AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ "Strix Halo" APU: A Powerful Leap in Mobile Computing with Integrated AI

Detailed Visualization of AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Strix Halo APU With Triple-Die Design

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Strix Halo APU stands out with its triple-die setup that combines processing, graphics, and AI capabilities into one compact chip with a total area of 441.72 mm². It includes two CPU dies, each at 67.07 mm² with eight Zen 5 cores and an 8 MB L2 cache, alongside a larger I/O die of 307.58 mm² that houses an RDNA 3.5-based GPU with 40 compute units and an XDNA 2 neural processing unit. The chip also features a 256-bit LPDDR5X memory interface that can push data through at 256 GB/s, backed by 32 MB of Last Level Cache. Looking at the die-shot images, you can see some neat tweaks meant for mobile use. For example, the spacing between dies has been cut by 2 mm compared to typical desktop designs, which helps with faster signal transmission and lowers delays. There are also through-silicon via structures that might hint at future upgrades like 3D V-Cache, even if nothing official has been confirmed yet. The I/O die isn't just about moving data -- it also packs in support for PCIe 4.0 x16 lanes, USB4, and dedicated media engines that fully support the AV1 video codec, making it a solid choice for handling multimedia tasks. Overall, the design shows a well-thought-out mix of power, graphics, and AI functions, all rolled into one chip that's ready for high-end mobile devices. The initial rollout is happening with the launch of the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 on February 25, setting the stage for what this chip can offer in mobile computing. Sources: Tony Yu Bilibili, Kurnal X, via Toms Hardware

AMD's game-changing Strix Halo APU, formerly Ryzen AI Max, poses for new die shots

AMD's Strix Halo reviews are no longer guarded by an embargo. So we're seeing a wave of new die shots that underline the impressive engineering that went into the design of these chips. Thanks to Kurnal, Asus' Tony Yu (at Bilibili), and Decap at X (formerly Twitter), we're getting our first look at the internals of Strix Halo, formally known as Ryzen AI Max. Let's get one thing straight: Strix Halo isn't your average run-of-the-mill APU. It wields 16 cores and 32 threads based on the latest Zen 5 architecture, alongside a massive 40 CU (Compute Unit) iGPU (integrated GPU). The package itself is composed of two Zen 5 CCDs, which are a tad different from the ones you see on Granite Ridge (Ryzen 9000 CPUs). Surrounding the chip are up to eight memory ICs, enabling support for 128GB of unified memory. Thanks to high-res images from Tony Yu, we see that AMD has trimmed the D2D (Die to Die) interfaces between the CCD and I/O die by roughly 2mm. Although the CCDs have been tweaked slightly at 67.07mm, they still support 3D V-Cache, evidenced by the TSV connections in the die shots. The rest is similar to what you'd typically find on a desktop Zen 5 processor. Each of the eight cores carries 8MB of dedicated L2 cache, with a shared 32MB L3 pool in between. Beneath the two CCDs lies a large I/O die that hosts the uncore part of the chip. The bulk of the 307.58mm die size is occupied by the 40 Compute Unit integrated GPU (20 WGPs) developed using RDNA 3.5. Slapping on more cores is only beneficial if they can be fed with data. We've seen firsthand how the performance of Strix Point (with 16 CUs) was hampered due to memory bottlenecks. AMD has taken a two-pronged solution to counteract this issue, with fast LPDDR5X memory across a wide 256-bit interface (eight 32-bit controllers) to the sides of the chip, and 32MB of MALL (Memory Access at Last Level) or LLC (Last Level Cache) split evenly across both sides of the iGPU. To the left of the iGPU lies the XDNA 2 NPU (Neural Processing Unit), enabling 50 TOPS of AI performance, claimed to outclass even the RTX 4090. Some locations have been left unmarked. Either way, the bottom of the I/O die features a single PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, alongside USB 4 (40 Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen 2, and USB 2.0 controllers, followed by a Display Engine and two Media Engines with support for H.264, H.265, and AV1 codecs. Based on the provided statistics, the full chip equals roughly 441.72mm or allegedly 475mm. That's including what appears to be structural silicon. The first laptops powered by Strix Halo should hit shelves later this month, with Asus' ROG Flow Z13 tipped for a February 25 launch. While OEMs have initially been hesitant to jump on board with these chips, adoption is likely to improve, despite a slow initial uptake.

AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 "Strix Halo" Mini PC Tested: Powerful APU, Up To 140W Power, Up To 128 GB Variable Memory For iGPU

AMD's Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 "Strix Halo" Mini PC breaks the cover, revealing great specs and lots of AI capabilities with this powerful APU. The Mini PC tested is the AXB35-02 from Chinese manufacturer, SIXUNITED. This PC configuration features the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 APU, which is the top Strix Halo chip. The chip itself is an ES (Engineering Sample) and has some BIOS issues currently, such as dropping to 10W directly from 140W while the Radeon 8060S iGPU clocks at around 2100 MHz, which is much lower than its 2900 MHz official frequency. Despite that, the gaming and AI performance looked great, but before that, let's talk about the Mini PC itself and its internals. The Mini PC features a range of IO ports including three USB Type-A ports, a single USB Type-C port rated at 10 Gbps speeds, 1x HDMI, 1xDP, a 2.5 GbE Ethernet port, a headphone jack, and a DC-In port. The PC also features a standard power input, and it is likely both of these are included due to this Mini PC being an early test build. There are also large vents on the back with the 350-watt power supply included in the chassis itself. The front features two Type-A and a single Type-C USB port, an SD card reader & a headphone jack. The main board of this Mini PC comes with dual M.2 SSD slots on the back and a large air fan duct that pushes air out of the chassis. There are an additional two fans on the front which sit right on top of the main heatsink that covers the front of the motherboard and the APU. Internally, we can see that the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 is attached to a baseplate with three copper heat pipes leading into a larger heatsink with several aluminum fins. The motherboard features at least 23 power phases & the Strix Halo APU is surrounded by 8 DRAM modules. With the internals and externals done, let's talk about the performance numbers achieved with this sample. Memory features 128 GB of LPDDR5 running at 8000 MT/s speeds and the overall bandwidth figures are very strong within the AIDA64 Cache & memory benchmark. Starting with CPU-z, the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU achieved 808.8 points in the single-core and 15526.6 points in the multi-core tests. The CPU was running at a base clock of 2.9GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.1GHz. The Ryzen 9 9950X scores 874 points in single and 17,057 points in the multi-core tests, but that's a 170W+ TDP part. This is still a very good score despite the BIOS bug mentioned above. Another interesting feature of AMD Ryzen AI systems is that they can enable variable memory for graphics, allowing the iGPU to utilize the system memory. Here, the iGPU can utilize the full 128GB pool, which is perfect for running LLMs such as Deepseek 70B Q8, which runs comfortably on this machine. In terms of power consumption, the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 consumed 140W on the CPU package with a peak clock speed of 3.2 GHz when all cores were loaded in the AIDA64 stress test. The CPU package hit 81C at peak load, but once again, these are not final figures as this is an ES chip with a clock/power disparity versus the retail offering. Gaming performance on AMD's Strix Halo APUs is also strong with the Radeon 8060S (mislabeled as Radeon 8050S) and its 40 compute units. The chip was tested in various games and scored over 200 FPS in eSports titles, while AAA games such as Cyberpunk 2077 can push over 100 FPS thanks to FSR3 & Frame-Gen technologies. We already saw the same chip tested in 3DMark Time Spy, and it scored performance on par with some mainstream discrete offerings. The iGPU achieved a max clock of 2.2-2.3 GHz, which is lower than its 2.9 GHz peak clock, so we can expect better numbers in the final silicon. So looking at AMD's Strix Halo, APUs like the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395, and the rest of the lineup, there is going to be some amazing hardware for mobile workstations and enthusiast configurations. We are expecting to see the first designs roll out in the market in Q2 2025 with a range of Mini PCs & laptop offerings.

AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 'Strix Halo' APU Mini-PC tested: up to 140W power, 128GB of RAM

TL;DR: The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU, tested in a new Mini-PC by SIXUNITED, features a 16-core, 32-thread Zen 5 CPU and RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 8060S GPU. It supports 128GB LPDDR5 memory and offers extensive I/O options. The APU, an engineering sample, shows BIOS issues affecting power consumption and GPU clock speeds. AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU has been tested inside of a new Mini-PC, with some detailed specs and pictures to drool over with this incredible APU inside. Chinese manufacturer SIXUNITED has its new AXB35-02 Mini-PC features AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU is described as an ES (engineering sample) with some BIOS issues that see the APU dropping to 10W directly from 140W. AMD's new RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 8060S integrated GPU clocks in at around 2100MHz, which is far lower than the official 2900MHz frequency. The new Strix Halo APU-powered Mini-PC boasts some fantastic I/O including 3 x USB Type-A ports, 1 x USB Type-C port good for up to 10Gbps speeds, 1 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort, enthusiast-grade 2.5GbE ethernet, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a DC-in power port. SIXUNITED provides a 350W PSU built-in, while on the front we've got a single USB Type-C port, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack. On the PCB itself, we have dual M.2 SSD slots and a large air fan duct that drives hot air out of the chassis, with two additional fans on top of the main heatsink that covers the front of the motherboard and Strix Halo APU. AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU is attached to a baseplate with 3 copper heat pipes driven into a larger heatsink with multiple aluminum fins. The motherboard itself has at least 23 power phases, with the Strix Halo APU surrounded by 8 DRAM modules. We have 128GB of LPDDR5 memory at 8000 MT/s speeds, too... another fantastic thing to see from the Strix Halo APU being its 128GB RAM support. AMD has an interesting variable memory function for graphics, allowing the integrated RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 8060S GPU to use system memory, with testing on the new Strix Halo APU-powered Mini-PC allowing the GPU to use the entire 128GB pool of RAM, perfect for running LLMs like DeepSeek 70B Q8, and other AI models locally. The new AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU consumes 140W of power on the CPU package with peak clock speeds of 3.2GHz when all 16 cores and 32 threads are being used. The CPU package reached 81C at peak load, but remember this is an ES (engineering sample) chip so retail chips might have different power numbers.

AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU Tested In 3DMark Time Spy: Radeon 8060S iGPU Offers Over Triple The Uplift Versus Radeon 890M

AMD's enthusiast-grade Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU has been tested in 3DMark with the Radeon 8050S iGPU offering a huge uplift. Last month, AMD unveiled the ultimate mobile workstation solution in the form of Ryzen AI Max, codenamed Strix Halo. These APUs offer some insane specs, such as up to 16 Zen 5 cores, up to 40 RDNA 3.5 iGPU cores, lots of bandwidth, and a strong set of IO capabilities. While the first PCs and laptops featuring these APUs are on the horizon, it looks like Baudi Forums have published the first results of these massively powerful APUs. The leak in question shows an alleged screenshot in 3DMark Time Spy with the GPU tab listing the "Radeon 8050S" while the CPU tab lists the "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000001243-50_Y". We checked the OPN ID and this seems to be the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 with the Radeon 8060S instead of the AMD Radeon 8050S iGPU. The difference between the two is that the Radeon 8060S packs the full 40 Compute Units while the Radeon 8050S is configured with 32 Compute Units. The CPU for each iGPU is also different and the one tested here packs 16 Zen 5 cores instead of the 12 Zen 5 cores featured on the Ryzen AI MAX 390. In terms of iGPU, you are looking at over double the iGPU cores versus AMD's current top gun, the Radeon 890M (16 Compute Units). The biggest benefit of this chip is that it offers up to 256 GB per second of bandwidth, which would help the graphics capabilities of this APU. In terms of performance, the AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 scored an overall score of 9006, a graphics score of 10,106, and a CPU score of 5571 points in 3DMark Time Spy. While the CPU score is low, the Radeon 8060S iGPU delivers a fantastic result versus the Radeon 890M, which can only manage an average of 3367 points according to 3DMark's database. This is a 3x improvement over Strix & is amazing. One should also point out that the standard Strix chips have a TDP of 30-45W while Strix Halo APUs will feature up to 120W TDP, a 3x difference. AMD's first Strix Halo-powered PCs are expected to land in the first half of 2025, so expect more details and prices of these powerful workstation designs soon.

AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 'Strix Halo' with Radeon 8060S tested: APUs go totally next-gen

AMD's new flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU has been tested in 3DMark, showing its new Radeon 8060S integrated GPU showcasing its crazy 3x better GPU performance than the Radeon 890M inside of the Strix Halo APU. Inside, AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU features 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 5 processing power, with a huge 40 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU: a massive upgrade from the 16 CUs on Strix Halo, close to 3 x the RDNA 3.5 GPU cores. In some new testing on 3DMark Time Spy, the Strix Halo APU is listed with the "Radeon 8050S" with the CPU tab listed as the "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000001243-50_Y". But according to the OPN code spotted by our friends at Wccftech, it looks to be the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU with the new Radeon 8060S (so the Radeon 8050S seems to be in error). The Radeon 8050S is a slightly less powerful RDNA 3.5 GPU with 32 CUs instead of 40 CUs on the Radeon 8060S. AMD's upcoming Ryzen AI Max+ 390 "Strix Halo" APU has the Radeon 8050S and its dropped-down 12 cores and 24 threads. AMD's new Strix Halo APU and its Radeon 8060S is quite the integrated GPU king with 3DMark Time Spy performance on its GPU test scoring 10106 points, which I've got compared against in some quick benchmark charts against the Strix Point APU and its Radeon 890M iGPU with 3226 points... so over 3x the GPU performance. In the same charts I've got some recently tested gaming laptops, with the ASUS TUF Gaming A14 gaming laptop and its Strix Point APU mixed with a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU and its 9316 points (so Strix Halo in APU form is beating the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU in 3DMark Time Spy). The new Radeon 8060S even comes close to the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU inside of the ASUS ROG Strix G16 gaming laptop, which also has the Strix Point APU. The CPU score is lower, but the GPU score is mighty impressive. AMD's new Strix Halo APUs consume far more power than Strix Point APUs, with up to 120W of TDP which is up to 3x as high as the 30-45W TDP of Strix Point. We should expect to see real-world gaming tests of the new Radeon 8060S-powered Strix Halo APU in the coming weeks ahead, and I for one, can't wait.

AMD's beastly 'Strix Halo' Ryzen AI Max+ matches the RTX 4060 laptop in leaked 3DMark tests

A leaked benchmark of the Radeon 8060S, powering the graphics engine of AMD's Ryzen AI 300 "Strix Halo" flagship is shown to match Nvidia's dedicated RTX 4060 mobile GPU in a leaked 3DMark Time Spy result. A Chinese user at Baidu (via HXL), shared a couple of screenshots with what appears to be the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 flexing its muscles, beating AMD's latest Radeon 890M iGPU by almost 3x. Since the tested sample is based on early engineering silicon, there is surely still some room for improvement. However, this leak should be viewed cautiously as the CPU OPN code and the integrated GPU don't align. AMD extended its Ryzen AI 300 lineup with mainstream Krackan Point and flagship Strix Halo APUs last month at CES. Strix Halo, or Ryzen AI Max+ is a one-of-a-kind processor delivering (up to) 16 Zen 5 CPU cores bundled with 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units for workstation-grade laptops and high-end mini-PCs. Bear in mind, all this power is packaged on a single chip, featuring two CCDs and a massive I/O die beneath, bordered by (up to) 128GB of fast unified memory. For context, AMD's marketing material positions the Radeon 8060S (the subject of this article) as an equivalent to Nvidia's RTX 4070 laptop dGPU. It's kind of pointless to compare laptops with different TGPs and thermal designs so it's best not to read too much into these results. For the sake of comparison, we'll look over the average Time Spy score of several relevant GPUs, obtained via 3DMark's score explorer feature. Another screenshot shows that the laptop or mini-PC in question features 128GB (16GBx8) of LPDDR5-8532 memory, with 96GB allocated to the iGPU. Both screenshots inaccurately label the iGPU as the Radeon 8050S, however, the OPN code reveals it's actually the Radeon 8060S with a 40 CU configuration. That's probably due to the silicon's premature nature. In 3DMark's Time Spy benchmark, the Radeon 8060S scores 10,106 points, almost matching Nvidia's RTX 4060 laptop and AMD's own RX 7700S. Against the Radeon 890M seen on Strix Point, the 8060S lands ahead by a gigantic 2.7x but that was kind of expected given the large difference in shader counts. Still, it loses to the RTX 4070 by almost 20% which is disappointing but you should wait for independent reviews to see how these Strix Halo APUs perform in real-world scenarios. You should see laptops and workstations equipped with these processors from partners across Q1 and Q2 this year, which is a rather vague timeframe. HP is readying the ZBook Ultra G1a workstation laptop and the HP Z2 Mini G1a mini-PC, while Asus has announced the ROG Flow Z13, with no definite release date provided for any system.

AMD Strix Halo APU benchmark leak is getting me excited for the future of laptops -- here's why

AMD's flagship Strix Halo APUs are gearing up to offer serious performance gains for laptops and gaming handhelds, as a benchmark leak gives us a hint at an AMD Ryzen AI Max 390's power -- and it's giving off RTX 4060 desktop GPU vibes. Spotted by leaker 9550pro on X, a 3DMark Time Spy benchmark of the Ryzen AI Max 390 was posted on Baidu, and it shows impressive scores close to an RTX 4060. Overall, it achieved an overall score of 9,006, but a look at the graphics score shows it reached a score of 10,106. Using the same benchmark, a desktop RTX 4060 GPU scored a very close 10,365. Thanks to the Radeon RX 8050S iGPU (the integrated graphics in the Ryzen AI Max 390 APU), it means we could see better performance in more portable gaming laptops or gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck OLED -- which currently features a custom AMD Zen 2 APU. As exciting as it appears, there are some discrepancies to bring up. A report from Wccftech details that the leaked benchmark actually shows a lab test for an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with Radeon 8060S. The Ryzen AI Max 390 shown offers 12 cores based on Zen 5 architecture with 24 threads while the 395 delivers 16 cores with 32 threads, so there would be a substantial different in scores here. Moreover, Notebookcheck points out that the APU was tested using 128GB of DDR5 RAM. That's quite a lot more than your average gaming laptop, indicating this engineering sample was tested using a desktop. Regardless, this still shows signs that AMD's Strix Halo lineup are set to achieve new gaming performance heights in a unified memory architecture. We've also seen another AMD Strix Halo APU benchmarks leak showcasing the might of a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 on Geekbench, and it surpassed an RTX 4060 laptop GPU's performance. The power of an RTX 4060 in more lightweight and power-efficient devices? That sounds like a recipe for success, and if our Asus ROG Flow Z13 hands-on is anything to go by, the future of gaming on laptops, tablets and handhelds is looking bright. The idea of bringing high-quality gaming to more portable devices has gained a lot of traction over the years, with the best gaming handheld consoles boasting what a portable device can manage to pull off. Nowhere near the might of an RTX 5090 GPU, though, but AMD's Strix Halo appears to be closing that gap. Asus' 2-in-1 gaming tablet lineup have tried to achieve better performance by offering lower-end RTX 3050 GPUs along with external mobile GPUs boasting up to an RTX 3080. While impressive, gaming performance can be disappointing without the external GPU attached. With a chip like the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, and its expected specs to be in line with a mid-tier but powerful RTX 4060 desktop GPU, it leads the way for desktop-level performance coming to portable gaming devices. The 2025 Asus ROG Flow Z13 is already looking to offer great performance gains with its Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, all with lower TDP (Thermal Design Power) and on a 70Wh battery. If it's able to handle the heat and can manage efficiency to bring its claimed 10-hour battery life while playing RTX 4060-level gaming, then I'm looking forward to what the future of portable gaming holds.

3DMark Time Spy Score for Ryzen AI MAX 300 Show promising results

An engineering sample, identified as "100-000001243-50" and linked to the Ryzen AI MAX+ PRO 395 model, was recently tested using the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark. In this test, the sample -- featuring Radeon 8060S integrated graphics -- achieved a score of 10,106 points. For context, the RTX 4060 notebook GPU typically records a score of about 10,425 points under similar conditions. Previous game-based tests also indicated that the Radeon 8060S might perform better than the RTX 4070 notebook GPU in certain scenarios. These early results suggest that while synthetic benchmarks provide a useful measure of performance, real-world outcomes can vary depending on specific workloads and system configurations. AMD is planning to launch the Ryzen AI MAX 300 series sometime between the first and second quarters of 2025. Performance gurus in the tech community are examining early samples to understand the impact of this new APU design, which combines computing and graphics capabilities in a single chip. Although the exact release date is not yet confirmed, the projected timeline has already generated interest among gurus who monitor performance and system integration closely. The Ryzen AI MAX 300 series, internally known as "Strix Halo," is built on a combination of the ZEN 5 CPU architecture and the RDNA 3.5 GPU design. This processor includes Radeon 8060S graphics with up to 40 compute units, intended to support a wide range of tasks that require both processing power and graphical performance. Although one test screenshot incorrectly labeled the GPU as 8050S, the core technical details remain consistent. This integration is designed to offer a balanced solution for portable computing, making it a subject of ongoing evaluation by performance gurus who are keen to see how well it performs across different applications. Source: ithome