AMD Ryzen 5000 processors with B2 stepping are not XT versions

AMD confirms that there will be Ryzen 5000 processors with a B2 stepping, but they have equivalent specifications and are therefore not XT variants. In the next six months, AMD will make the switch to B2 stepping.

An AMD spokesperson told Polish website Benchmark.pl that the company will gradually transition to the B2 stepping of Ryzen 5000 processors over the next six months. The revision does not change the specifications and performance of the processors, according to the manufacturer.

Earlier this week, information about Ryzen processors with sixteen and six cores with the B2 stepping appeared. The 16-core model is said to have a maximum clock speed of 5GHz, while the current Ryzen 9’s 5950X is 4.9GHz. This led to the suspicion that it was a slightly faster XT variant of the processor.

With the Ryzen 3000 generation, AMD released XT variants over time. In practice they were hardly faster than their predecessors. It is not known whether AMD will also come with XT versions for the Ryzen 5000 generation. The choice for a revision without name and specification changes may indicate that AMD is skipping such a refresh this time.