PC Magazine - USA (2019-08)

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include the ability to switch between clock states more quickly. Clock-state
changes in Zen-based CPUs take approximately 30ms, while they take only 2ms
in Zen 2, according to AMD: The improvement is akin to changing gears more
quickly in a transmission. To take advantage of this, you’ll need to have the
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A NEW EXPRESS LANE


In addition to a new microarchitecture, two other standout additions roll out
with the latest Ryzen lineup: support for the fourth-generation PCI Express
standard for connecting peripherals, and add-in cards and improvements to
memory speed and latency that help boost the performance of certain graphics-
intensive games.


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video cards and storage components like SSDs.


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plan to build a new system from scratch with the Ryzen 9 3900X, you’ll also
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increased speeds.


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which includes a built-in fan over the chipset to keep things cool, a relatively
uncommon feature even on high-end gaming motherboards but a common trait
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necessitating active cooling.) The Ryzen 9 3900X is also compatible with many
existing AM4-based motherboards, though, which means that if you’re looking
to upgrade just the CPU in your existing Ryzen-based PC, you may not need to
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support with them, however.

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