AMD's Strix Halo APUs: Pushing the Boundaries of Integrated Computing

AMD's Strix Halo Zen 5 APU tested in Geekbench AI benchmark -- Ryzen AI Max 390 sample falls behind Ryzen 7 7840HS

The Strix Halo sample does not shine in this particular benchmark. One of AMD's Ryzen AI Max 300 (Strix Halo) APU has gone through Geekbench AI, the AI-focused counterpart to Geekbench 6. Discovered by Everest on X, the Ryzen AI Max 390 (AMD Eng Sample: 100-000001421-50_Y) was tested, but only on the Zen 5 CPU cores, not the GPU or NPU. As always, take the Geekbench result with a pinch of salt since we don't know the state of the silicon. According to the submission, the Ryzen AI Max 390 is inside HP's ZBook Ultra 14-inch G1a, which appears to be a mobile workstation device, so the cooling should be adequate. Using all 12 CPU cores, the Ryzen AI Max 390 outputted a single precision score of 4,733 points, a half-precision score of 4,944 points, and a quantized score of 13,944 points. Testing was accomplished on Geekbench AI 1.1.0 using the OpenVINO framework. Since the benchmark was relegated entirely to the CPU cores, AI performance was not as good as what the chip would be able to do on the GPU or NPU. For example, the chip's quantized score was inferior to that of Intel's entry-level Arc A310 graphics card, which outputted a score of 15,453 points. It was also worse than some Core Ultra 7 Meteor Lake integrated graphics chips, with an even higher score. A similar story also goes for the single-precision and half-precision scores. The Strix Halo chip failed to impress when looking specifically at CPU scores in an apples-to-apples comparison. Out of the relatively few OpenVINO CPU scores I was able to find, the Ryzen AI Max chip outperformed AMD's previous generation eight-core Ryzen 7 7840HS Zen 4 mobile CPU, which outputted a single precision score of 5,099 points, a half-precision score of 5,118 points, and a quantized score of 14,680 points. I also took the liberty of testing my personal Ryzen 7 5800X3D to provide a desktop reference. It also outperformed the Strix Halo APU (for the most part). The 5800X3D featured a single precision score of 5,428 points, a half-precision score of 5,522 points, and a quantized score of 8,115 points. The quantized results were the only area where the Strix Halo chip was at an advantage. From what I could find, the only chips that the Ryzen AI Max 390 can consistently outperform are Intel's Meteor Lake notebook chips, such as the Core Ultra 7 165H. Two listings revealed single-precision and half-precision scores below 3000 points and quantized scores below 7200 for this CPU model. Looking at CPU-only results for AI performance is not as useless as it might seem. When AI workloads can tax the entire chip (CPU, NPU, and GPU), having capable AI performance on the CPU can be beneficial. Regardless, we are disappointed the benchmarker did not test the NPU and monster-integrated GPU inside the Strix Halo chip, which is far more critical for AI-focused workloads. The Ryzen AI Max 300 series, aka Strix Halo, is an upcoming APU lineup focused on high-performance computing for mobile devices. Strix Halo is slated to arrive in early 2025.

AMD Strix Halo "Ryzen AI Max" 12-Core APU Spotted In HP ZBook Ultra Mobile Workstation PC

AMD's Strix Halo "Ryzen AI Max" APU has been spotted in Geekbench, featuring up to 12 cores running at 3.2 GHz base clocks in a workstation laptop. The reports surrounding the AMD Strix Halo are mostly small leaks and rumors that shed some light on the specifications of the upcoming Zen 5-based APUs. We do know from various reports that the Strix Halo is going to be the most powerful APU from AMD, bringing several times faster-integrated graphics than we have currently. We recently heard about the naming convention of Strix Halo and the possible specifications of its SKUs but this is the first time one of the chips from the family has been benchmarked. Thanks to @Olrak2_, an engineering sample from AMD was spotted on Geekbench, which is supposedly the upcoming 12-core/24-thread Strix Halo APU. From the recently leaked information, it appears that this is the Ryzen AI Max 390 SKU, which will feature a 12-core/24-thread configuration and a 40 CU iGPU based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. The Geekbench result page reveals the identifier of the CPU as 'AuthenticAMD Family 26 Model 112 Stepping 0' and the device it is a part of. The HP ZBook Ultra 14-inch G1a Mobile Workstation PC was the notebook that was benchmarked in the AI tests, resulting in 4733 points in Single Precision, 4944 in Half Precision, and 13944 in Quantized tests. These numbers don't give us the exact prowess of the APU since the results can vary from device to device. The score does seem to be slightly ahead of the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 which features a 50 TOPS NPU and 80 platform TOPS. That is to be expected as the Strix Halo APUs are said to offer a 60 TOPS NPU. AMD Ryzen AI HX Strix Halo Expected Features: Nonetheless, it's important to note that the processor boasts a base frequency of 3.20 GHz, which is probably the first time we have heard about the clocks of any Strix Halo APU. This is 1.20 GHz higher than the base clock of the Strix Point Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor. Both chips feature 12/24 configuration but the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is significantly weaker in the iGPU department, featuring only 12 Compute Units, and now we know that the Strix Halo will be significantly superior in frequencies too. The Strix Halo is going to be a powerful solution for intensive workloads and gaming without a discrete GPU. The good thing is that the Ryzen AI Max 390 isn't the most powerful APU in the lineup but there supposedly exists Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which offers 16 cores/32 threads configuration and 40 Compute Units for iGPU. Considering that most of these chips will be featured in enthusiast PCs such as laptops and workstations, we can expect loads of memory and powerful configurations. It's expected that the Strix Halo will be launched in the early part of 2025 along with more CPU families such as Fire Range and Krackan Point, the latter of which is going to solve the problem of affordable chips for gaming handhelds.

AMD Strix Halo "Ryzen AI Max" APU SKUs Leak: Ryzen AI Max+ 395 With 16 CPU Cores & 40 GPU Cores, Up To 96 GB Memory Allocation For The iGPU

AMD's next-gen Strix Halo APUs will reportedly fall under the "Ryzen AI Max" family, offering up to 16 CPU & 40 GPU cores and other enhancements. AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" APUs To Come In 16, 12, 8 Core CPU & 40, 32 GPU Core Configurations, Maxing Out The APUs AMD's Strix Halo APUs are going to be a disruptive platform for mobile users who are looking for higher performance, both in terms of CPU and GPU. These chiplet-esque APUs will be the first of their kind, really taking everything that the APUs have achieved so far to the max. Now, we have some more information on the branding and the SKUs of this next-generation family thanks to 金猪升级包 (via Weibo). So starting with the family, it looks like AMD has decided to use the "Ryzen AI Max" branding for its Strix Halo APUs. This "Max" label is already used by Apple for its SoCs which come in standard, Max, and Ultra flavors. AMD's Ryzen AI 300 "Strix" will remain the standard offering while the Ryzen AI Max 300 flavors will be part of the Strix Halo lineup. Whether AMD does an "Ultra" variant in the future remains to be seen but it looks like the SKUs will be further segmented into Max and Max+ flavors. Looking at the SKUs, the AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" family will feature the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 as the flagship offering, and that will be equipped with 16 Cores based on the Zen 5 architecture & 40 Compute Units based on the RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture. This chip is going to be the fastest one in the stack and will feature TDPs of up to 130W as revealed in earlier leaks. The chip will also come with four-channel LPDDR5X memory support. The other two SKUs fall in the Ryzen AI Max series and include the Ryzen AI Max 390 which is a 12 CPU and 40 GPU core SKU while the Ryzen AI Max 385 will serve as the entry-level offering with 8 CPU cores and 32 GPU cores. Since the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 is the top SKU within the non-Halo series, we can expect another SKU such as the Ryzen AI Max 380 targeting the entry-level segment. Another interesting feature of the AMD Ryzen AI Max 300 "Strix Halo" lineup that has been pointed out is that the chips will be able to allocate up to 96 GB of system memory as video memory. Strix Halo platforms were spotted with up to 128 GB memory support so that's going to be a great thing for integrated GPUs, especially those as big as the 40 CU or 32 CU variants featured on the Ryzen AI Max lineup. AMD's Strix Halo APUs are expected to launch in 2025 alongside several other Zen 5 mobile products such as Fire Range & Krackan Point. These products will be incorporated in several laptops, tablets, handhelds, and Mini PCs throughout the coming year.

Give it up for Ryzen AI Max+: AMD's Strix Halo uber-APU model list and preliminary specs have leaked out

AMD has apparently gone full-on generic tech word salad for its upcoming Strix Halo uber-APU. We give you the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, not a new joint venture with Apple but the top chip in a range of unprecedentedly powerful APUs for laptops and hopefully desktops, too. According to a Weibo post by the ever leaky Golden Pig Upgrade Pack account, we can initially expect three models of AMD's new high-performance APU. The aforementioned AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 rocks 16 Zen 5 cores and 40 RDNA 3.5 spec GPU compute units. Next up is the Ryzen AI Max 390 sporting 12 cores and 40 compute units, with the Ryzen AI Max 385 bringing up the rear with eight cores and 32 compute units. For now, there's no information on clockspeeds and pricing. In fact, these chips are thought to be quite a while from launch and aren't expected to roll out until 2025. However, it's thought that Strix Halo will be something of a departure from previous AMD APUs in taking a chiplet approach as opposed to being a single monolithic slice of silicon. Previous Strix Halo rumours suggest it will be composed of a large main chiplet or SoC tile containing the graphics hardware, plus I/O, memory controller and perhaps an AI-accelerating NPU. AMD will then add to then one or two CPU core chiplets, which some sources say will be the very same Zen CPU chiplets seen in the new desktop Ryzen 9000 CPUs. Another key feature is Strix Halo's 256-bit memory bus and roughly 500GB/s of memory bandwidth, shared between the CPU and graphics. In many ways, that's as big a deal as the relatively massive GPU. Previous AMD APUs have topped out with 128-bit busses, putting quite a cap on bandwidth. For context, AMD's new monolithic APU for laptops, codenamed Strix Point and brand Ryzen AI minus the "Max" bit, has up to 16 graphics compute units. So, Strix Halo is on a completely different level. Arguably the big remaining question is the new uber-APU's power footprint and, in turn, what kind of devices it will be seen in. Gaming-capable laptops seem like one obvious remit. But will it be efficient enough for thinner and lighter laptops? And what about handhelds? The CPU and graphics specs certainly look like the makings of an epic handheld. But are they actually too much in power consumption terms? Might we also hope for a desktop version? Strix Halo in a small NUC-like box would be quite the thing, wouldn't it? Whatever, it's a slight pity that Strix Halo isn't expected until into 2025. Originally, rumours had it launching around about now, which would have made for quite the impact. But a launch later in 2025 will mean that a new generation of discrete graphics cards will likely have appeared, moving expectations over graphics performance on at least some extent and perhaps compromising the value proposition of the new APU. New discrete GPUs from AMD and Nvidia will also make that RDNA 3.5-spec graphics architecture look that little bit more dated. Still, a much more powerful -- you might say games console-style -- APU is certainly an intriguing prospect. We can't wait to see how the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 turns out. Even if it sounds like AMD ran out of ideas and raided the Apple parts bin of tech product naming schemes.

AMD pushes Ryzen to the Max -- Ryzen AI Max 300 Strix Halo reportedly has up to 16 Zen 5 cores and 40 RDNA 3+ CUs

Golden Pig Upgrade Pack, a well-known leaker, has published preliminary details about the potential configurations of AMD's Ryzen AI Max 300 (codenamed Strix Halo) processors, which are expected to be released in early 2025. In addition, the leaker revealed the official name of these CPUs with an ultra-high-end integrated Radeon GPU. AMD's Ryzen AI Max 'Strix Halo' processors are aimed at high-performance laptops for gamers and creators. These CPUs will feature a multi-chiplet design comprising of one or two Zen 5 CCDs (for up to 16 Zen 5 cores) and a massive companion chiplet containing a high-end GPU (with up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units), a memory controller with a 256-bit LPDDR5X-8533 physical interface (up to 273 GB/s of peak bandwidth), and I/O capabilities. 256-bit LPDDR5X interface will ensure that the performance of their high-end GPU is not limited by memory bandwidth. In addition, the CPU will allocate up to 96 GB of memory for the GPU, which will be handy for AI applications if someone decides to run memory-demanding AI workloads in an integrated GPU. Right now, AMD is reportedly considering three Ryzen AI Max SKUs: It is unclear whether AMD will settle for three SKUs for its Ryzen AI Max. On the one hand, Strix Halo is an enthusiast-grade product, so severely cutting GPU performance will destroy the purpose of an APU with a massive built-in GPU designed for gamers. Also, keeping in mind that there are not so many desktop replacement laptops, it is unlikely that there will be too many Ryzen AI Max models. On the other hand, if AMD has enough companion chiplets with GPUs that have, say, 24 functional compute units (1536 stream processors), it will still offer a massive performance advantage over 'regular' Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, which has 12 general-purpose cores (four Zen 5 cores, eight Zen 5c cores), the Radeon 890M GPU with 16 compute units (1024 stream processors), and a 128-bit memory interface. While AMD's Ryzen AI Max processors will offer desktop-class performance in notebook form factors in terms of general-purpose computing and graphics, they will come at the cost of monstrous power consumption of 120W -- 133W.

AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU teased: 16C/32T of Zen 5, monster 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU, up to 96GB RAM

AMD only just released its Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs, but with a heavily beefed-up "Strix Halo" teased in the rumor mill for months now... but now we're hearing about a new Ryzen AI Max naming scheme for Strix Halo. The company is reportedly working on new Strix Halo APUs that will be split into three newly-rumored SKUs: the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, Ryzen AI Max 390, and Ryzen AI Max 385 each with differing CPU and GPU core counts. Each of the new Strix Halo APUs will supported up to a monster 96GB of DDR5 RAM, which completely destroys the hardware limit of just 32GB of on-package memory with Intel's soon-to-be-here Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" processors. AMD's new Strix Halo APUs will include two CCDs with 8 cores each, with the lowest-end Ryzen AI Max 385 featuring 8C/16T, this chip has just one of the CCDs enabled (the other is disabled). But, the higher-end SKUs will have 12 cores and 24 threads and the monster 16 cores and 32 threads (this is just an APU, not a laptop or desktop processor, so 16C/32T is nuts). The ability of supporting up to 96GB of RAM is a very important milestone for AMD, as Intel's bleeding-edge Lunar Lake CPUs ship with only two memory options: 16GB and 32GB. Now, don't get me wrong... it's impressively done: on-package memory, sitting next to the SoC itself. That is impressive, but the 32GB hard limit is pathetic for laptops that are selling on the tail end of 2024, and into 2025. AMD will be entering 2025 with the announcement of its new Strix Halo APUs that will be more powerful (in CPU and GPU) over Lunar Lake, while supporting 3x the RAM at 96GB total versus just 32GB. AMD will be better competing against Apple if anything, with its new M3 supporting up to 128GB of unified RAM. To recap: Intel Lunar Lake has up to 32GB, AMD Strix Halo has up to 96GB, and Apple M3 has up to 128GB.

AMD's incoming flagship laptop CPUs could be called Ryzen AI Max, and might be astonishingly fast - we're just worried about the price

Strix Point Halo processors now have a name - Ryzen AI Max - and more promises they'll be extremely powerful A leak on AMD's incoming Strix Point Halo chips shows the configurations and apparently official names for these powerful CPUs for driving gaming laptops (and maybe handhelds) - but less welcome is a fresh hint that these processors might be eye-wateringly expensive. If you've missed the fuss around Strix Point Halo (often referred to as simply Strix Halo), these are the top-end Strix Point offerings, and with vanilla Strix Point chips being called Ryzen AI 300, the Strix Halo CPUs are reportedly going to be named Ryzen AI Max 300. VideoCardz picked up on the rumor that comes from Golden Pig Upgrade, a well-known leaker on Weibo who furnishes us with the initial three processors that AMD will release in this range, and their key specs. They are as follows: Of course, we need to be skeptical here - as with any chatter from the grapevine - but the specs align with what we've heard before, and the naming makes sense to us. 'Max' seems like a fitting label to adorn these CPUs with (giving us a hint of Apple-esque vibes, it must be said). The leaker also observes support for up to 96GB of video memory with Strix Halo, indicating that AMD is going to target professional users and the notebook workstation market with the chip, not just gaming laptops. Here's where there's a slight worrying twist in that VideoCardz also noticed a post on X (from Hoang Anh Phu) highlighting that GPD, a manufacturer of gaming laptops and handhelds, recently dialed back a notebook from being equipped with a Strix Point CPU (HX 370) to an older Hawk Point processor (Ryzen 7 8840U). The reason? The report claims that the Strix Point chips will cost twice as much, and therefore GPD scaled back to keep the cost of the bill-of-materials of the laptop to a more reasonable level. Now, the concern is that if Strix Point is that pricey - again, add seasoning, and lots of it - what sort of financial toll is Strix Halo going to exact? As we said at the outset, this is fueling fears that Halo will be prohibitively pricey. We were always worried about pricing for Strix Halo, given just how powerful these mobile offerings are rumored to be. To put the (purported) performance of the integrated RDNA 3.5 graphics in perspective, AMD's standalone GPU, the RX 7600 XT (RDNA 3), has 32 Compute Units, like the lower-end Ryzen AI Max 385 - so the top-end Max+ 395 outstrips it considerably for that key spec with 40 Compute Units. Plus Halo is on RDNA 3.5, meaning a refreshed RDNA 3 architecture that's fine-tuned, so it's going to be speedier on that basis too. So, these are seriously supercharged chips, and if Strix Point is causing laptop makers to pause for thought on the basis of its cost, what is Strix Halo going to be like? Will these heavyweight chips even be suitable for, say, a gaming handheld at all, given the pricing premium? Or is Halo really more destined for workstation laptops, given AMD's apparent positioning as noted above? As ever, we can't get too carried away with rumors, and this is just one isolated case from a single laptop vendor, anyway. However, it's easy to see why there's now something of an air of concern around the future, certainly regarding handhelds being pepped up by Strix Halo (or Ryzen AI Max, rather), and exactly how pricey this silicon might make thin-and-light gaming laptops, too. Still, as already observed, nobody was expecting Strix Halo to be anything like affordable - it's just that this is a hint it could be even pricier than most folks were imagining.

AMD Strix Halo might give gaming handhelds a major boost

It looks like future gaming handhelds might have quite a lot of GPU power -- at least if this new AMD Strix Halo leak is to be believed. The upcoming APU lineup is said to come with up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units (CUs), which marks a massive upgrade from the last-gen Strix Point. They're also said to support up to 96GB of video memory. By the looks of it, Strix Halo might be more of a mobile workstation solution than a gaming product -- but with these specs, gaming on laptops equipped with these APUs should be entirely possible even without a dedicated graphics card. The specs sound really promising for gaming handhelds, though, including next-gen versions of the Asus ROG Ally X or the Steam Deck. Let's dig into what's said to be coming in 2025, as per the latest leak from Weibo. Recommended Videos First of all, AMD's new naming scheme evolved once more, and Apple could feel a little bit flattered. The Strix Halo lineup is said to be called Ryzen AI Max+ and Ryzen AI Max, which makes it hard not to think of Apple's M silicon in its Max iteration. With Intel Core Ultra also adopting a similar branding (after all, Apple has M Ultra chips too), all three companies now have some overlap in their chip naming schemes. Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming ReSpec Subscribe Check your inbox! Privacy Policy Names aside, the new Ryzen AI Max is said to come in three variants at first, starting with the flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with 16 cores and 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs. Wccftech also notes that this chip will come with four-channel LPDDR5X memory support as well as a TDP of 130 watts. The Ryzen AI Max 390 follows with 12 CPU cores and 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs. Lastly, the Ryzen AI Max 385 comes with just eight cores, but still a formidable GPU with 32 CUs. The number of CUs is quite thrilling -- that's twice the number of CUs compared to the last-gen Strix Point APUs. The lowest variant actually sports the same number of CUs as the desktop version of the RX 6600 XT. That's a quite beefy built-in GPU, and it could help AMD not just dominate various gaming handhelds but also compete against Apple and Intel's Core Ultra in workstation laptops. It's too early to tell when these APUs might hit the market, so these specs might also be subject to change. Let's hope that they end up in gaming systems too, as with the right pricing, AMD could have a real winner on its hands.