Some AMD Ryzen 5 7600X desktop processors come with dual Zen 4 CCD

AMD’s Ryzen 7000 desktop processors come in two variants, one with a single CCD design and the higher core count variants with dual Zen 4 CCD. However, it looks like AMD may ship some AM5 Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 chips with dual CCDs.

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU Spotted with Dual Zen 4 CCD, Defective Ryzen 9 Chips or Really Usable?

Recently, Der8auer has posted a video showing its latest Delid Die Mate, which can be used to part AMD Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs if you plan to use direct die cooling. The overclocker used a Thermal Grizzly Direct Die Frame for this demo, but after removing the Ryzen 5 7600X an interesting discovery was made.

As soon as the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X processor was removed, Der8auer noticed that it included two Zen 4 CCDs instead of one. The 7600X has 6 cores and 12 threads, so it doesn’t need an extra CCD. All AMD Ryzen 7000 processors below the Ryzen 9 segment use a single CCD, so it’s definitely a bit interesting to see a dual Zen 4 CCD implementation on the PCB.

Since the chip was already erased, Der8auer placed the chip under a thermal probe and checked whether the other Zen 4 CCD was active or not. Three small copper blocks are used that tell each chiplet (two Zen 4 CCDs and one IOD). On charging only IO dies and one Zen 4 CCD is shown as active since they started producing heat. This means that the other die does not work.

So that brings us to the question of why there are two Zen 4 CCDs on this particular AMD Ryzen 5 7600X processor. There could be two reasons, firstly, AMD could just use defective Ryzen 9 chips that only have one working Zen 4 CCD and label them as Ryzen 5 & Ryzen 7 parts. This suggests that the other matrix is ​​completely defective and cannot be used. But there is also a small chance that this matrix was artificially locked and there may be a bypass to activate it. AMD has been known to artificially lock several features on its chips, such as the Ryzen 7 5800X3D OC, which will soon be overcome. But actually activating a whole CCD won’t be as simple as it looks, and even if it’s a functional matrix, it will take someone with a lot of experience to get around this.

That said, it’s interesting to see AMD deliver dual Zen 4 CCDs on some of its Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 chips. There could be a lot more chips out there, but unless you separate them (a real risk that voids the warranty), you’ll never find out what’s under the hood of your processor.