AMD's Strix Halo APU Leaks: Impressive Performance and High Clock Speeds

AMD Strix Halo Processor Benchmarks Surface, registers 5.36 GHz boost clock

AMD's upcoming Strix Halo mobile processor, featuring up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores and a powerful integrated GPU with 40 compute units, is beginning to appear in online benchmark databases. The launch of the Strix Point series, also known as Ryzen AI 300, is imminent, but the focus is now shifting towards the more advanced Halo series. While both processors share names and underlying microarchitectures, they differ significantly in design. The Halo series targets the high-end APU segment, currently dominated by Apple's M-series products. AMD aims to offer a range of high-performance APUs with the Strix Halo leading the charge. The Strix Point series has shown significant improvements in integrated graphics, reportedly 19-32% faster than its predecessor, convincing several laptop manufacturers to adopt APU-only designs. It is a chiplet-based processor, similar to the upcoming "Granite Ridge" desktop processor and "Fire Range" mobile processor. The Strix Halo features up to 16 full-sized "Zen 5" cores, using up to two "Eldora" CCDs, connected to a large I/O die containing the oversized iGPU and an NPU, along with memory controllers. The iGPU has 40 compute units (2,560 stream processors), based on the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, while the NPU is a 50 TOPS-class unit carried over from Strix Point. The Strix Halo's design includes 16 Zen 5 cores and up to 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units, offering 4 additional CPU cores and 24 more CUs for graphics compared to the Strix Point series. Although it is unclear if the 40 CU variant will be available, it is expected to deliver a significant performance boost. The Halo series will also feature a larger L3 cache, with 32MB per CCD and up to 8 CCDs, resulting in a maximum L3 cache size of 64MB. Additionally, the Halo includes a Memory Access Last Level (MALL) cache, similar to Infinity Cache. The recent leak on Geekbench reveals specifications for the AMD Strix Halo APU, confirming these cache details through a slide shared by an AMD partner comparing Halo with the Strix Point series. A prototype HP laptop powered by a Strix Halo processor with a single 8-core "Zen 5" CCD was spotted online. This chip has eight full-sized "Zen 5" cores sharing a 32MB L3 cache. The iGPU on the I/O die has its own 32MB Infinity Cache memory to buffer memory transfers. The Strix Halo features a 256-bit wide LPDDR5X memory interface, which is double the bus width of the Strix Point, effectively a "quad-channel DDR5" memory interface, using a memory speed standard of at least LPDDR5X-8000. This is achieved through either hardwired LPDDR5X chips or a pair of LPCAMM 2 modules. Benchmark results show a single-thread CPU score ranging from 2099 to 2177 points and a multi-threaded score between 5477 to 13993 points. The laptop used for testing was running an unspecified version and distribution of Linux, with CPU cores boosting up to 5.35 GHz. Benchmarks from Geekbench 5.4, compatible with versions 5.3 and 5.5, provide initial performance data. Notebookcheck's database offers a preliminary comparison. However, it is important to note several caveats: power settings are unknown, the test machine likely isn't using final silicon, drivers may need adjustments, and the tests were conducted on a Linux operating system, making the results not directly comparable. The highest single-core score recorded was 2177 points, and the highest multi-core score was 13993 points. This places the Strix Halo at the top of the single-core performance ranking, while the multi-core score is expected to improve with the addition of more cores. This early performance data indicates that the AMD Strix Halo processor will be a strong contender in the high-end mobile processor market, offering significant advancements in both CPU and GPU performance. Possible AMD Strix Variants Cores Variants GPU GPU-Class Memory (up to) TDP Strix Halo 16x Zen512x Zen58x Zen5 ?? 40x RDNA3.5 CU RTX 4070 LPDDR5x-8000256-bit ~120W Strix Halo 12x Zen58x Zen5 ?? 32x RDNA3.5 CU RTX 4060 LPDDR5x-8000256-bit ~70W Strix Halo 8x Zen5 ??6x Zen5 24x RDNA3.5 CU32x RDNA3.5 CU (low freq) RTX 4050 LPDDR5x-8000256-bit ~55W Strix Halo (LP) 8x Zen5 ??6x Zen5 20x RDNA3.5 CUs RTX 3050 LPDDR5x-8000128-bit ~45W Strix Point 12 (4x Zen5c, 8x Zen5) 16x RDNA3.5 CU GTX 1650 LPDDR5x-7500128-bit ~28W Sources: Geekbench database, Notebookcheck, Videocardz

AMD's High-End Strix Halo ES APU Leaks Out: 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 32 MB Cache & Up To 5.36 GHz Clocks

AMD's high-end Strix Halo "Ryzen" APUs are the next to leak out, and the first sample features 8 cores and up to 5.36 GHz clocks. AMD Ryzen "Strix Halo" APUs Spotted & Tested: 8 Cores, Up To 5.36 GHz Clocks & High-End Performance The latest leak comes from Geekbench 5 database where a susceptible ES sample of the AMD Strix Halo lineup has leaked out. While all eyes are on the imminent launch of the Ryzen AI 300 "Strix" lineup, one should not forget that AMD will soon follow up with a more powerful release in the form of Strix Halo APUs. These APUs will offer up to 16 high-performance Zen 5 cores and pack up to 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units, really pushing the laptop performance envelope to the next level. Starting with the specifications, the alleged AMD Strix Halo "Ryzen" APU is an ES part and features an OPN ID of "100-000001422-31_N". This APU comes with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a clock-listed clock speed of up to 5.36 GHz. We can see from the Geekbench log that the chip was running at core clocks around 3.4-4.8 GHz so it never actually ran at the highest listed boost clock. This is an ES sample so the clock speeds are meant to be a little inconsistent versus the retail samples but it does give us an idea of the highest frequency levels that Strix Halo would achieve. The current line of Ryzen AI 300 chips will max out at 5.1 GHz so the ES Strix Halo chip being listed at 5.36 GHz will mean that we might get 5.4-5.5 GHz (or even higher) clocks out of these enthusiast offerings. The TDPs are previously reported to be up to 130W which is more than twice as much as standard Strix which peaks out at 54W. The Strix Halo CPUs also pack 32 MB of L3 cache and 8 MB of L2 cache (4 MB L3 and 1 MB L2 per Zen 5 core). Since these APUs will come in chiplet configs, the maximum amount of cores and cache will be 16 cores, 32 threads, and up to 64 MB of L3 cache. It will also carry an additional 32 MB of MALL for the RDNA 3.5 iGPUs which themselves will offer 40 compute units. Other specs would include up to 128 GB memory configurations on the AMD FP11 platforms. Coming to the performance figures, the alleged AMD Strix Halo ES APU scored up to 2177 points in the single-core and up to 13,993 points in the multi-core tests within Geekbench 6. This is a solid score for an ES 8-Core CPU and sits well ahead of the Ryzen 7 8845HS which scores around 11,000 points in multi-core and 1850 points in the single-core tests in the same benchmark. Geekbench 5 is a bit old so the database has removed all entries from its performance comparison chart, making it a bit difficult to offer a direct comparison but overall, these Strix Halo chips are going to be a strong outing for enthusiast laptops. The strong iGPU will also lead to dGPU-less designs, allowing better prices than dGPU options while enabling higher efficiency. We can expect AMD to introduce Strix Halo "Ryzen" APUs by CES 2025 as the company would first like to focus on the mainstream laptop segment. The company also has a high-end Fire Range lineup based on the Zen 5 architecture expected to debut around the same time.

Latest AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix" APU Leak Shows Incredible Single-Core Performance

AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix" APU has appeared in a new benchmark leak with a mighty strong single-core performance. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU is part of the Ryzen AI 300 "Strix Point" family and features a 12-core and 24-thread chip that features a four Zen 5 and eight Zen 5C configuration. This chip runs at up to 5.1 GHz boost clocks, offers 36 MB of cache (24 MB L3 + 12 MB L2), & the Radeon 890M iGPU with 16 compute units or 1024 cores. So versus the previous flagship, the Ryzen 9 8945HS, you are getting 50% more cores/threads, 33.3% more compute units, and 3.12x the NPU performance which is great gen-over-gen gains. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix" APU that has leaked was tested on the ASUS ProArt P16 laptop which is one of the new products that the manufacturer recently launched by the manufacturer & officially hit retail on the 28th of July. This laptop is configured with 64 GB of LPDDR5-7467 MT/s memory and should be packing the aforementioned iGPU unless ASUS goes with a discrete GPU route. According to the Geekbench log, the CPU ran at a maximum frequency of 5145 MHz which is slightly above its 5.1 GHz official boost clock. Coming to the performance figures, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix" APU scored an impressive 2913 points in the single-core and 15,044 points in the multi-core tests. GPD has also shared the performance benchmarks of its own GPD Duo handheld which scores an even faster multi-thread score of 15,279 points as shown in the benchmarks below: Following are comparisons with some current-gen chips from Intel and AMD: In single-core tests, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Zen 5" CPU is easily one of the fastest chips around in the mobile segment. It's 22% ahead of the Hawk Point flagship (Ryzen 9 8945HS) & 29% ahead of the Meteor Lake flagship (Core Ultra 9 185H). In multi-threaded tests, the CPU ends up 30% faster than the Hawk Point flagship and 24% faster than the Meteor Lake flagship. It also outperforms the Ryzen 9 7845HX which is a 12-core chip with a much higher 55W+ default TDP by 10% and comes close to the Ryzen 9 7945HX too. AMD's Ryzen AI 300 CPUs including the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix" APU will be featured across several high-end "AI PC" and gaming laptops so stay tuned as we approach launch to see what more these designs have to offer.