AMD has unveiled an exciting roadmap for its notebook Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), promising a new era of high-performance thin-and-light laptops. The roadmap provides insights into the upcoming ‘Strix Point’ processors, successors to the current ‘Phoenix’ APUs sold under the Ryzen 7040 series.
This time, AMD is set to introduce two distinct chip designs, the standard Strix Point and a more potent ‘Strix Point Halo’ version. Both of these will debut under the Ryzen 8050 series, marking a significant leap in processing power.
While the official names of these chips are yet to be confirmed, AMD enthusiasts can expect performance upgrades similar to the existing Ryzen 7040HS, 7840HS, and 7940HS processors. The Ryzen 8050 series might introduce three or more new processors into the mix, further expanding options for laptop manufacturers and consumers.
The real excitement surrounds the ‘Strix Point Halo’ APU. AMD is making bold claims about its performance, suggesting that it could rival NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q laptop graphics card, all while operating within a 90W power envelope. This would be a significant achievement for integrated graphics in laptop processors.
What sets the Strix Point Halo apart is its innovative chiplet architecture. AMD has divided the APU into separate ‘chiplets’ on the die. This design enables the processor to house 16 Zen 5 cores, a substantial 64MB of L3 cache memory, and an impressive 40 RDNA 3+ graphics cores.
In contrast, the standard Strix Point APUs will be monolithic, without the chiplet design, and will offer up to 12 Zen 5 cores, 32MB of L3 cache, and 16 graphics cores.
The Strix Point Halo APU could potentially become a formidable laptop processor, competing with some of the best CPUs available. With a substantial number of RDNA 3+ cores, a 256-bit LPDDR5X memory controller, and AMD’s new on-chip XDNA AI engine, it could pave the way for thinner and lighter gaming devices, potentially surpassing even the best gaming laptops.
While a specific release date is still pending, projections suggest that these chips may hit the market in mid-2024, with the Strix Point Halo chips arriving shortly after the initial Strix Point release.
With the fierce competition from AMD and upcoming innovations from other players like Apple’s M3 chip, integrated graphics are indeed shaping the future of gaming. The introduction of processors like the Strix Point Halo APU heralds a new era of powerful, portable gaming devices that could revolutionize the gaming landscape. Exciting times lie ahead for technology enthusiasts and gamers alike.
