AMD talks Ryzen 9000 controversy: ‘We were as puzzled’ as reviewers [Video]

AMD’s hotly anticipated Ryzen 9000 desktop processors launched earlier this month, and well, the gaming performance improvements seen by independent reviewers weren’t as hot as expected – or as hot as AMD attested to in early marketing statements. So what happened?

It’s been a long, winding road as reviewers and AMD alike hunted down answers. Last night, AMD released a community post pointing the finger at a confluence of various issues: A difference in the Windows mode used for testing, VBS security settings, how rival Intel systems were configured, and – as ever – the specific games benchmarked.

Phew. Today, David McAfee (who leads AMD’s client channel segment) joined us for a special edition of The Full Nerd to untangle the mess and explain exactly what happened.

As you read the blog post(and listen to David’s chat), it becomes clear: A big part of this stems from how AMD tested versus how reviewers tested, and not just the games chosen. Here’s a tidbit from …