AMD brings Ryzen AI desktop processors to business PCs with NPU and Copilot+ support

AMD will bring its "Ryzen AI" processors to standard desktop PCs for the first time

AMD has been selling "Ryzen AI"-branded laptop processors for around a year and a half at this point. In addition to including modern CPU and GPU architectures, these attempting to capitalize on the generative AI craze by offering chips with neural processing units (NPUs) suitable for running language and image-generation models locally, rather than on some company's server. But so far, AMD's desktop chips have lacked both these higher-performance NPUs and the Ryzen AI label. That changes today, at least a little: AMD is announcing its first three Ryzen AI chips for desktops using its AM5 CPU socket. These Ryzen AI 400-series CPUs are direct replacements for the Ryzen 8000G processors, rather than the Ryzen 9000-series, and they combine Zen 5-based CPU cores, RDNA 3.5 GPU cores, and an NPU capable of 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS). This makes them AMD's first desktop chips to qualify for Microsoft's Copilot+ PC label, which enables a handful of unique Windows 11 features like Recall and Click to Do. The six chips AMD is announcing today -- the 65 W Ryzen AI 7 Pro 450G, Ryzen AI 5 Pro 440G, and Ryzen AI 5 Pro 435G, along with low-power 35 W "GE" variants -- all bear AMD's "Ryzen Pro" branding as well, which means they support a handful of device management capabilities that are important for business PCs managed by IT departments. At this point, it doesn't seem as though AMD will be offering boxed versions to regular consumers; the Ryzen AI desktop chips will appear mainly in business PCs that don't need a dedicated graphics card, but which do benefit from more robust graphics than AMD offers in regular Ryzen desktop CPUs. Like past G-series Ryzen chips, these are essentially laptop silicon repackaged for desktop systems. They share most of their specs in common with Ryzen AI 300 laptop processors, despite their Ryzen AI 400-series branding. The two chip generations are extremely similar overall, but the Ryzen AI 400-series laptop CPUs include slightly faster 55 TOPS NPUs. Unlike past launches, AMD is not providing its top-end laptop silicon for desktop use, at least not yet. None of these chips include the full compliment of 12 CPU cores that you can get in the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 or 370; you also can't get the Radeon 880M or Radeon 890M integrated GPUs. The three models AMD is announcing today top out at 8 CPU cores (likely split evenly between the faster Zen 5 cores and slower, smaller, and more power-efficient Zen 5c cores) and a Radeon 860M integrated GPU with 8 RDNA 3.5 graphics cores. AMD could always decide to release higher-end processor options at a later date, but the fact is that it makes little financial sense to try and build mini gaming PCs around socket AM5 processors right now. These need pairs of fast DDR5 sticks to maximize their performance, and prices for fast DDR5 sticks have shot into the stratosphere over the last year. It's hard to make any kind of gaming PC make financial sense right now, but the frames-per-second-per-dollar you get from a desktop iGPU make them particularly unappealing. This may explain why the CPUs are targeting business desktops first. The Ryzen AI 400 desktop CPU announcement is in line with what AMD announced at CES earlier this year: low-key iterations on existing technology that do little to push the envelope. Maybe that's the best that we can expect, given current RAM and storage shortages and the fact that most of the world's chipmakers are all competing for manufacturing capacity at TSMC.

AMD details Ryzen AI 400 desktop with up to 8 cores, Radeon 860M graphics -- APUs won't be available as boxed units, only in OEM systems

After teasing desktop Ryzen AI 400 processors at the beginning of the year, AMD has finally provided details on its new (but slim) desktop product stack. Previously known as "Gorgon Point," the desktop range shares DNA with the Ryzen AI 400 mobile lineup, carrying the same Zen 5 CPU cores and RDNA 3.5 graphics with a focus on power efficiency over peak performance. AMD is offering two variations of the processors, one with the PRO designation for enterprise and another without it, but neither will be available as boxed retail units. At this time, they'll only show up in OEM systems. The desktop lineup features three processors and six total SKUs. For each chip, AMD is offering 65W and 35W versions, again showcasing how similar these chips are to AMD's mobile offerings. The top-end Ryzen AI 7 450G comes with eight Zen 5 cores, 16 threads, a boost clock of 5.1 GHz, 24MB of cache, and Radeon 860M graphics with eight RDNA 3.5 CUs. There are two six-core offerings with the 440G and 435G, which only differ in maximum boost clock and cache amount. Both include Radeon 840M graphics with four RDNA 3.5 CUs. AMD is using a 65W TDP for these chips, and the 35W versions are noted with an "E" suffix (i.e. Ryzen AI 7 450GE). Otherwise, the specs are identical, from the core counts and iGPU to the maximum boost clock speeds. The differentiator compared to AMD's other consumer chips is the 50 TOPS NPU, earning them Microsoft's Copilot+ certification. The silicon here, including the NPU, GPU, and CPU, is identical to the mobile Ryzen AI 400 lineup. The 450 on desktop is identical to the 450 on mobile, short of the power limit and form factor. As with all Zen 5 chips, Ryzen AI 400 desktop CPUs slot into the AM5 socket. Although the silicon is identical, AMD is only pushing out the bottom rung of its Gorgon Point lineup on desktop right now. On mobile, AMD climbs up to the Ryzen AI 9 HX 475, which features a 60 TOPS NPU, Radeon 890M graphics with 16 RDNA 3.5 CUs, and 12 cores that can boost up to 5.2 GHz. AMD hasn't made any performance claims about the desktop chips yet, which isn't surprising given this is a new category of product for Team Red. Given that the thermal design is similar and the silicon is nearly identical, we expect to see slightly higher overall performance from the Ryzen AI 400 desktop offerings compared to their mobile counterparts. As we've seen with consumer chips like the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X, Zen 5 is fairly efficient around 65W, with the optional 105W TDP mode offering only slightly higher performance for nearly double the power. AMD will only offer these APUs in OEM systems for now. They come with Copilot+ certification, which calls for more than just an NPU. Critically, Copilot+ calls for at least 16GB of system memory, which is a variable AMD can't control with boxed retail units. For now, AMD says commercial designs with these chips will be available in Q2 2026. In total, AMD says it will have over 200 commercial designs available with its PRO chips, but that includes mobile offerings as well. Some of the OEMs AMD is working with include Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. As you can see in the slide above, AMD is featuring smaller desktop designs, which is likely where we'll see Ryzen AI 400 desktop chips in action. In addition to desktop offerings, AMD is introducing its Ryzen AI PRO 400 series for mobile, which mirrors the consumer lineup in the product naming and specs, as you can see in the table above. With both the mobile and desktop offerings, the PRO validation is what sets these chips apart from AMD's consumer lineup. AMD includes additional features, like a multi-layer security ecosystem and manageability for IT administrators. We should see designs with these CPUs roll out shortly. We've asked AMD if we can expect the lineup to expand up to AMD's 12-core Gorgon Point design that we see on mobile. We've also asked about the fate of the long-rumored Ryzen 9000G APU lineup, though we don't expect much news on that front at this time. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

AMD Packs an NPU Into Ryzen Desktop Processors Built for AI

AMD is trying to appeal to businesses with desktop processors optimized for AI applications, including Microsoft's Copilot+. At Mobile World Congress, it introduced the Ryzen AI Pro 400 Series, which doesn't just pack a CPU and a built-in GPU, but also a neural processing unit. At CES in January, AMD introduced its next-generation XDNA 2 NPU, which excels at running AI applications at low power. But at the time, the NPU was reserved for the company's consumer-focused Ryzen AI 400 series for laptops and mini PCs, which are slated to arrive this quarter. At MWC, AMD is talking up Ryzen Pro silicon for enterprises. The chip maker is expanding the XDNA 2 NPU to desktops as Microsoft and other software companies push more generative AI applications in the workplace. In a briefing, AMD specifically noted that the new desktop processors can run Copilot+ features, which have been limited to chips with dedicated AI processing power. It looks like the Ryzen AI Pro 400 Series will be the first desktop chips that can power Copilot+. The most powerful of the three chips, the Ryzen AI 7 Pro, features 8 CPU cores with an up to 5.1GHz in boost clock speeds along with 8 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores for graphics processing. Each chip also comes with a lower-power 35-watt variant, enabling PC makers to fit it into smaller desktop devices. Ryzen AI Pro 400 Comes to Laptops, Too For business laptops, AMD is introducing the Ryzen AI Pro 400 Series mobile processors, which also pack an XDNA 2 NPU and a built-in RDNA 3 GPU. There are six chips in the series, with up to 12 CPU cores and a boost clock speed of up to 5.2GHz. According to AMD, the chips can deliver up to 19.8 hours of battery life. Team Red also claims the most powerful processor in the series, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 470, can beat Intel's "Panther Lake" Core Ultra X7 358H in processing speeds, including for AI workloads. Like before, these AMD chips have also been optimized to run Microsoft Copilot+ features. AMD envisions using these processors to power next-generation AI PC laptops and more powerful mobile workstations. The first PCs with the new Ryzen AI Pro 400 chips are expected in Q2. AMD says over 200 "commercial designs" are in the works from companies including Acer, Asus, Lenovo, HP, and Dell.

AMD punts Ryzen AI 400 to business desktops and laptops

AMD also launched Radeon AI Pro GPUs including the R9700 with 383 TOPS performance, positioning for AI workstations rather than consumer gaming markets. AMD's Ryzen AI Pro 400 chip will be offered as a desktop processor, giving users another option for a low-power, efficient desktop or mini PC. But AMD is marketing both its desktop and mobile Ryzen AI 400s under its Pro brand for businesses, apparently conceding that consumers will pass them by. Well, maybe that's not entirely true. There's nothing stopping a consumer buying one of the estimated 200 different PCs with a Ryzen AI Pro 400 (Gorgon Point) chip inside, including either a desktop, laptop, or even a workstation. They'll ship from the usual suspects, including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Still, AMD's Ryzen AI 300 performance was outstanding, and the company marketed them at both consumers and corporations alike. Now, the Ryzen AI Pro 400 chips are being designed in with AMD's security initiatives for enterprises, alongside AMD's existing Radeon AI Pro lineup of GPUs. Well, AIPUs, anyway: Absolutely nothing of AMD's marketing mentions games, and instead positions the chips as powerful solutions for local LLMs. To reiterate the obvious: AMD is leaning hard into AI, and the corporate budgets willing to pay for it. The desktop chips are new, though: Socketed desktop processors that AMD tipped off when it announced the Ryzen AI 400 family. There are three, but in two flavors: The "G" series denotes a 65W chip, and the "GE" suffix indicates a 35W chip. All of the chips include an NPU with 50 TOPS, qualifying them for Copilot+ status on desktop PCs. They'll slot in to the AMD AM5 platform, supporting DDR5 memory modules of up to 8,533 megatransfers/s. * Ryzen AI 7 Pro 450G/450GE: 8 cores/16 threads, 2.0GHz base/5.1GHz turbo, 24MB total cache; Radeon 860M graphics w/8 CUs * Ryzen AI 5 Pro 440G/440GE: 6 cores/12 threads, 2.0GHz base/4.8GHz turbo, 22MB total cache; Radeon 840M graphics w/4 CUs * Ryzen AI 5 Pro 435G/435GE: 6 cores/12 threads, 2.0GHz base/4.5GHz turbo, 14MB total cache; Radeon 840M graphics w/4 CUs AMD's mobile Ryzen AI Pro 400 chips were spelled out earlier by AMD, and contain more information than AMD provided in a recent briefing. AMD's Ryzen AI Pro 400 chips don't use the performance or efficiency cores that Intel's Core Ultra or Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips do; instead, they use a "compact" version of the same core (Zen5c), typically manufactured in a finer 3nm process with a smaller die area. Remember, gamers still have AMD's superb Ryzen 9000X3D desktop chips, the Ryzen 9000X, and even the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ to choose from for desktop PCs and gaming. Still, we can at least hope that we'll see a consumer release of the Ryzen AI Pro 400 chips, eventually. Performance: It's all about the CPU Of the 2025 mobile platforms, AMD's strength was in CPU performance; Intel excelled in 3D, while Qualcomm's Arm architecture was the most energy efficient and competed strongly in battery life. The Ryzen AI Pro 400 should continue the trend, AMD says. AMD is expecting 20 percent faster single-core performance and 30 percent faster multithreaded performance in Cinebench 2026, alongside 50 percent faster rendering in the CPU-only Blender "Classroom" demo file. AMD also thinks that a Ryzen AI Pro 400 laptop should get about 19.8 hours of battery life using MobileMark 30, which uses a variety of real-world applications to estimate battery life. (I've struggled to find a good battery benchmark, and recently tested battery life using Netflix streaming as another metric.) GPUs? Or AIPUs? At Computex 2025, AMD launched the AMD Radeon AI Pro R9700, an AI-optimized GPU with 32GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit memory bus. (More VRAM typically allows larger AI models to be run.) It featured 64 RDNA4 Compute Units (CUs), or about 4,096 streaming processors (SPs). Peak 8-bit precision (INT8 Matrix) performance is 383 TOPS, while single-precision FP32 performance is 47.8 TFLOPS. Now, AMD has announced the Radeon AI Pro 9600 as well for AI workstations, which also uses 32GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus. But it has a smaller number of compute units, 48CUs, with 3,072 stream processors, running at a game frequency of 1,080MHz and a boost frequency of 2,020MHz. Peak 8-bit precision (INT8 Matrix) performance is 199 TOPS, or about half that of the R9700. The same goes for peak single-precision (FP32 vector) performance, at 24.8 TFLOPS. Finally, AMD also launched the Radeon AI Pro R9700S and Radeon AI Pro R9600D GPUs, both designed for enterprise racks.