcomm’s effort – with the advantage of having none of the compatibility issues that Arm-based Snapdragon X processors have as baggage.
That said, Intel also debuted Lunar Lake mobile (x86) processors for Copilot+ PCs in 2024, and these proved to be very strong processors as well – and a match for the Ryzen AI 300 in many respects. In short, two great x86 alternatives to Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ PCs appeared in 2024, although we need more laptops packing this silicon.
Final thoughts
Other notable events for AMD 2024 include release of FSR 3.1 – which still lags behind Nvidia DLSS, although AI might fix it – and an eye-opening performance in surprise Intel in the data center arena in terms of total revenue.
While the launch of Ryzen 9000 processors caused some wobbles, we have to remember that these aren’t bad chips by any means – they just didn’t meet (gaming) expectations and didn’t seem like much value compared to previous-gen processors (to greatly reduced prices) which are still very much on the shelves (at the moment).
Ryzen 9000’s time will undoubtedly come, and in any case, AMD bounced back appropriately with the Ryzen 9800X3D – and wasn’t exactly under pressure from Intel either, as Team Blue had bigger concerns than the criticism Team Red faced.
GPU launches were thin on the ground from AMD, and quite disappointing – apart from the RX 7900 GRE – and RDNA 4 not showing up this year was another source of some consternation.
Unfortunately, 2024 AMD was also seen carry out large layoffswhere the company does not care about an increasing focus on the AI world, where big profits are to be made.
Does the increased tilt towards AI have anything to do with pushing back RDNA 4 graphics cards, perhaps? We don’t know, and wouldn’t get paranoid about AMD deprioritizing consumer GPUs just yet – it’s probably more to do with market conditions and sales through current-gen RDNA 3 stock. Moreover, you can apply that worried thought to Nvidia as much, with the next generation of Blackwell gaming GPUs also not appearing this year, and perhaps launching in the shadow of much bigger potential AI gains.
