AMD’s August 31 CPPC series supplies temporary frequency values for selected Zen 6 client CPUs. They support kernel calculations while the firmware interface evolves; they are not confirmed boost specifications for every future Ryzen.
Read the code’s scope
The patch cover letter explains why the kernel needs maximum frequency by core type. The first patch defines fallback values of 5025, 3524 and 2399 for performance, efficiency and low-power cores. Its matching table covers family 0x1A, models 0x80, 0x81, 0x84, 0x85 and 0xE0. That is more specific than our previous reference to the whole Model 80 series.
Calculate a ratio without inventing a benchmark
Normalizing the constants to the performance-core value gives:
| Core type | Constant | Ratio to 5025 |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 5025 | 1.000 |
| Efficiency | 3524 | 0.701 |
| Low power | 2399 | 0.477 |
The low-power/efficiency ratio is about 0.681. Rounded to two decimal places, low-power/performance is 0.48, not 0.47. The graph plots these calculations from the proposal, not measured throughput.
A frequency ratio alone cannot give instructions per second, power draw or energy per task. For example, two workloads at the same clock can differ in cache misses and time waiting for memory. Nor does a constant in a kernel patch establish a manufacturer’s guaranteed operating frequency.
What this means for deployment planning
The amd-pstate documentation describes the relationship between CPPC performance requests and CPU frequency management. The proposal also revises boost-ratio handling to use frequencies for Zen 6 and newer where appropriate.
For procurement, wait for the exact processor specifications and your distribution’s support notes. For kernel evaluation, record CPU model, firmware, kernel version and the actual workload before comparing task placement. A patch submission is not a guarantee that a given release will contain it. We have removed the prediction that Linux 7.4 will be an LTS release: that cannot be established from this series.
Sources
- AMD CPPC cover letter, August 31, 2026
- Fallback values and CPU match table
- Kernel amd-pstate documentation
Checked the actual August 31 patches; corrected the CPU model list and ratios, and removed speculation about Linux 7.4 LTS status and retail specifications.