In a recent test, TechPowerUP noticed odd results from the max boost frequencies of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU. Looking at its dual 8-core CCDs, an AMD processor feature that offers multiple CPU complex dies, the cores from the first CCD section produced a higher frequency when boosted than the second CCD. To further investigate, CapFrameX revealed that performance while gaming increases by ten percent when the second set is disabled on an updated Win11 system.

Up to ten percent improvement in gaming can be made on the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X by disabling one of two CCDs

First, let’s look at CCDs in general. The CPU complex dies, also called the “core complex/compute die,” comprises up to eight CPU cores in each CCD. A CCD carries two CCXs, or complex core clusters, merged using the Infinity Fabric Interconnect. The Infinity Fabric Interconnect uses sensors to scale control and data flow, which was first introduced in the AMD Rome CPUs. On the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, there are a total of 2 Zen 4 CCDs.

The Zen 2 architecture first introduced core compute dies in its architecture, with two sets of eight compute cores, resulting in sixteen cores. The company’s server processors, AMD EPYC and Threadripper workstation processors, can hold four times that amount, resulting in eight separate CCDs to make up 64 cores.

When disabling the CCD of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU, a user must go into the BIOS settings and disable it through the CPU Core Control settings to separate the central core into two sections. Depending on the number of total cores on an AMD processor, these can be divided into even more units, but for this particular test, only two cores were separated.

Metro Exodus results when disabling CCD-2 on an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X processor. Image source: CapFrameX via TechPowerUP.

The first core of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU was as high as 300 MHz in each test, which improved than the second CCD. CapFrameX explains that the cores in CCD-2 (the second section) usually provide a lower max boost frequency when paired with CCD-1 (the first section).

In turn, disabling CCD-2 would allow the CCD-1 to utilize every part of the power provided to the CPU, offering a higher consumption of close to 230 W and improving performance by ten percent, especially in gaming. Readers should note that the computer was not only using an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU but was running Windows 11 version 22H2, allowing for the most updated results.

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