AMD Unveils AI-Optimized Processors at CES 2025, Advancing AI PC Market

AMD Expands Ryzen's Portfolio at CES 2025

AMD has announced a comprehensive lineup of new Ryzen processors at CES 2025. The company also announced multiple upgrades and additions for gaming and AI PCs. First up are the new Ryzen AI Max and Max PRO series processors, which the company claims "exceed the demands for high-performance computing in premium thin and light notebooks". AMD also announced a new series of Ryzen 300 and Ryzen 200 processors to enable premium AI experiences across notebooks. "With incredible power, performance and compatibility, these news systems exceed expectations for next-generation Copilot+ PCs," the tech firm said. Systems powered by this new lineup of Ryzen AI Max, the Max PRO series and the Ryzen AI 300 processors will be available from Q1 2025. Meanwhile, systems featuring the Ryzen AI 200 processors will be available from Q2 2025. "With the next generation of AI-enabled processors, we are proliferating AI to devices everywhere and bringing the power of a workstation to thin and light laptops," said Jack Huynh, senior VP and general manager of computing and graphics at AMD. But what's the deal with a capitalised PRO, one may ask? According to AMD, its PRO lineup of technologies provides enterprise-grade manageability and multi-layer security features. This features tools like AMD's Memory Guard, which protects sensitive data through encryption, and tools to help IT administrators manage and troubleshoot systems. One of the more notable announcements is its first partnership with Dell, which will integrate their AMD Ryzen AI PRO processors into AI PCs. Dell joins Acer, ASUS, HP, Lenovo, and MSI, which are also planning to integrate AMD's new processors into AI PCs. AI PCs are integrated with the Microsoft Copilot+ feature suite, which enables them to run AI workloads locally without relying on the cloud. In order to integrate Microsoft Copilot features in an AI PC, Microsoft requires a minimum of 16 GB of memory, a 256 GB SSD and an NPU capable of processing over 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS) while running its world-class SLMs. That said, AMD is competing with Qualcomm and Intel to provide processors for AI PCs featuring Microsoft Copliot+. AMD is marginally leading the race with 50 TOPS of AI computing power, while Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite Plus and Intel's Lunar Lake processors offer 45 TOPS. While the three of them battle it out, Microsoft is the winner at the end of the day. "It's been incredible to see AMD and Microsoft's longstanding partnership move into the next wave of technology, bringing AI innovation to our original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners," said Pavan Davuluri, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows + Devices. You can read AIM's detailed coverage of what an NPU is, what TOPS means for AI PCs and the current market landscape. AMD is bullish on AI PCs. "Everyone should have their own AI PC that allows you to run your model locally and operate on your data locally," AMD CEO Lisa Su said at a fireside chat in IISc Bengaluru a month ago. Ideally, AMD will end CES 2025 with a smile, given that all market forecasts are favouring the sales of AI PCs. "We're projecting AI-enabled PC shipments to grow with a CAGR of 42.1% from 2023 to 2028," read an IDC report in September of last year. Another report from Markets and Markets in October said that the market is projected to grow from $50.61 billion in 2024 to $231.30 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 28.82%. Where is NVIDIA, though? The company has stuck to its tradition and is mostly focusing on newer GPUs at CES 2025. NVIDIA announced a new lineup of Blackwell RTX GPUs, with the 5070 series costing as low as $549. They aren't in the game of running AI workloads on CPUs and an NPU. Funny enough, the company also criticised the same and reportedly said that an NPU's capability of processing 40 TOPS is enough for the basic tasks alone. GPUs and NPUs were never meant to be in the same conversation in the first place.

AMD Announces Fire Range Laptop Chips and Ryzen AI Max at CES 2025

Fire Range Processors offer improved performance with dedicated graphics cards there's also new Z2 Extreme processors for higher TDP. AMD has already established its dominance over the desktop PC industry and its fans have been asking for similarly high performance on the laptop front. The rumors that the company is working on a new series of mobile processors have been around for a while, and we finally got to see what they have been cooking. AMD has announced three new series of chips, including the Ryzen AI Max and the Fire Range processors. The Ryzen AI Max and the Ryzen AI Max Plus are the two new chips in the series. These capable CPUs inherit the most powerful integrated GPU. It features 16 Zen 5 cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, and 256 GB/second memory bandwidth. During the announcement, AMD claimed that their top-end AI Max Plus 395 could outperform Intel Core 9 288V in terms of graphics and 3D rendering performance. This mighty performance will cost 120 watts of power consumption to operate. So you can expect to have your devices plugged in most of the time to utilize the complete performance of what they can output. These Ryzen AI Max chipsets will be available starting Q1 to Q2 of 2025. HP's Z2 Mini G1a desktop and a ZBook Ultra G1a laptop along with Asus' ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet will be among the first devices to debut with these CPUs. AMD also showed off the new AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, 9955HX, and 9850HX codenamed Fire Range. They don't come with integrated GPU and will only come in laptops with dedicated graphics cards. However, these include the popular 3D-V cache which will help with higher frame rates with the top-end model including a 144MB of cache pool. We also saw some good news for handheld PC consoles. AMD's Z2 Extreme chips will offer better gaming performance on these portable machines with a Z2 Extreme using RDNA 3.5 GPU, Z2 using RDNA 3 and the Z2 Go coming with RDNA 2.0. It is also worth noting that it will have a higher TDP of 15W instead of 9W. They'll also come out in Q1 2025. Next, they unveiled their flagship Ryzen 9 9950X3D desktop CPU, with the second generation 3D-V cache technology we talked about above. It'll include 16 Zen 5 cores and 32 threads with 144MB of cache and a higher 170W TDP. AMD is referring to it as "the world's best processor for gamers and creators." We also saw the unveiling of the Radeon RX 9070 series GPUs at CES 2025. These new CPUs from the company will surely change the course of desktop, laptop, and handheld gaming in 2025. We should see devices coming out with these new CPUs at the end of the first half of this year with more devices coming over in the second half. If the numbers prove to be true as the company claims, then they will become the defacto choice for gamers this year.

AMD unveils new chips for laptops, desktops, and gaming handhelds at CES 2025

At CES 2025 in Las Vegas, AMD unveiled a slew of new chips destined for devices ranging from desktops to gaming handhelds. AMD is riding high coming into this year's CES. The company commanded a 28.7% share of the desktop CPU segment in Q3 2024, up 9.6 percentage points compared to the same quarter the year prior. In mobile, AMD held 22.3% of the chip market as of last Q3, a 2.8-percentage-point uptick from the previous fiscal period. The company isn't resting on its laurels, though. AMD's 2025 strategy is aggressive and multi-pronged -- and it begins with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Aimed at "gamers and creators," the 9950X3D has 16 cores based on AMD's Zen 5 architecture clocked up to 5.7GHz. According to the company's benchmarks, the 9950X3D is 8% faster on average in popular games like Hogwarts Legacy and Starfield versus AMD's 7950X3D. The 9950X3D, along with the Ryzen 9 9900X3D, a lower-tier processor with 12 cores clocked up to 5.5GHz, will ship sometime in Q1 2025, AMD said. To complement the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D, AMD also announced a new "Fire Range" lineup of chips targeting midrange laptops and ultraportables. Set to launch in the first half of 2025, the series -- which includes the Ryzen 9 9850HX, 9955HX, and 9955HX3D -- offers 12 to 16 cores clocked at between 5.2GHz and 5.4GHz at the maximum. Notably, the Fire Range chips draw around ~54 W of power -- less than half the wattage requirement of the 9950X3D (170 W). AI PC chips To power the next generation of Copilot+ PCs -- laptops and compact desktops with AI-accelerated Windows 11 features -- AMD is launching new and refreshed processor series: the Ryzen AI 300 series and Ryzen AI Max series. All chips in the series have a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) to accelerate certain AI workloads, like running a text-summarizing language model or Windows 11's AI-powered image editor. Ryzen 300 series chips, which will come to market in Q1/Q2 2025, pack between 6 and 8 cores clocked at up to 5GHz, and deliver "24-plus-hour" battery life in the best-case scenario (e.g. light work only). There's four SKUs: Ryzen AI 7 350, Ryzen AI 5 340, Ryzen AI 7 Pro 350, and Ryzen AI 5 Pro 340. As for Ryzen AI Max, it's AMD's flagship offering for Copilot+ PCs, with between 6 and 16 cores clocked at up to 5.1GHz, paired with built-in graphics and a new memory interface. AMD's claiming that Ryzen AI Max chips can achieve leading 3D rendering and AI application performance. SKUs in the series -- which include the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395, Ryzen AI Max 390, Ryzen AI Max Pro 390, Ryzen AI Max 385, Ryzen AI Max Pro 385, and Ryzen AI Max Pro 380 -- are set to launch beginning Q1/Q2. Targeting more budget-friendly, "mainstream" devices, AMD also debuted the new Ryzen 200 series of chips. The processors -- most of which sport NPUs -- have between 6 and 8 cores clocked up to 5.2GHz, and are scheduled to launch in Q2 2025. Handheld processors Handheld PCs like Valve's Steam Deck continue to be a major growth area for AMD. To that end, the chipmaker announced new processors in its Ryzen Z2 series, which is meant for lightweight and gaming-focused form factors. There's the Ryzen Z2 Go, which has four cores clocked up to 4.3GHz and 12 graphics cores, and the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, which has eight cores clocked up to 5.0Ghz and 16 graphics cores. They join the eight-core Ryzen Z2, whose cores top out at 5.1GHz and which packs 12 graphics cores. Lastly, AMD revealed its next set of discrete, desktop-bound GPUs: the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070. They're based on the company's RDNA 4 architecture, a 4nm architecture that the company says features improved ray tracing performance, better media encoding quality, and improved AI acceleration. RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 cards will be available from manufacturers including Acer, Asus, Gigabyte, and XFX in Q1 2025. AMD highlighted its FidelityFX Super Resolution 4.0 upscaling technology, which it says was developed for RDNA 4 hardware. Super Resolution 4.0 leverages AI algorithms to upscale game content to up to 4K resolution with minimal latency, AMD says. In a related development, AMD Adrenalin, AMD's software that lets users manage and tune their AMD hardware, including Radeon graphics cards, has new AI features. Adrenalin can now generate images using a built-in image generation model, leverage a local language model to summarize files like PDFs, and answer AMD-related questions via an AI-powered chatbot interface.

AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO, 300 PRO, 200 PRO, and Ryzen 9950X3D, 9900X3D, Z2, and 9000 processors unveiled at CES 2025

AMD has announced a range of new processors at CES 2025, further cementing its leadership in the AI PC market as the company introduces the Ryzen AI Max Series, Ryzen AI 300 Series, and Ryzen 200 Series processors. Additionally, AMD has expanded its commercial AI PC lineup with the inclusion of AMD PRO Technologies across these new processors, alongside new gaming and graphics products. The new Ryzen AI Max Series processors are tailored for next-gen AI PCs, providing exceptional power for gaming, content creation, and everyday tasks. These processors boast up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores and up to 40 AMD RDNA 3.5 graphics compute units. With an AMD XDNA 2 Neural Processing Unit (NPU) offering up to 50 TOPS of AI performance, the Ryzen AI Max processors are designed to handle demanding AI workloads and large models. These processors support up to 128GB of unified memory, with 96GB allocated for graphics, enabling seamless multitasking and AI processing. The Ryzen AI Max PRO Series processors bring the same level of power to business-class mobile workstations. With enterprise-grade security and manageability through AMD PRO Technologies, these processors allow professionals to work on complex engineering and AI-driven tasks in ultra-portable systems. The new Ryzen AI 300 Series processors expand the Ryzen AI 300 family, now including Ryzen AI 7 and Ryzen AI 5 models. These processors feature up to 8 "Zen 5" CPU cores, the latest RDNA 3.5 graphics, and an advanced NPU based on AMD XDNA 2 technology. These chips provide up to five times better AI performance compared to the previous generation. The Ryzen AI 300 PRO Series processors cater to business users with up to 50+ TOPS of AI performance, supporting AI-enabled applications like Microsoft Copilot+ while offering top-tier security and manageability features. AMD's Ryzen 200 Series processors bring the "Zen 4" architecture to the FP8 platform, making AI capabilities more accessible. With up to 8 CPU cores and 16 threads, the Ryzen 200 Series processors are ideal for everyday users seeking excellent performance and battery life. For business professionals, the Ryzen 200 PRO Series ensures efficiency, security, and powerful AI processing capabilities. AMD's PRO Technologies offer enterprise-grade security and management features, helping businesses protect systems from cyber threats while simplifying IT operations. Recent additions include cloud-based recovery, supply chain security, and advanced attack detection and recovery tools, ensuring continuous protection for enterprise devices. AMD also revealed new products to boost its gaming portfolio. The Ryzen 9950X3D and 9900X3D desktop processors deliver unparalleled performance, featuring 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores and AMD RDNA 2 graphics, pushing the limits of gaming and content creation. These processors utilize 2nd Gen AMD 3D V-Cache technology, improving clock speeds and cooling efficiency for optimal performance. The Ryzen Z2 Series handheld gaming processors offer a unique blend of power and efficiency, enabling console-class gaming in a portable form. With up to 8 CPU cores and RDNA 3.5 graphics, the Ryzen Z2 processors deliver an immersive gaming experience on the go. Additionally, the new Ryzen 9000HX Series processors are designed for high-performance mobile gaming, featuring up to 16 cores and advanced DDR5 memory support. The Ryzen 9955HX3D is set to become one of the fastest mobile processors, delivering exceptional performance for gamers and creators. The company emphasized that OEM partners continue to integrate AMD Ryzen processors into their systems, further advancing AI-powered and gaming PCs. AMD is also strengthening its partnership with Dell, unveiling new Dell Pro systems powered by Ryzen AI PRO processors, set to launch later this year. Pricing will be announced as these products roll out. Speaking about the new developments, Jack Huynh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Computing and Graphics Group at AMD, said,

AMD debuts AI-optimized laptop processor that can run large language models - SiliconANGLE

AMD debuts AI-optimized laptop processor that can run large language models Advanced Micro Devices Inc. today debuted a laptop processor series that can run artificial intelligence models faster than some standalone graphics cards. The company detailed the chips at CES alongside several other additions to its product lineup. Those other processors are optimized for gaming laptops, handheld gaming devices and desktops. The Ryzen AI Max Series is a new family of AI-optimized laptop chips that includes four processors on launch. According to AMD, each chip combines a central processing unit with a neural processing unit and an integrated graphics processing unit. The product family's flagship processor, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, includes 16 cores based on AMD's latest Zen 5 CPU architecture. CPUs include a branch prediction mechanism that anticipates what task an application will perform next and completes the task in advance to save time. Zen 5's branch prediction mechanism can predict two code paths, or future application workflows, instead of the usual one, to boost performance. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395's onboard GPU has 40 compute units, the graphics card equivalent of a core. The compute units are based on RDNA 3.5. It's a version of RDNA 3, a GPU architecture introduced by AMD in 2022, that is made using a high-performance version of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s four-nanometer node. Laptops powered by the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 can be equipped with up to 128 gigabytes of memory. By default, the memory is shared by the chip's CPU, GPU and NPU. Optionally, users can allocate the bulk of the RAM to the GPU in order to boost the performance it provides for AI models. In an internal test, AMD used the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 to run a version of the Llama 70B large language model. The company says that its new chip provided 2.2 times better performance than Nvidia Corp.'s standalone RTX 4090 GPU using less power. Usually, standalone GPUs are significantly faster than their CPU-integrated counterparts. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is rolling out alongside three other Ryzen AI Max Series processors that have a similar architecture, but lower core counts and clock speeds. The chips are available in both consumer and enterprise versions. The latter editions ship with AMD's Pro software, which provides cybersecurity and troubleshooting tools for information technology teams. Laptops geared towards running video games usually include a standalone GPU. For such machines, AMD is rolling out the a line of processors called the Ryzen 9000HX Series. Because they're designed to work with a standalone GPU, the chips in the series don't include their own integrated graphics card. The flagship processor in the product lineup is the Ryzen 9955 HX3D. It features 16 cores like the AI-optimized Ryzen AI Max+ 395, but its maximum frequency is 300 MHz higher for a total of 5.4Ghz. Additionally, the Ryzen 9955 HX3D has a significantly larger 128-megabyte cache. Alongside its new high-end laptop chips, AMD introduced three other product families at CES today. The Ryzen 200 is a set of entry-level laptop processors based on the company's previous-generation Zen 4 chip architecture. The most capable chip in the series includes eight CPU cores, a GPU based on the RDNA 3 architecture and an NPU that can perform up to 16 trillion operations per second.

AMD Takes On Intel, Apple And Nvidia With Ryzen AI Max Chips

The forthcoming Ryzen AI Max chips for Microsoft's Copilot+ PC program ramp up the CPU and GPU core counts while introducing a new unified, coherent memory architecture that allows the PC to allocate up to 96 GB of system memory for the GPU. AMD said it's taking AI PC capabilities to the next level with its new Ryzen AI Max chip lineup, calling it the "most advanced mobile x86 processor ever created" and promising to beat top chips from Intel, Apple and Nvidia in key areas. Revealed at CES 2025 on Monday, the Ryzen AI Max series is meant to act as the "halo" product line in AMD's family of processors for Microsoft's Copilot+ PCs and is set to provide significant enhancements over the top Ryzen AI 300 chips from last year, ranging from increased core counts to a new unified, coherent memory architecture. [Related: Intel Slugs AMD, Qualcomm With Core Ultra 200V Chips For Commercial Laptops] After debuting the Ryzen AI series brand last year to highlight chips that enable next-generation AI PC experiences, AMD expects the chip family to be used in more than 150 PC designs from Lenovo, HP Inc., Acer, Asus and other OEMs this year. "The Ryzen AI Max adds a whole new class of PCs available for AMD next-gen AI platforms in the market," said Rahul Tikoo, general manager of AMD's client computing business, in a briefing. "This is something very, very special -- a chip so unique and powerful it enables incredible performance, reshaping what customers can experience from the power of a workstation and thing-and-light laptop to incredibly small and powerful micro desktops." Set to debut in the first half of this year, the Ryzen AI Max series will appear in upcoming Copilot+ PCs such as the HP ZBook Ultra G1A mobile workstation, the HP Z2 Mini G1a mini desktop workstation and Asus ROG Flow Z13 gaming 2-in-1, according to AMD. It's not yet known if Copilot+ features will be available when these systems debut because they have only been made available to Windows Insider Community testers for now and Microsoft has yet to announce a general availability date. AMD also revealed several other new chip lines, including a mid-range expansion of the Ryzen AI 300 series for consumer and commercial laptops, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D desktop CPU with 16 cores and a 5.7GHz boost frequency, the Ryzen 9955HX3D laptop CPU with 16 cores and a 5.4GHz boost frequency and the Radeon RX 9070 desktop GPUs. AMD also announced the Ryzen 200 series processors for consumer and commercial laptops as well as the Ryzen Z2 series for handheld PC systems. The Ryzen AI Max series consists of four models, the top three of which will have options for a consumer version. All four models, on the other hand, have a commercial version that comes with AMD's Ryzen Pro management and security features. With up to 16 Zen 5 cores, the Ryzen AI Max series increases the maximum core count by four while upping the number of XDNA 3.5 GPU cores by 16 to a maximum of 40 compute units compared to the flagship Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 that debuted last year. The lowest-end chip in the Ryzen AI Max series comes with six cores, 12 threads, a maximum clock boost of 4.9GHz and 16 graphics cores. Meanwhile, the lineup's XDNA 2 NPU (neural processing unit) is capable of up to 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS) across all models. This is slightly under the 55 TOPS maximum that is possible with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375. The CPU, GPU and NPU are tied together with a new "unified, coherent memory architecture" that allows the PC to allocate up to 96GB of system memory for the GPU, according to Tikoo. This is boosted by a memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s, which the AMD executive called "unprecedented in any x86 mobile device." "It bridges the gap between awesome performance and efficient portability in a whole new way for Windows laptops," Tikoo said. In handpicked comparisons to chips from Intel, Apple and Nvidia, the flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 was shown by AMD to perform better by varying degrees across benchmarks for 3-D rendering, graphics and running inference for large language models. Compared to Intel's recently launched eight-core Core Ultra 9 288V, the 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is, on average, 2.6 times faster across six 3-D rendering benchmarks, which included Cinebench 2024 nT, Corona and Blender Classroom, according to AMD. As for graphics benchmarks such as Night Raid, Time Spy and Fire Strike, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is 40 percent faster on average, AMD claimed. The chip designer also showed that the Ryzen chip is faster than Apple's 12-core M4 Pro chip -- which is available in new MacBook Pros and Mac minis -- by 12 percent in Cinebench 2024 nT, 25 percent in Blender Classroom, 39 percent in Corona and 86 percent in Vray. Compared to Apple's 14-core M4 Pro, the Ryzen chip is faster by 10 percent in Blender Classroom, 24 percent in Corona and 59 percent in Vray, according to AMD. However, the company conceded that the Ryzen AI Max+ 350 is 3 percent slower than the 14-core M4 Pro in the Cinebench 2024 nT benchmark. AMD also said the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 could outshine Nvidia's 24-GB GeForce RTX 4090 desktop graphics card when it comes to AI workloads. When running a 70-billion-parameter Llama 3.1 large language model in LM Studio, the Ryzen chip was 2.2 times faster when measuring tokens per second, according to the chip designer. The company noted that the Ryzen system used 128GB of system RAM while the GeForce system had 32 GB of RAM and 24 GB of GPU memory for this comparison. AMD pointed out that the Ryzen system used significantly less energy than the GeForce system in the test, with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 platform using 55 watts for its thermal design power, 87 percent less than the RTX 4090's 450 watts. "The Ryzen AI Max processor is really a game changer for creators, artists and developers," said Tikoo.

AMD's Ryzen AI Max is a one-of-a-kind graphics and AI powerhouse

AMD describes its new "Strix Halo" chip as one which will create a new class of machine. AMD has launched what one executive called "the most advanced mobile X86 processor ever created" at CES 2025: The Ryzen AI Max and AI Max+, with absolutely massive capabilities to run graphics and AI workloads. AMD is positioning this "Strix Halo" chip as a sort of hybrid for graphics and AI workstations, comparing it to Nvidia's existing GeForce 4090 GPU in terms of running AI LLMs at up to 70 billion parameters. But the Ryzen AI Max offers more than just that. It's an APU with graphics capabilities that push into discrete GPU territory -- in the 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark, for example, the chip offers 258 percent the graphics performance of Intel's Core Ultra 9 288V (Arrow Lake) CPU. It also offers excellent AI performance, both with or without the NPU. The subtext behind this announcement hearkens back to our report early last year that the NPU doesn't matter for AI capabilities as much as AMD, Intel, or Qualcomm originally hyped. The NPU is the most efficient AI core on modern CPUs. But for raw horsepower, the GPU, especially a discrete GPU, far outperforms either the NPU or the GPU by its lonesome. What the AI Max appears to do is combine some of the NPU and GPU's best features, alongside an already powerful AMD Zen 5 CPU. AMD will offer the Ryzen AI Max in both consumer and "Pro" versions, which the company will sell to businesses. At CES, AMD is touting three design wins, including the HP ZBook Ultra G1a and Z2 Mini G1a mini workstations, plus the Asus ROG Flow Z13 tablet. "This is something very, very special," said Rahul Tikoo, the senior vice president and general manager of AMD's client computing business said in a recorded briefing for reporters. "It's just so unique and powerful. It enables incredible performance and reshaping what customers can experience from the power of workstation and thin-and-light laptops to incredibly small and powerful micro desktops. This is simply the most advanced mobile x86 processor ever created." Interestingly, AMD is offering four of the AI Max chips as commercial products -- the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395, the Ryzen AI Max Pro 390, the Ryzen AI Max Pro 385, and the Ryzen AI Max Pro 380. However, the first three are being offered in consumer-friendly non-Pro versions. The fourth chip, the Ryzen AI Max Pro, is a 6 core/12-thread part with 22MB of cache and running at 4.9GHz. All of these will be available in either the first or second quarter of 2025, AMD said. What's interesting about the AI Max parts is they're really not differentiated by clock speed. Instead, CPU cores count, the number of graphics CUs and especially the cache size separate the three chips. (It's not quite clear what AMD means by ay the AI Max+ versus the more generic AI Max.) What this chip doesn't appear to have is the stacked V-Cache that differentiates AMD's Ryzen X3D chips -- just a lot of what appears to be ordinary level 3 cache. In graphics, AMD has only launched two RDNA 3.5 GPUs, the Radeon 880M and 890M, which are part of the "Strix Point" CPU architecture that makes up the Radeon AI 300. Those chips boast 12 CUs and 16 CUs, respectively, far less than what the new Ryzen AI Max chips include. Alternatively. the Radeon 7000 series includes both the Radeon 7600XT as well as the Radeon 7700XT, which boast 32 CUs and 54 CUs. Both of those GPUs use the older RDNA 3.0 architecture. (Read our Radeon 7600 review as well as our Radeon 7700XT review for more details.) AMD executives said that the Ryzen AI Max series is designed with an 256GB/s coherent memory interface of unknown width that can address up to 96GB of graphics memory. Nevertheless, that's close to the RX7600's memory bandwidth of 288GB/s -- not so critical for graphics, but for the Large Language Models (LLMs) that depend on high memory bandwidth to run. AMD is claiming that the Ryzen AI Max is the world's first Copilot+ processor to run an undisclosed 70 billion parameter LLM about 2.2 times as fast as the Nvidia RTX 4090 24GB, at 87 percent less power. AMD is currently positioning the Ryzen AI Max at artists, developers, and creators. But with such a powerful integrated GPU, can gamers be that far behind?

AMD Unveils New Ryzen CPUs for Gaming, Handhelds, and AI PCs at CES 2025

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) introduced several Ryzen-branded gaming CPUs including Ryzen 9900X3D and 9950X3D series, and Ryzen Z2 lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 on Monday. The company says its newest gaming-centric processors are aimed at bolstering desktop, mobile, and handheld gaming. Alongside, the US-based chipmaker has also expanded its portfolio of consumer and commercial-grade AI PCs with the unveiling of Ryzen AI Max, Ryzen AI 300, and Ryzen 200 series processors which are claimed to deliver maximum computing in thin and light notebooks. According to AMD, its new lineup of processors comprises four new products for different platforms. The first two are AMD Ryzen 9900X3D and 9950X3D series desktop processors for content creators and gamers, with the latter having a 16-core architecture. AMD 9950X3D leverages second generation 3D V-Cache technology and has 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores and AMD RDNA 2 graphics. The company claims it can deliver higher clock speeds at lower temperatures by relocating the cache memory below the core complex die (CCD). For handheld gaming devices, AMD introduces Ryzen Z2 series processors with up to 8 "Zen 5" CPU cores and RDNA 3.5 architecture-powered graphics. Meanwhile, the new Ryzen 9000HX series processors target mobile notebooks. They feature the same second generation 3D V-Cache technology as the desktop processors and are equipped with up to 16 cores, capable of delivering 32 threads of processing performance. The AMD Ryzen 9900X3D and 9950X3D desktop processors and Ryzen Z2 series chips will be available in the market in Q1 2025, while the Ryzen 9000HX series is scheduled to be made available in the first half of the year. The US chipmaker also expanded its AI PC CPU lineup with the introduction of Ryzen AI Max, Ryzen AI 300, and Ryzen AI 200 series. The Ryzen AI Max offers up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores, up to 40 AMD RDNA 3.5 graphics compute units, and an AMD XDNA 2 neural processing unit (NPU) with up to 50 TOPS of AI compute. It features up to 128GB of unified memory, out of which 96GB is claimed to be available for graphics. Part of the lineup is the new Ryzen AI Max Pro series processor which is said to be capable of handling AI-accelerated workloads when working with large engineering and architectural models. Meanwhile, the new Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen AI 300 Pro chips feature up to 8 "Zen 5" CPU cores, an RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, and an AMD XDNA 2 NPU. AMD says they are compatible with the next generation of Microsoft Copilot+ devices, offering peak 50+ NPU TOPS of AI performance. The company also unveiled the AMD Ryzen 200 series processors. They are equipped with up to 8 "Zen 4" CPU cores and 16 threads, AMD RDNA 3 graphics, and up to 16 NPU TOPS. The Ryzen AI Max series and Ryzen AI 300 series chips will be available in Q1 2025. Meanwhile, the AMD Ryzen 200 Series is expected to hit the markets in Q2 2025.

AMD takes AI PCs to the max with Ryzen AI Max chips

It's also rounding out its Ryzen AI lineup with lower-end chips. AMD is targeting both low-end and high-end AI PCs at CES 2025. The company unveiled a new family of Ryzen AI Max chips meant for "halo" Copilot+ AI PCs, which will sit above existing Ryzen AI 9 systems. In addition, it's also introducing Ryzen AI 7 and 5 chips for mid-tier and lower end AI PCs. Clearly, AMD wants AI PC options for everyone. To its credit, AMD's Ryzen AI Max chips seem like powerhouses. They feature up to 16 Zen 5 performance cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units and 50 TOPS of AI performance with AMD"s XDNA 2 NPU. The company claims it delivers 2.6 times faster 3D rendering than Intel's Core Ultra 9 288V, as well 1.4 times faster graphics performance in benchmarks like 3DMark's Wildlife Extreme and Solar Bay. It also delivers comparable performance to Apple's 14-core M4 Pro chip, and when it comes to the Vray benchmark, it's significantly faster. Ryzen AI Max systems will be available in the first and second quarter of the year, including the HP Zbook Ultra G1a, as well as the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 convertible. As for the Ryzen AI 7 and 5 chips, they'll basically deliver slightly slower performance than existing Ryzen AI 9 PCs. The Ryzen AI 7 chip features 8 cores and a 5GHz max boost speed, while the Ryzen AI 5 340 offers up six cores and a 4.8GHz max speed. And for PCs that don't need a ton of AI power, AMD is also introducing Ryzen 200 chips in the second quarter. They'll offer up to 16 TOPS of AI performance (compared to 50 TOPS on the faster AI chips), and will max out with the eight-core Ryzen 9 270.

AMD overhauls its processor lineup for AI PCs, handheld gaming, and more

AMD's Fire Range, Krackan Point, Strix Halo, and Ryzen Z2 have arrived CES is not usually a huge tradeshow for computing news, but 2025 is a banner year for chipset announcements from all the major chipmakers. AMD is leading the chip barrage with massive updates to its processor fleet for mobile and desktop. AMD has launched new processors for AI PCs, gaming PCs, gaming handhelds, and workstations at CES 2025 in Vegas. While AMD also has desktop chips, because of the sheer number of announcements, we're going to focus on the laptop and gaming handheld variants. So without further ado, here's the full list of AMD mobile processors unveiled at CES today. AMD's Ryzen HX "Fire Range" mobile processors are designed for gamers and content creators, with RDNA 4 architecture which offers optimized compute units, enhanced AI computing, improved ray tracing, and better media encoding quality. These chips will be found in gaming laptops from all the major gaming brands, plus content creator laptops designed for powerful video editing and computer design. These chips will be available in the first half of 2025. The chips in the "Fire Range" series include: AMD is also expanding the Ryzen AI 300 series to the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 lines, opening the AMD Copilot+ chipset to more wallet-friendly price points with the same industry-leading 50 TOPS XDNA 2 NPU. These chips will be available on general consumer laptops as well as enterprise business machines. The consumer variant of Ryzen AI 7 and 5 chips will be available in the first quarter of 2025, while the PRO line will be available starting the second quarter. The chips in the expanded Ryzen AI 300 series include: AMD's flagship APU "Strix Halo" platform has also arrived. Called the Ryzen AI Max and Ryzen AI Max PRO chip, this flagship will be available for gaming, content creation, and professional workstation machines. The Ryzen AI Max chipsets offer 16 Zen 5 performance cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units for graphics, and 50 TOPS XDNA 2 NPU. These mobile powerhouse chips will be available in the first and second quarters of the year. The chips in the "Strix Halo" Ryzen AI Max and Max PRO lines include: AMD has also updated the Ryzen Z series of handheld gaming PC chips with a second generation. The Ryzen Z2, Z2 Extreme, and Z2 Go. The AMD Ryzen Z1 and Z1 Extreme are the most popular handheld gaming PC chips, and with the second generation, AMD is also expanding its chip offerings to with a more budget-friendly version, the Z2 Go. AMD expects to continue holding a leadership position in gaming handhelds with the new Z2 generation, offering better battery life, software optimization, and performance. The Z2 generation will be available in the first quarter of 2025. The handheld chips in the Z2 series include: AMD has also refreshed the Ryzen AI series of laptop chips with the Ryzen AI 200 series. These chips will offer even further options for consumer and professional AI PCs. Eagle-eyed tech enthusiasts may notice the Ryzen AI 200 series is actually the Ryzen 8000 "Hawk Point" series, just rebranded to match the new Ryzen AI naming scheme. The refreshed "Hawk Point" chips will be available in the second quarter of this year.

AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D -- best processor for gamers and creators -- is among many new chips coming

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Advanced Micro Devices unveiled a new set of processors and graphics processing units (GPUs) at its CES 2025 press event. The big chip design company showed off processors for desktops, laptops and gaming handhelds as well as new graphics chips. Jack Huynh, senior vice president of the computing and graphics group at AMD, said AMD's tech is revolutionizing industries from fish farming to nuclear power, with AI processing massive amounts of data. "Whether you know it or not, you probably interact with AMD technology every day," Huynh said. "And we're just getting started" across gaming, AI PCs and enterprise. He said at a press event at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas that the company is launching its AMD Ryzen 9000 Series, including the "world's best processor for gamers and creators," the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D. AMD said it "touches the lives of billions" every day thanks to its AI and gaming chips. The chip has 16 Zen 5 CPU cores, or the fifth generation of the cores that helped AMD leapfrog Intel in x86 chip performance. It has a max boost frequency of 5.7 GHz, and 144 MB total cache with second-generation AMD V-Cache technology. Microsoft Xbox executive Matt Booty said in a guest message at the event that AMD has been driving innovation across every level of gaming, from the latest PC hardware to Xbox game consoles. The chip can run games 8% faster on average across 40 games tested, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth Wukong compared to the predecessor AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D. And the company said it is 20% faster based on 40 games tested compared to the Intel Core i9 285K processor. The chip is also 13% faster on average at content creation on 20 apps test versus the AMD Ryzen 9 790X3D. And it's 10% faster than the Intel chip. AMD said it has two versions available, one with 16 cores and 32 threads and another with 12 cores and 24 threads. They will be available in the first quarter of 2025. AMD mobile processor AMD also introduced the Fire Range HX3D, which the company called the best gaming and content creation mobile processor. That chip is coming in the first half of 2025. The HXD family ranges from 12 cores and 24 threads to 16 cores and 32 threads, with max boost frequency ranging from 5.2 GHz to 5.4 GHz. The cache memory ranges from 76MB to 144MB, and the TDP (a power measurement) is 54 watts. AMD graphics with RDNA 4 Meanwhile, AMD also showed off its RDNA 4 architecture for graphics and AI chips. It is based on optimized compute units, supercharged AI compute, improve raytracing per CU and better media encoding quality. AMD said the RDNA 4 architecture will b used in second generation AI accelerators and will be built with a 4nm process. It will also be used in third generation raytracing accelerators and the second generation AMD Radiance Display Engine. AMD also said its AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 tech with ML-powered upscaling will enable high-quality 4K upscaling, high performance with FSR + FG and low latency with AMD Anti-Lag 2. For gaming graphics, AMD is introducing the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and the AMD Radeon RX 9070. The chips will be available in Q1 2025 from Acer, Asus, Sapphire, XFX, ASRock, Gigabyte, PowerColor and Yeston. Gaming handheld processor AMD also announced its AMD Ryzen Z2 Series processors targeted at handheld PC gaming devices. It will feature "console-class" gaming in a handheld and allow you to stay unplugged for hours to game wherever you roam. These Z2 processors will be part of the Lenovo Legion Go, Asus ROG Ally and the Valve Steam Deck. The SKUs include the AMD Ryzen Z2 extreme with eight cores and 16 threads, the AMD Ryzen Z2 with eight cores and 16 threads, and the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go with four cores and eight threads. They will be available in the first quarter of 2024. AI processors AMD also introduced the AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series processors. It has a premium series AMD Ryzen 9 processor, with other processors including the AMD Ryzen AI 7 and the AMD Ryzen AI 5. AMD said the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 it has the fastest multitasking performance in its class ahead of the Qualcomm X Plus X1P-42-100 and the Intel Core Ultra 7 285V. It said the AMD Ryzen AI 7 has the world's best performance in next-gen AI PCs in running Windows NPU in Procyon AI. It also has multi-day battery life for mobile applications. The family is available in the first half of 2025. AMD also unveiled the Halo series, with the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ and the AMD Ryzen AI Max processors. These have up to 16 Zen 5 performance cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, 50 TOPs with XDNA 2 NPU, and 256GB/s bandwidth in a new memory interface. The company said the Ryzen AI Max Series performance will be up to 402% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V. And the graphics performance will be as much as 251% better. It also said its 3D rendering performance will be better than the Apple Mac M4 Pro. It will be the world's first Copilot+ PC processor to run 70B LLM with 2.2 times better performance than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 24GB and 87% lower TDP. The AI Max+ and the AI Max Pro will be available in the first half. Among the machines to use it will be the HP ZBook Ultra G1a, the HP Z2 Mini G1a and the Asus ROG Flow Z13. Su said there will be more than 150 Ryzen AI designs launched in AI PCs in 2025, including machines from Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, Mechrev, MSI, NEC and Razer. AMD also unveiled the AMD Ryzen 200 Series for mainstream consumer and commercial options. Those chips will debut in Q2 2025. AMD said over 100 enterprise platforms will use Ryzen Pro technology in 2025.

CES 2025: AMD expands AI chip lineup but can it outpace Nvidia

At CES 2025 in Las Vegas, AMD unveiled a range of new chips for laptops, desktops, and gaming handhelds, marking a significant move in the company's 2025 strategy. AMD captured a 28.7% share of the desktop CPU segment in Q3 2024, reflecting a 9.6 percentage-point increase from the same quarter in the previous year. In the mobile segment, AMD held 22.3% of the chip market, a rise of 2.8 percentage points from the previous fiscal period. The centerpiece of AMD's announcement is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, designed for gamers and creators. This processor features 16 cores based on AMD's Zen 5 architecture, with clock speeds reaching up to 5.7GHz. Benchmarks indicate that the 9950X3D performs 8% better on average in popular games like Hogwarts Legacy and Starfield compared to the Ryzen 7950X3D. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D, which has 12 cores clocked at 5.5GHz, will also be released in Q1 2025 alongside the 9950X3D. A complementary series, called "Fire Range," targets midrange laptops and ultraportables, launching in the first half of 2025. The Fire Range lineup, which includes the Ryzen 9 9850HX, 9955HX, and 9955HX3D, offers 12 to 16 cores with clock speeds ranging from 5.2GHz to 5.4GHz and consumes around 54 watts, significantly lower than the 170 watts required by the 9950X3D. AMD stock rises 3.9% during CES 2025: Is $250 within reach? AMD is also entering the AI PC market with the new Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen AI Max series processors. Each chip features a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) aimed at enhancing specific AI tasks, such as text summarization and image editing in Windows 11. The Ryzen AI 300 series will launch in Q1/Q2 2025 and includes four models -- Ryzen AI 7 350, Ryzen AI 5 340, Ryzen AI 7 Pro 350, and Ryzen AI 5 Pro 340 -- packing 6 to 8 cores clocked at up to 5GHz, with a potential battery life exceeding 24 hours in optimal scenarios. The Ryzen AI Max series is positioned as AMD's flagship for AI PCs, featuring 6 to 16 cores clocked up to 5.1GHz and integrated graphics. These processors promise superior performance in 3D rendering and AI applications. The Ryzen AI Max series includes models such as the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and Ryzen AI Max Pro 390, set to debut in Q1/Q2 2025. AMD also introduced the Ryzen 200 series, aimed at more budget-friendly devices, which will feature 6 to 8 cores and clock speeds up to 5.2GHz, scheduled for release in Q2 2025. In the handheld processor segment, AMD showcased the Ryzen Z2 series for lightweight gaming-focused systems. This series includes the Ryzen Z2 Go with four cores clocked at up to 4.3GHz and 12 graphics cores, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme with eight cores at 5GHz and 16 graphics cores, and the standard Ryzen Z2 packing eight cores at 5.1GHz with 12 graphics cores. All three SKUs will be available in Q1 2025. AMD revealed its latest discrete GPUs, the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070, based on the new RDNA 4 architecture. These graphics cards aim to enhance ray tracing performance, media encoding quality, and AI acceleration. The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 will be available from various manufacturers, including Acer, Asus, Gigabyte, and XFX, in Q1 2025. Additionally, AMD highlighted its FidelityFX Super Resolution 4.0 technology, which uses AI algorithms to upscale game content to near 4K resolution with minimal latency. Moreover, the AMD Adrenalin software has been updated with new AI features, allowing image generation, text summarization for documents like PDFs, and an AI-powered chatbot that answers AMD-related questions. AMD's CES 2025 announcements are impressive, but can they truly outpace Nvidia? AMD's making noise, and their AI push looks strong, but Nvidia's grip on enterprise AI and high-margin GPUs is tighter than ever. AMD's playing catch-up well, but stealing the crown? That's gonna take more than a CES mic drop.

AMD's 2025 Ryzen laptop lineup: A mix of powerful/new and renamed/old

AMD's CES announcements include a tease about next-gen graphics cards, a new flagship desktop CPU, and a modest refresh of its processors for handheld gaming PCs. But the company's largest announcement, by volume, is about laptop processors. Today the company is expanding the Ryzen AI 300 lineup with a batch of updated high-end chips with up to 16 CPU cores and some midrange options for cheaper Copilot+ PCs. AMD has repackaged some of its high-end desktop chips for gaming laptops, including the first Ryzen laptop CPU with 3D V-Cache enabled. And there's also a new-in-name-only Ryzen 200 series, another repackaging of familiar silicon to address lower-budget laptops. We came away largely impressed by the initial Ryzen AI 300 processors back in August of 2024, and new processors being announced today expand the lineup upward and downward. AMD is announcing the Ryzen AI 7 350 and Ryzen AI 5 340 today, along with identically specced Pro versions of the same chips with a handful of extra features for large businesses and other organizations. The 350 includes eight CPU cores split evenly between large Zen 5 cores and smaller, slower but more efficient Zen 5C cores, plus a Radeon 860M with eight integrated graphics cores (down from a peak of 16 for the Ryzen AI 9). The 340 has six CPU cores, again split evenly between Zen 5 and Zen 5C, and a Radeon 840M with four graphics cores. But both have the same 50 TOPS NPUs as the higher-end Ryzen AI chips, qualifying both for the Copilot+ label. For consumers, AMD is launching three high-end chips across the new "Ryzen AI Max+" and "Ryzen AI Max" families. Compared to the existing Strix Point-based Ryzen AI processors, Ryzen AI Max+ and Max include more CPU cores, and all of their cores are higher-performing Zen 5 cores, with no Zen 5C cores mixed in. The integrated graphics also get significantly more powerful, with as many as 40 cores built in -- these chips seem to be destined for larger thin-and-light systems that could benefit from more power but don't want to make room for a dedicated GPU.

AMD brings back 3D V-Cache chips for gaming laptops

CES 2025 Read and watch our complete CES coverage here Updated less than 40 seconds ago AMD just announced over a dozen new laptop CPUs, which will appear in over 150 new laptops being announced at CES 2025 and later this year, including a new 3D V-Cache chip for gaming laptops and some really impressive graphics in its new Ryzen AI Max+ halo chips. Let's start with Fire Range. These chips are for high-end gaming laptops, a successor to Dragon Range line, catering to enthusiast gamers and, so far, only enthusiasts are going to be happy, as those laptops likely be quite expensive. On the other hand, the CPUs sound mighty powerful. The lineup includes, first and foremost, the next big 3D V-Cache chip, dubbed the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D. Recommended Videos This is a follow-up to the first 3D V-Cache mobile, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, which launched in 2023. While it was impressive technically, it only ever showed up in one configuration of one gaming laptop, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17. But on the desktop side, the line of chips has earned itself a reputation among PC gamers, using the unique vertical stacking of L3 cache to improve game performance. Hopefully we see the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D get wider adoption and come to some of the best gaming laptops later this year. Beyond that, though, the other chips in the Dragon Range line include the Ryzen 9 9955HX, and the Ryzen 9 9850HX. Across all three chips, the specs are very much the same as Dragon Range, but the switch from Zen 4 to the latest Zen 5 will hopefully net some gaming improvements. The 9955HX3D comes with 16 cores, 32 threads, 144MB of combined cache, and a maximum clock speed of 5.4GHz. The 9955HX is almost the same, apart from a much smaller 80MB cache. Lastly, the 9850HX is limited to 12 cores and 24 threads, 76MB of cache, and a maximum boost frequency of 5.2GHz. All three share the same thermal design power (TDP) of 54 watts. Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming ReSpec Subscribe Check your inbox! Privacy Policy These CPUs are yet to receive a solid release date, but they're going to be available in the first half of 2025. AMD is also expanding the Ryzen AI 300 series lineup with new midrange chips, and it's promising to deliver sizable improvements over its competitors. The new additions include the Ryzen AI 7 350, the Ryzen AI 5 340, the Ryzen AI 7 Pro 350, and the Ryzen AI 5 Pro 340. Ranging from six to eight cores and 4.8GHz to 5GHz in terms of frequency, these are workstation processors optimized to maximize battery life and support AI workflows. To that end, each comes with a neural processing unit (NPU) with up to 50 Tera Operations per Second (TOPS), so they're Copilot+ ready. AMD claims that the NPU beats both Qualcomm's X Plus and Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V in Procyon AI. Next are AMD's halo chips, namely the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro (and just AI Max). These come equipped with up to 16 Zen 5 cores, an XDNA 2 NPU with up to 50 TOPS, and RDNA 3.5 graphics with up to 40 compute units (CUs). AMD compared the new flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 to Apple's M4 Pro, highlighting huge wins in 3D rendering over both the 12-core and the 14-core model; for example, in Vray, the AI Max was 69% faster than the M4 Pro. AMD also claims to offer up to 14x faster graphics performance when compared to the Core Ultra 9 288V. That's a big claim, especially considering how powerful the integrated graphics already are on Intel's Core Ultra Series 2 chips. All the chips in the new Ryzen AI Max+ Pro and non-Pro range have a highly adjustable TDP ranging from 45 watts to 120 watts. Availability will be spread over the first two quarters of 2025. We all know that AMD is no stranger to coming back to its older CPU ranges and adding products to lineups that are no longer "current." This is what's happening to the Ryzen 200 series, which is a Zen 4-based platform that AMD itself advertises as "AI for everyday experiences." A whole bunch of CPUs are arriving in the second quarter of 2025, ranging from the Ryzen 9 270 with eight cores and 16 threads, to the budget-friendly Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 3 Pro 210 with a modest four cores and eight threads. All of these, apart from the top two chips, have TDPs ranging from 15 to 30 watts, which should translate to good battery life. There are a whole lot of mobile processors to dig into this time around. Now, it all comes down to availability. Previous generations weren't widely available, but perhaps this time around, AMD's presence in laptops has grown enough to give these chips a chance at success.

AMD showcases AI and gaming chips at CES 2025 By Proactive Investors

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) Inc (NASDAQ:AMD, ETR:AMD) unveiled its latest lineup of AI and gaming chips at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, aiming to solidify its position in the competitive semiconductor market. The company introduced Ryzen AI Max processors for high-performance laptops, offering up to 128GB of unified memory and 50 TOPS of AI power, alongside PRO variants with enhanced security for enterprise use. Additional releases include the Ryzen AI 300 and 200 Series chips for consumers and businesses, targeting a broader range of AI PC users. While the AI 300 Series matches the AI Max in performance, the more affordable Ryzen 200 Series offers 16 TOPS, suitable for less demanding tasks. AMD also announced new gaming chips, including the Ryzen 9950X3D for desktops, Ryzen 9000HX Series for laptops, and Ryzen Z2 for handheld PCs. The announcements highlight AMD's push to challenge Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) in AI and gaming markets.

AMD's next mobile chipset promises to provide faster 3D rendering than Apple's M4 Pro

AMD made a bold statement at CES 2025 by revealing the "world's best" processors in their respective categories: the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the Ryzen AI 300 Series. Putting all hyperbole aside, these chipsets could blow users away if the preliminary test results are to be believed. Also: CES 2025: What is it, what to expect, and how to tune in Starting with the former, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is the company's newest gaming processor. It has 16 "Zen 5" processing cores and 144MB total cache for top-class performance. Users can boost its clock speed up to a whopping 5.7 GHz. AMD states that the 9950X3D is, on average, 8% faster than the older Ryzen 9 7950X3D, which is already a "monster of a processor." Outside of gaming, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D excels in content creation, too, being reportedly 13% faster than the 7950X3D when rendering, editing, and extracting large files. AMD's hardware is set to launch in the first quarter of 2025 alongside the Ryzen 9 990X3D. This second model has similar specifications, albeit with 12 processing cores, 140MB total cache, and a max clock speed of 5.5 GHz. Pricing for both has yet to be released. For laptops, the company has the "Fire Range" HX3D series of mobile processors. This consists of the Ryzen 9 9850HX at the low end, the mid-range Ryzen 9955HX, and the Ryzen 9 9955XH3D. That final entry is the most powerful of the trio, sporting a nearly identical spec spread as the 9950X3D, although its max clock speed peaks at 5.4 Ghz and demands less energy. The Fire Range will roll out within the first half of 2025. Also: What is an AI PC exactly? And should you buy one in 2025? The Ryzen AI 300 Series is more for work laptops, opting for longevity instead of sheer power. According to the test results, the Ryzen AI 7 350 consists of eight processing cores and 16 CPU threads with a maximum clock boost of up to 5.0 GHz. The Ryzen AI 7 Pro, interestingly enough, has identical specs to the base model. We would love to know what differences the supposedly "stronger" version offers. Right now, AMD keeps things under wraps. The base AI 300 series will launch in Q1 2025, while the Pro models will roll out in Q2 2025. Also: The best laptops for video editing: Expert tested AMD also unveiled the Ryzen AI Max series of processors, which will power high-end laptops and mini workstations. The company says the flagship Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 chipset offers 2.2 times "faster AI performance" than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU and better 3D rendering than Apple's M4 Pro. To mirror what we said earlier, those are bold claims. Granted, it may be possible. The Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 has 16 processing cores, 32 threads, and 40 graphics cores. Of course, we'll have to wait until the AI Max series launches in Q2 2025 to know for sure.

CES 2025: Dell adopts AMD processors for commercial PCs, further eroding Intel's market opportunities

At CES 2025 on January 7, AMD unveiled a new series of notebook processors aimed at seizing opportunities in the AI PC era. AMD executives stated that Dell has decided to incorporate these processors into some of its commercial computers. Dell's decision to use AMD processors in commercial PCs represents another setback for Intel. The commercial and gaming computer markets are typically high-margin sectors that require more expensive components. Previously, Dell had already integrated AMD processors into its consumer PCs. According to Bloomberg, AMD, Intel, and potential competitor Qualcomm have all announced new notebook and desktop processors at this year's CES, each claiming their respective technologies provide optimal performance for AI workloads. Chip manufacturers and computer makers believe that the PC market will revive as more tasks can be executed through AI. AMD claims that its new Ryzen AI Max Series processors will deliver top-tier performance for premium thin and light notebooks, running AI workloads up to 90% faster than the previous generation. TechCrunch reported that the Ryzen AI Max is AMD's flagship offering for Copilot+ PCs, featuring 6 to 16 cores clocked at up to 5.1GHz, expected to launch in the first quarter of 2025. AMD claims that the Ryzen AI Max can achieve leading performance in 3D rendering and AI applications. Additionally, AMD introduced the new Ryzen AI 300 series, claiming that all chip products within this series feature dedicated neural processing units (NPU) designed to accelerate certain AI workloads, supporting the next generation of Copilot+ PCs. The Ryzen AI 300 Series chips are set to hit the market in the first quarter of 2025, equipped with 6 to 8 cores clocked at up to 5GHz, offering "24-plus-hour" of battery life under optimal conditions. AMD also debuted the Ryzen 200 Series chips targeting the more affordable PC market, which come with 6 to 8 cores clocked up to 5.2GHz, scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2025. Furthermore, AMD unveiled the next-generation 9000 Series desktop processors, including the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D, claiming that this will expand the company's leadership in this domain. AMD noted that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a Zen 5 architecture 16-core processor clocked up to 5.7GHz, while the Ryzen 9 9900X3D features 12 cores clocked up to 5.5GHz. Both models are scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2025. Lastly, AMD released a new Fire Range chip series aimed at midrange notebooks and ultraportables, set to launch in the first half of 2025. This includes the Ryzen 9 9850HX, 9955HX, and 9955HX3D, providing 12 to 16 cores clocked between 5.2GHz and 5.4GHz. The Fire Range chips consume approximately 54W, less than half the power requirement of the 9950X3D, which demands 170W.

AMD Announces Ryzen AI MAX 300 Strix Halo APUs up-to 16 Zen 5 Cores and RDNA 3.5

AMD has released the Ryzen AI MAX 300 series APUs under the Strix Halo brand, featuring up to 16 Zen 5 CPU cores and 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units. This new APU architecture integrates advanced Zen 5 processing with RDNA 3.5 graphics, offering improved performance compared to many current entry-level GPUs. The Ryzen AI MAX series comes in two variants: the PRO version for business and workstation laptops, and a consumer version. Both variants can be configured with up to 16 Zen 5 cores and 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units. The top model, Ryzen AI MAX PRO 395, includes 16 cores with a boost clock of 5.1 GHz, 80 MB of cache, and 40 graphics cores. The mid-tier Ryzen AI MAX PRO 390 has 12 cores, a 5.0 GHz boost clock, 76 MB of cache, and 32 graphics cores. For gaming systems, the Ryzen AI MAX PRO 385 offers 8 cores and 32 graphics cores, while the Ryzen AI MAX PRO 380 variant features 6 cores and 16 graphics cores. All APUs in the Ryzen AI MAX series use the XDNA2 processor, which can perform 50 Tera Operations Per Second, and operate within a thermal design power range of 45W to 120W. AMD announced that the Strix Halo series will be launched between the first and second quarters of 2025. Additionally, AMD stated that the Ryzen AI MAX PRO 395 model will outperform the Apple M4 Pro 12C by 12 to 86 percent and provide 1.4 times the performance of Intel's Core Ultra 9 288V in 3DMark tests, along with 2.6 times better rendering performance. AMD also announced a number of updates in the low power 200 series for notebooks and the existing AI range 300 which will get expanded, you can check in the slides below.

A Mountain of Mobile CPUs: AMD's 2025 Fleet Features New Ryzen 9 X3D & AI Max+

I'm one of the consumer PC experts at PCMag, with a particular love for PC gaming. I've played games on my computer for as long as I can remember, which eventually (as it does for many) led me to building and upgrading my own desktop. Through my years here, I've tested and reviewed many, many dozens of laptops and desktops, and I am always happy to recommend a PC for your needs and budget. AMD announced a staggering slate of new mobile silicon today at CES 2025, revealing a fleet of Ryzen laptop processors across all performance levels, alongside some fresh desktop chips and new-generation Radeon RX 9000-series graphics cards. The new mobile lineup covers a range of user segments, including gaming- and content creator-focused processors, new chips for high-powered AI workloads, and CPUs for more mainstream and budget laptops. These comprise potent Ryzen 9000 HX and HX3D "Fire Range" processors, top-of-the-line Ryzen AI 300 "Max" series chips, consumer Ryzen AI 300 series CPUs, everyday Ryzen 200 series CPUs, and even new AMD Z2 processors for handheld gaming devices. AMD provided a rundown on these lineups and their specific chip stacks, which are all set to land before the second half of 2025, and I've pre-digested all the details for you below. Ryzen 9 'Fire Range': HX3D and HX Processors for High-End Gaming Let's start with the new Ryzen 9 9000 Series HX processors for users running demanding games or content-creation workloads. This new generation is headlined by the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor, with two additional chips below it in the hierarchy. An "HX" suffix denotes a high-performance tier, while the flagship chip also carries the "3D" branding that represents AMD's vertical stacking 3D-V-Cache technology. These "3D" chips layer more cache onto the CPU, reflected in the much higher listed cache spec in the chart above. AMD also has new Ryzen 9 9000 X3D desktop chips alongside this mobile version. We first saw AMD's mobile 3D V-Cache in action with the Ryzen 7945HX3D chip inside an Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D laptop in 2023. My firsthand testing showed modest performance improvements in limited use cases. It's particularly useful for gaming, as it helps the CPU render frames more effectively, so we'll have to see how the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D fares in bringing the second generation to mobile. Again, note that the lower two Ryzen 9000 HX chips here have a smaller cache but share the same total thermal design power (TDP) and max boost. The mid-tier 9955HX chip has the same 16-core and 32-thread counts as its 3D V-Cache sibling, while the lowest (9850HX) option drops those down to 12 cores and 24 threads. All three will be available in laptops in the first half of 2025. Ryzen AI Max: Look Out, Apple M4 Next, in keeping with the higher-power platforms, AMD announced the Ryzen AI Max series, which may be the biggest barn-burner in the bunch. The so-called "Halo"-class products sit even above the existing Ryzen AI 9 CPUs, meant for the most demanding power users and workstation shoppers. Think of the intended buyers here as professional media editors, content creators, animators, engineers, and users with other similarly demanding pro-grade workloads -- essentially anything you'd want a top-end Apple MacBook Pro for. You'll find these new chips in workstation laptops, the most capable portable systems, and even in some micro desktops. AMD has four main chips in this stack, though three of them technically come in Pro and non-Pro versions, bringing the total distinct count to seven. (Pro, in this instance, denotes IT features for enterprise, not performance superiority.) Here's a look at the specs below... The top-of-the-line chip is the Ryzen Max+ 395 (and its Pro version, but I'll refer to them together), which AMD calls "the most advanced mobile x86 processor ever created." A single chip based on the company's "Zen 5" architecture, the Max+ 395 features 16 performance cores, 32 threads, 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of up to 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS), and a 256GB-per-second-bandwidth memory interface. AMD provided all of the following performance comparisons with competitors using the Max+ 395 as a basis, so you can't necessarily extend these presumptions to the standard Max chips. These are also compared with existing-generation competition, not necessarily comparable alternatives launching in 2025. With that, AMD claims 1.4 times faster graphics performance than the "Lunar Lake" Intel Core Ultra 9 288V in various 3DMark suite tests and 2.6 times faster rendering than the same Intel chip in benchmarks like Cinebench, Blender, Vray, and Corona. AMD is also eager to compare with the mighty Apple M4 Pro, though it notably steers clear of any M4 Max comparisons below. Perhaps AMD's most eye-catching claim was in the AI space versus Nvidia's current-generation GPUs. AMD claims that, with its on-die unified memory architecture (of which up to 96GB is available to the graphics cores at any given time), AI Max+ 395 can run a vast 70-billion-parameter large language model (LLM) up to 2.2 times faster than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 (with 24GB VRAM) as measured by tokens per second. Of course, knowing that it can bring more memory to bear on this task makes sense of the result, but it also does this, AMD claims, at 87% lower TDP. This silicon will launch in Q1 and into Q2; AMD didn't specify which chips would land when, but if it follows the Ryzen AI 300 roadmap (below), the Pro models will likely come later. AMD also shared some specific Copilot+ PC product examples with these CPUs: The Max Pro processors will be released in professional products like the HP ZBook Ultra G1a and the HP Z2 Mini G1a mini workstation, while Max chips will launch in a new version of the Asus ROG Flow Z13. Ryzen AI 300 Series: New Ryzen 5 and 7 Chips for More Mainstream AI Performance Staying in the Ryzen AI 300 family, we're moving down to the latest Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 chips -- this is the "Advanced Series" tier below Halo and Premium in the graphic leading off the previous section. Look at the new consumer-grade CPUs in this category: four total chips, with two "Pro" enterprise-specific spinoffs of the leading processors... The 300 series represents the third generation Ryzen AI, with just one Ryzen AI 7 and one Ryzen AI 5 processor in the stack to kick things off. With up to eight cores and 16 threads and a wattage range of 15 to 54 watts, these processors will appear in everyday and business laptops; Ryzen AI CPUs will arrive in more than 150 notebooks in 2025, AMD claims. While they are not at the power level of Ryzen AI 9, general performance and AI capability (it is still in the name) remain important for Ryzen AI 5 and 7. AMD compared the AI 7 350's general multi-tasking performance with both Intel and Qualcomm alternatives, with the same testing caveats as before. On media-creation benchmarks such as Cinebench R24, HandBrake, and Blender (the last using the Classroom test project), AMD claims an average improvement of 35% over Qualcomm's X Plus X1P-42-100 chip and an improvement of 30% over Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V. These chips also include an XDNA 2 NPU with more than 50 TOPS performance, which AMD dubs the fastest Windows NPU in Procyon AI. (We'll see if those claims clash with others before CES is through.) Naturally, battery life is essential for the intended types of systems these chips will go in, and so AMD claims at least 24 hours of video-playback battery life. Video playback is hardly the only use case, so mileage will vary, but that's also how we gauge battery life at PCMag, and it's in line with the existing super-long results of other platforms we've tested in this class. As mentioned, the AI 300 chips will launch in Q1 of this year, while the Pro models will follow in Q2. Ryzen 200 Series: Everyday Power at the Entry Level Last, but not least, AMD has the Ryzen 200 series for laptop processing. These are processors for mainstream consumer and commercial laptops, and as you can see in the following outline, a wide range of chips and supporting specs will deploy across different types of devices. Like the Ryzen AI 300 chips, think of these as more mainstream options, dialed down in performance a bit further. (Note the lack of "AI" in the 200-series name, too.) These chips are intended for everyday scenarios, and only some of the TDP ratings reach the 50W range, with generally modest core and thread counts and a lower floor. Expect reliable battery life, more basic AI capability (note the 16 peak NPU TOPS), and lower price points on laptops using these processors. As with other the series, the Pro versions are for IT-managed environments; counting these Pro variants where available, 11 total Ryzen 200-series chip models will launch in Q2 2025. AMD Ryzen Z2: Gaming Handhelds Finally Get More Juice The odd one out in this group is the Z2 platform -- still a mobile processor, but intended for the growing market of handheld gaming devices rather than laptops. We've reviewed all of the mainstream Windows-based alternatives to the Steam Deck, notably the Asus ROG Ally, the MSI Claw, and the Lenovo Legion Go. The Legion Go and ROG Ally ran on AMD's previous Z1 and Z1 Extreme chips, which were codesigned with these handhelds in mind. Enter the Z2 generation, which aims to deliver even more potent performance on these handhelds. AMD will sprint out of the gate with Z2 Extreme, Z2, and Z2 Go processors. Given the limited physical space for discrete graphics in handheld devices, these chips handle both processing and visuals. The Z1 Extreme also featured eight cores, 16 threads, and a 24MB cache, but only 12 graphics cores and a 30W maximum TDP, so the ceiling is lifted at the top level. Z2 is still based on RDNA 3 graphics, not RDNA 4, with these chips for more-limited systems on a different cadence than AMD's desktop graphics. Power and efficiency are crucial in squeezing out as many frames per second as possible, so a new processing generation will be met with open arms -- we've seen a couple of updates to these devices, like the ROG Ally X that updated the device's design and features but still ran on the Z1 platform. This generation should also improve battery life, though AMD makes no specific claims yet. AMD still expects this relatively new market to grow through this year. Interestingly, though, MSI updated its new Claw just before CES 2025 with Intel's "Lunar Lake" processors. (Hit the link for our first look at the new Claw.) We look forward to testing all of this new silicon when it arrives inside laptops big and small this year. As samples become available, check back for our comprehensive testing and analysis.

AMD brings 3D V-Cache to laptops and launches more AI CPUs

AMD is proud of its 3D V-Cache technology, so much so that we're now seeing it move to the company's mobile CPU family. For CES 2025, AMD announced the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, which is quite the mouthful and has the highest cache on any AMD mobile chip. As well as some new AMD Ryzen 9000 series mobile processors, AMD also announced AMD Ryzen AI 300, Ryzen AI Max, Ryzen 200, and Ryzen Z2 chips. There's almost enough chips here for a classic British staple takeaway meal. The highlight of the show is the mighty AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, which is where our coverage begins. New AMD Ryzen 9000 mobile CPUs Joining the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D is the 9955HX and 9850HX. All three are designed for more powerful laptops with beefy cooling solutions and large power packs. The AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D is powered by 16 Zen 5 cores and 32 threads, can boost up to 5.4 GHz under the right conditions, has 144 MB of 3D V-Cache (more than many desktop-class CPUs), and a TDP of 54 W. Next up is the slightly less-equipped Ryzen 9 9955HX with the same specs aside from 80 MB of normal cache. Finally, we have the 12-core Ryzen 9 9850HX with a max boost speed of 5.2 GHz, 76 MB of cache, and the same TDP. Cores / Threads Max boost Cache TDP AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D 16 / 32 5.4 GHz 144 MB 54 W AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX 16 / 32 5.4 GHz 80 MB 54 W AMD Ryzen 9 9850HX 12 / 24 5.2 GHz 76 MB 54 W We'll eagerly wait to get our hands on laptops with the 9955HX3D and 9955HX to see how much of a difference that extra 64 MB of cache makes to gaming (and everything else you do on a notebook). More powerful AMD AI chips Close If you thought 2025 would be the end of the AI PC, you'll need to think again as AMD just outed many more SKUs for laptop makers to include in lighter and longer-lasting portable systems. We've already seen what the AMD Ryzen AI 9 series can do, as well as the Ryzen AI 7 Pro 360, but AMD has now rounded out the catalog with eight AI and AI Max chips, bringing the total to 11. Today, AMD announced the AI Max, AI Max+, Ryzen AI 7 350, Ryzen AI 5 340, Ryzen AI 7 Pro 350, and Ryzen AI 5 Pro 340. The latter four AI chips offer the same TOPS performance and have an identical TDP, but you'll find different cores, threads, clock speeds, and cache throughout. Cores / Threads Max boost Cache TOPS TDP AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 16 / 32 5.1 GHz 80 MB 50 45-120 W AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 12 / 24 5.0 GHz 76 MB 50 45-120 W AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 8 / 16 5.0 GHz 40 MB 50 45-120 W AMD Ryzen AI Max 380 6 / 12 4.9 GHz 22 MB 50 45-120 W AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 375 12 / 24 5.1 GHz 36 MB 55 15-54 W AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 370 12 / 24 5.1 GHz 36 MB 50 15-54 W AMD Ryzen AI 7 Pro 360 8 / 16 5.0 GHz 24 MB 50 15-54 W AMD Ryzen AI 7 Pro 350 8 / 16 5.0 GHz 24 MB 50 15-54 W AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 8 / 16 5.0 GHz 24 MB 50 15-54 W AMD Ryzen AI 5 Pro 340 6 / 12 4.8 GHz 22 MB 50 15-54 W AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 6 / 12 4.8 GHz 22 MB 50 15-54 W AI Max and AI Max+ processors offer more cache, better graphics, and a higher configurable TDP. These are considerably more powerful than all other Ryzen AI CPUs. Flagship Copilot+ hardware will use AMD Ryzen AI Max and Max+ processors, premium systems will be powered by AMD Ryzen AI 9, and everything else will use AMD Ryzen AI 7 and AI 5 SKUs. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 and Ryzen AI 5 CPUs will launch in Q1 2025, followed by the AMD Ryzen AI 7 Pro and Ryzen 5 Pro CPUs in Q2 2025. AI Max and AI Max+ will launch in Q1 through Q2 2025. Still with me? But wait, there's more! You thought we were done with the Ryzen AI product stack? Not quite as AMD also launched 7 new Ryzen 200 series processors with an emphasis on trusted performance and enhanced battery life, an onboard NPU for everyday AI applications, and similar price points for mainstream hardware. There are Pro versions of the AMD Ryzen 7 250, Ryzen 5 230, Ryzen 5 220, and Ryzen 3 210. All of these 200-series AMD Ryzen CPUs will be ready in Q2 2025. Cores / Threads Max boost Cache TOPS TDP AMD Ryzen 9 270 8 /16 5.2 GHz 24 MB 16 35-54 W AMD Ryzen 7 260 8 /16 5.1 GHz 24 MB 16 35-54 W AMD Ryzen 7 250 8 /16 5.1 GHz 24 MB 16 15-30 W AMD Ryzen 5 240 6 / 12 5.0 GHz 22 MB 16 35-54 W AMD Ryzen 5 230 6 / 12 4.9 GHz 22 MB 16 15-30 W AMD Ryzen 5 220 6 /12 4.9 GHz 22 MB - 15-30 W AMD Ryzen 3 210 4 / 8 4.7 GHz 12 MB - 15-30 W

AMD Ryzen AI Max is finally here: 'the most advanced mobile x86 processor ever created' with 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs and 16 Zen 5 cores

Well, it's finally here. We've been crossing our fingers for a long, long time waiting for AMD Strix Halo, and now the waiting's over. As one of its many rabbit hat-pulls for CES 2025, AMD's just announced the halo (ie, top) end of its Strix Point mobile processors, combining Zen 5 CPU cores, RDNA 3.5 integrated graphics, and an NPU. These new "halo" processors are the Ryzen AI Max 385, AI Max 390, and AI Max+ 395. (Oh, and the AI Max 380, but that's a Pro-only, ie, business-focused, processor.) These will be available Q1-Q2 2025. We've suspected a Strix Halo launch for a while now, and we'd heard about its AI Max naming and possible specs since September last year. As it turns out, those previously rumoured specs were almost entirely accurate. The only difference is that now we know the Ryzen AI Max 390 will have just 32 CUs, not 40 as the previous rumour had it. That number of CUs is the privilege of the top-end Max+ 395 alone. Here's the full range of specs: If you're wondering just how powerful those 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs on the AI Max+ 395 will be, bear in mind the Z1 Extreme found in the Asus ROG Ally X and a couple of other handhelds has just 12 RDNA 3 CUs, which are very similar in architecture. Even in the AI Max 385 and 390, you're getting close to three times the graphics capabilities of such handhelds. But these AI Max chips probably won't be for handhelds -- what use would a handheld have for so many CPU cores plus an NPU? Instead, AMD is explicitly targeting these chips at the laptop market, especially for creative and AI workloads. This is in part thanks to its "unified coherent memory architecture" which allows up to 96 GB of memory to be dedicated to graphics, with a bandwidth of 256 GB/s. Such bandwidth, AMD says, is "unprecedented in any x86 mobile device". Ultimately, all of this combined with the NPU means AI Max chips can run large AI workloads with "performance faster than high-end desktop graphics cards". AMD backs up these claims with its own graphs -- which we should, of course, take with a pinch of salt. Comparing the top-end AI Max+ 395 to the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V, AMD claims 1.4x faster graphics performance and 2.6x faster rendering (including a whopping 402% faster performance in Blender Classroom). And it even seems to trade blows with, or beat, Apple M4 chips for rendering. We can obviously expect good things for gaming, too, compared to other systems with integrated graphics. For context, we found the 16-CU 890M to have modern games playable at 1080p, and these new AI Max processors will have at least double the CUs of that mobile GPU. That's why I certainly take the AMD representative seriously when they say it is "simply the most advanced mobile x86 processor ever created". The only question is price and target market. I don't, unfortunately, see these AI Max chips being the best options for gaming. They'll be a dab hand at gaming, for sure, but they'll surely be expensive given their overall feature set that will be beneficial for creative professionals and graphics/AI developers. In which case, I'd suspect we'd get more gaming bang for our buck from gaming laptops with dedicated mobile GPUs in them. Then again, Strix Point is lower power than a fully fledged gaming chip and GPU combo, so maybe the battery life will justify the likely premium cost. We'll have to wait and see.

AMD's beastly 'Strix Halo' Ryzen AI Max+ debuts with radical new memory tech to feed RDNA 3.5 graphics and Zen 5 CPU cores

AMD announced its 'Strix Halo' Ryzen AI Max series laptop processors here at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, and by any definition, the new APUs look to be absolute monsters for the enthusiast thin-and-light gaming and AI workstation laptop markets, featuring what AMD bills as the fastest integrated graphics available in the Windows ecosystem courtesy of a new disruptive integrated memory architecture that unlocks new capabilities. In fact, AMD says the AI Max chips deliver up to 1.4X faster gaming performance than Intel's flagship 'Lunar Lake' Core Ultra 9 288V flagship, and up to 84% faster rendering performance than the Apple MacBook M4 Pro. AMD also says the chip can deliver up to an incredible 2.2X more performance in AI workloads than the discreet desktop Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU, but at an 87% lower TDP. The fire-breathing 120W Zen 5-powered flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 comes packing 16 CPU cores and 32 threads paired with 40 RDNA 3.5 (Radeon 8060S) integrated graphics cores (CUs), but perhaps more importantly, it supports up to 128GB of memory that is shared among the CPU, GPU, and XDNA 2 NPU AI engines. The memory can also be carved up to a distinct pool dedicated to the GPU only, thus delivering an astounding 256 GB/s of memory throughput that unlocks incredible performance in memory capacity-constrained AI workloads (details below). AMD says this delivers groundbreaking capabilities for thin-and-light laptops and mini workstations, particularly in AI workloads. The company also shared plenty of gaming and content creation benchmarks. As designated by the '+,' the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 serves as the flagship of the new series, but it's accompanied by three other processors in varying configurations ranging from a 6-core 12-thread / 16 GPU core Ryzen AI Max Pro 380 to the 12-core 24-thread / 32 GPU core Ryzen AI Max 390. The Ryzen AI Max 390 and 385 are armed with the Radeon 8050S graphics engine. AMD also has an unlisted 16-core 16-CU model for OEMs. All of the AI Max chips have a 55W base TDP, but also a configurable TDP that ranges from 45 to 120W to unleash more horsepower in designs that can handle the thermal output. The top three models will come in both standard and Pro series models, with the latter including a RAS feature set for professional users. AMD plans to release these processors across Q1 and Q2 of this year. As you can see above, the chip has a large central I/O die that houses the GPU and NPU, while the two smaller dies contain the CPU cores. The chip connects to standard memory, but you can use the Radeon Adrenaline software to make a custom memory allocation dedicated to the GPU only. For instance, if you have 128GB of total system memory, up to 96GB can be allocated to the GPU alone, with the remaining 32GB dedicated to the CPU. However, the GPU can still read from the entire 128 GB memory, thus eliminating costly memory copies via its unified coherent memory architecture. However, it can only write to its directly allocated 96GB pool. The combination of a shared memory pool and a dedicated memory pool enables faster performance in a range of workloads by leveraging the memory as a slower VRAM of sorts, including disruptive performance in AI workloads that we'll outline below. But first, gaming and content creation performance. The Strix Halo chips address both the enthusiast gaming and workstation markets, so performance in gaming is key. AMD claims the Ryzen AI Max+ is 1.4X faster than Intel's flagship Lunar Lake Core 9 288V, but the company didn't share real-world gaming benchmarks. Instead, AMD shared synthetic 3DMark tests that often don't correlate well to real-world gaming performance. We won't know more about real-world gaming performance until Ryzen AI Max hits the market, and as always, you should approach vendor provided benchmarks with the appropriate skepticism (we've included AMD's test notes at the end of the article). AMD also included numerous rendering benchmarks of its 16-core flagship against the 12-core Apple MacBook M4 Pro, claiming an up to 86% advantage in a v-ray workload. Naturally, the 14-core M4 Pro, also included in the benchmarks, is more competitive, but AMD still holds a stout lead in the Blender, Corona, and v-ray selection of benchmarks. However, the Ryzen AI Max+ isn't as performant in the multi-threaded Cinebench 2024 test, beating the 12-core M4 Pro by a scant 2%, and trailing the 14-core M4 Pro by 3%. AMD also took another swipe at Intel's Lunar Lake Core Ultra 288V flagship, showing massive 3D rendering performance advantages of 2.6X faster on average, with advantages ranging from 340% to 402% in this selection of benchmarks. The 288V is geared for lower-power laptops, so comparisons against Intel's newly-launched Core Ultra 200H and 200HX series, the latter with a dGPU, will be interesting. AMD used a reference motherboard for its tests (a test board that typically has unlimited cooling capacity), so these results won't reflect the performance you can expect in thermally constrained laptop. In contrast, the Apple and Intel benchmarks were generated with shipping laptops. AMD lists the tested TDP at a base of 55W, but power consumption can stretch much higher during heavy loads, especially with beefy cooling on a reference motherboard. This can lead to lopsided comparisons - for instance, the 288V has a 37W max TDP. All of the Ryzen AI Max configs were tested with only 32GB of RAM for these benchmarks. AMD also shared some rather impressive results showing a Llama 70B Nemotron LLM AI model running on both the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with 128GB of total system RAM (32GB for the CPU, 96GB allocated to the GPU) and a desktop Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 with 24GB of VRAM (details of the setups in the slide below). AMD says the AI Max+ 395 delivers up to 2.2X the tokens/second performance of the desktop RTX 4090 card, but the company didn't share time-to-first-token benchmarks. Perhaps more importantly, AMD claims to do this at an 87% lower TDP than the 450W RTX 4090, with the AI Max+ running at a mere 55W. That implies that systems built on this platform will have exceptional power efficiency metrics in AI workloads. The Ryzen AI Max models all have an integrated XDNA 2 NPU AI engine capable of delivering up to 50 TOPS of performance, but AMD didn't share benchmarks for the NPU. Speaking of systems, AMD's partners will have systems built around the AI Max chips coming to market this year. HP has a ZBook Ultra G1 compact workstation and an HP Z2 mini G1a workstation, but the release date for those systems is undefined. Additionally, Asus has its gaming tablet with a detachable keyboard, the ROG Flow Z13, coming to market in Q1 of this year. That implies a hefty amount of gaming performance packed into a very slim form factor. Here's hoping we can find these at retail, as AMD's flagship gaming chips have often suffered from poor availability.

AMD at CES 2025: RDNA 4 GPUs with FSR4, new X3D CPUs for desktops and laptops

AMD has already announced its new Ryzen Z2 chips for handheld PCs, but its CES 2025 keynote also included a whole new generation of graphics cards and new X3D processors for both desktops and laptops. We'll start with the graphics news, as the American firm detailed two models on the new RDNA 4 architecture - the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 - as well as a long-awaited upgrade to their FSR upscaling tech, FSR4. The RX 9070 XT and 9070 are positioned to counter Nvidia's mid-tier 40-series and 50-series graphics cards, with the RDNA 4 architecture promising improved ray-tracing performance, better AI capabilities and even an improved media encoder - all areas of relative weakness for AMD versus competitors like Nvidia and Intel. The cards are produced on a 4nm process and ship this quarter, with models coming from the likes of Acer, Asus, Sapphire, XFX, ASRock, Gigabyte and PowerColor. FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 is the first time AMD is using AI for its upscaling, something long embraced by Nvidia to good effect. The feature is exclusive to RDNA 4 graphics cards, and hopefully will offer a step change beyond previous AMD efforts in what is now quite a competitive space with the likes of Sony, Intel and Nvidia all producing reasonable solutions. As before, frame generation and anti-lag tech is included. AMD is also leveraging its cards improved AI capabilities to let users generate images, summarise locally-stored documents and ask a chat-bot AMD-related questions - so I'm sure it won't be long after the cards are released that humorous screenshots of inappropriate bot behaviour are posted. The company's CPU announcements are perhaps a little more straightforward. First, we got what we all expected was coming: two new desktop 9000 X3D CPUs, the 9950X3D and 9900X3D, both to come in the first half of 2025. If you're familiar with the 7950X3D and 7900X3D, this is familiar territory, with both being two-CCD parts but the higher number corresponding to a fully-activated part and the lower a cut-back version. That means 16 cores for the 9950X3D and 12 for the 9900X3D, with the flagship part offering a 5.7GHz max boost and 144MB of vertically-stacked v-cache. It doesn't look the cache features on both cores, which is a bit of a disappointment. The 9950X3D performance numbers look good too, with AMD's figures indicating an eight percent advantage over the 7950X3D across 40 titles. There are some fairly significant gains here as well in certain games, with a 1.58x turn-out in Counter-Strike 2, 1.28x in Far Cry 6 and 1.16x in Starfield. Versus the significantly less threatening Core Ultra 9 285K, AMD's labs found a 20 percent performance advantage on average, with 1.3x or higher results in the likes of Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077, Space Marine 2, Final Fantasy 16, Far Cry 6 and Watch Dogs: Legion. As well as the desktop chips, AMD also announced its first X3D chip for laptops, the 9955HX3D. The top of a lineup codenamed Fire Range that also includes two non-X3D chips, the 9955HX and 9850HX, the flagship X3D chip includes 144MB of cache, a 5.4GHz max turbo and a 16-core, 32-thread design. That sounds like a formula for an extremely powerful CPU that ought to outclass even laptops with full desktop chips, but we'll have to wait until nearer launch in the first half of this year to get some performance figures, it seems. Overall, it's quite an impressive series of announcements from AMD, though I'm sure there will be some disappointment that the larger Ryzen 9000 X3D chips aren't going to go on sale immediately. Stay tuned for more news as it comes in - with Nvidia being the next to fire its keynote salvo in the early morning UK time.

AMD's Ryzen AI Max: The silent killer of dedicated laptop GPUs? Let me explain

Strix Halo is a revelation to gaming performance -- forget about AI! AMD's new Ryzen AI CPU lineup got off to a good start at Computex, so it's time to take it up a notch with Ryzen AI Max and Max+ at CES 2025 . Yes, I know these chipset names are sounding more and more like energy drinks, but what this means is up to 250% improved graphics performance. That puts the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro in RTX 4060 territory, and not to brag...but do you remember when I made the prediction that AMD could lead the charge to the endgame of the dedicated GPU? Well, in my mind, this process has only just begun. Two core upgrades have been made here to supercharge AMD's chipsets in two key ways -- many more graphics cores for GPU performance and a vastly faster shared memory interface with quicker bandwidth. What this enables is some truly monstrous improvements over Intel's Core Ultra 9 288V. For example, for creative workloads, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 has an average 2.6x faster rendering time in the likes of Blender and Cinebench. As for games, you're seeing an average 1.4x faster GPU performance in 3DMark tests. Most surprisingly is that in 3D rendering performance (what is usually Apple's bread and butter), AMD's top of the line chip takes out both M4 and M4 Pro in key 3D rendering benchmarks. And finally, that NPU + GPU for additional AI performance boost means the chip has 2.2x faster AI performance than a ruddy RTX 4090 -- all while consuming up to 87% lower power. One Copilot+ PC comparison that is absent from these tests is with the Copilot OG -- Snapdragon X Elite. But while I'm definitely curious to see what this face-off is like, I'm confident that AMD is certainly heading in the right direction. Not only is AMD taking the x86 potential forward against Windows on Arm, but the company is making me question that the intersection point between dedicated and integrated graphics will come sooner rather than later.

AMD Strix Halo Ryzen AI MAX laptop chip matches the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X

The upcoming Ryzen AI MAX 395+ from AMD's Ryzen 300 or Zen 5 family of APUs has emerged at Geekbench with performance that's largely identical to the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X processor -- at least in short bursts. The 395+ is seen powering the upcoming ROG Flow Z13 laptop from Asus, expected to debut at CES next month. Against the last-gen Ryzen 9 7945HX, AMD has managed to extract a massive 22% performance uplift with Strix Halo. The enthusiast laptop market will soon be greeted by AMD's flagship APUs codenamed "Strix Halo" under the Ryzen AI MAX Pro lineup. Likely to arrive at CES, these APUs reportedly serve as a one-stop solution for workstation laptops uniting Zen 5 cores with a powerful RDNA 3.5 iGPU (Integrated GPU) on a single chip. Rumor has it that the top-end Radeon 8060S may be configured with up to 40 CUs (Compute Units) with support for fast LPDDR5X-8000 memory. Strix Halo is a one-of-a-kind product and should not be confused with the flagship-grade Fire Range series, succeeding Dragon Range (Ryzen 7045HX). The test bench features the Asus ROG Flow Z13 "GZ302EA," listings for which surfaced a few days ago at a Belarusian retailer. Geekbench reports the Ryzen AI MAX 395+ with 16 cores and 32 threads based on AMD's Zen 5 architecture. The CPU offers a base frequency of 3 GHz, going as high as 5.1 GHz. Much like 16-core desktop chips from AMD, the 395+ is equipped with 64MB of L3 cache and 16MB of L2 cache. Impressive scores of 2928 points and 19484 points in the single-core and multi-core categories, respectively, land the Ryzen AI MAX 395+ largely on par with the Ryzen 9 7950X. The limited clock speeds prevent it from breaching the 3,000 barrier when it comes to single-core performance. However, multi-core sees it pass with flying colors, beating the Ryzen 9 7945HX by 22%. Notably, the relatively short-duration Geekbench benchmark leads to ideal scores for the chip, as the chip will heat up and likely slow as it runs longer-duration benchmarks. Realistically, Strix Halo has no direct equivalent from Intel's side and is more targeted as a competitor to Apple's M-series chips. It wouldn't make sense to compare Arrow Lake versus Strix Halo as the latter employs a much larger integrated GPU. Judging from the leaks, the Radeon 8060S powering the graphical end of the 395+ offers 40 CUs, which is 25% more than the Radeon RX 7600. If priced accordingly, this configuration could give upcoming RTX 5060 laptops a run for their money.

Everything Announced by AMD at CES 2025 in 7 Minutes - Video

At CES 2025, chipmaker AMD reveals its all-new gaming processors, including the Ryzen 9 99950X3D. Watch a recap of the big event in 7 minutes. Welcome to the new Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor. combine the best technology for gaming, and the best technology for creators into a single package. On the left side, we've got 8 core CCD in a bonded 3D SRAM. On the right side, we have an additional 8 Zen5 cores that can reach the highest frequency possible. This combination gives you the highest core count when you need it, the highest cache size when your application requires it, and the highest frequency when your workload demands it. The new 9950X3D is simply the world's best 16 core gaming processor. It delivers an average 8% performance increase across a broad range of titles over our prior generation. Personally, I've been playing some of my favorite games such as Hogwarts Legacy and Space Marine 2, and seeing over 20% performance increase over the 7950X3D. But we're not stopping at desktops with X3D. We want to bring the best gaming and content creation experiences everywhere. And today, I'm super excited to also share that we're bringing our Zen 5 X3D technology to mobile devices with Fire range. Expanding our 9950X3D milestone, we're bringing the world's best desktop gaming and content creation processor into a mobile package, available in the first half of this year. So today, I'm also proud to announce that we're expanding our Ryzen AI. PC capabilities into the high performance space with Ryzen AI 7 and 5 series processors. Code named Kracken Point, these new models will allow us to make our leading Ryzen AI 300 series processors available to more users and bring AMD's leading next gen AI capabilities to everyone. Our new Ryzen AI 7 350 demonstrates faster multitasking productivity than the competition, beating Q Qualcomm Snapdragon by an average of 35% across some of the key benchmarks and the Intel Lunar Lake product by an average of 30% when tested across 9 multi-threaded benchmarks. Today I have some exciting news. I'm also proud to announce a whole new kind of mobile processor. This is expanding the Ryzen AI stack even higher with the Ryzen AI Max. We code named it Strixx Halo. Just as we have increased our user choice with the Ryzen AI 300, 7 and 5 models, the Ryzen AI Max processors are adding a whole new class of PCs that will be available for AMD's leading next gen AI platforms in the market. This chip is something very, very unique and special. It is so powerful, it enables incredible experiences and is reshaping what customers can experience from their PCs. From the power of a workstation and thin and light laptops to incredibly small and powerful micro desktops, this is simply the most advanced mobile X86 processor ever created. We're really proud to partner with HP to bring the HP ZBook Ultra G1A system to our customers. It's a beautiful example of a truly portable, mobile, powerful system like anything else out there. You'll also find the Ryzen AIMAXx processor in the new desktop HP Z2 Mini G1A. This is a 3 L compact mini PC enabling large language models for developers and creators in incredibly cool and efficient form factor, and for the consumer segment, Jesus has created something really, really unique. This is the new ROG Flow Z13. This is an ultramo 13 inch gaming tablet with a detachable keyboard in a surprisingly small, elegant and premium package. With ADro, enterprise devices get multiple layers of chip level security built into the core, protecting sensitive data from external threats. Technology layers like AMD memory guard, which safeguards sensitive business data in the event an employee's PC gets lost or stolen, or Microsoft Pluton, a chip to cloud technology built with zero trust principles at the core, meaning it verifies each request as though it originated from an uncontrolled network every single time. I think we've got one here. Let's uh take a Look, thank you, Paula. At one of our, uh, new thirteen-inch Dell Pro systems powered by AMD Ryzen AI Pro. It's beautiful. Both available this spring for Northern Hemisphere types, Northern Hemisphere spring. Uh, it, yeah, like you said, it's sleek, modern, delivers exceptional speed, incredible battery life, and powerful AI performance thanks to the AMD Pro, uh, technologies. It's really scalable, just beautiful displays, up to quad HD enterprise grade security, and 5G and Wi Fi 7 to provide dependable connectivity no matter where you're working. And Jack, the whole Dell Pro portfolio is built with durability in mind. Uh, withstanding nearly, uh, 3 times as many hinge cycles, drops, and bumps from tough corporate use as competitor devices. So not 30% more, 3 times more, Jack. It has all the bells and whistles and endurable. Sam, I'll definitely be self-hosting and personally testing this device.

AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" APUs Are The Ultimate AI PC APUs: 16 "Zen 5" & 40 "RDNA 3.5" Cores, 256 GB/s Bandwidth & Up To 120W

AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" APUs are finally here & offer strong specs with the Ryzen AI 9 Max+ 395 offering up to 16 CPU & 40 GPU cores. AMD's Strix Halo Takes Things To The Max With The Ryzen AI Max Lineup: Unprecedented AI Chips Designed For Mobile Workstation Platforms With Up To 16 "Zen 5" CPU, 40 "RDNA 3.5" GPU Cores & A Phenomenal 256 GB/s Bandwidth The AMD Strix Halo platform is a whole new class of chips designed for the AI PC platform. Officially named the Ryzen AI Max and Ryzen AI Max Pro, these chips offer specifications for laptops that were previously unheard of. Each segment is further divided into two classes of chips, the Max+ and the standard Max, with the former offering the best specifications on the table. AMD Strix Halo's Top-Level Hierarchy To make a Halo product with the existing Strix design, AMD took its existing IPs such as Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5, while leveraging its advanced packaging solutions such as chiplets. As such, each Zen 5 CPU core is situated on its own dedicated CCD with up to two CCDs offering up to 16 "Zen 5" cores. These are the full-fledged chips and not the Zen 5C dies. The IO die incorporates the iGPU that makes use of up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units along with a set of integrated controllers, with the primary one being for the memory which uses the LPDDR5x standard. This high-end memory interface provides the chip with up to 256 GB/s of bandwidth and there's also the same 50 TOPS "XDNA 2" NPU, which is a class-leading solution in the Copilot+ AI PC segment. AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" APU Stack Coming to the SKUs, the AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" lineup is made up of four APUs, each in its standard and Pro variation. Starting at the top of the stack, we have the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which features the full 16 cores and 32 threads. This chip has a 5.1 GHz boost clock with 80 MB of cache (32+32+16), a 50 TOPS NPU, and a cTDP of 45-120W. The iGPU features 40 compute units, which is the highest in AMD's Ryzen AI Max lineup. Moving down the stack, we have the AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 and Ryzen AI Max 385 with 12/24 and 8/16 cores/threads, respectively. Both chips come with 76 and 40 MB caches, respectively, while the max boost clocks are rated at 5.0 GHz boost, 50 NPU TOPS, a 45-120W cTDP and 32 RDNA 3.5 iGPU compute units. And last up, we have the AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 380 with its 6 cores and 12 threads. This is an entry-level chip with 22 MB of cache, a maximum boost clock of 4.9 GHz, and the same 50 TOPS NPU. The chip is rated at the same 45-120W cTDP and features 16 RDNA 3.5 compute units, so the same as the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 but the higher TDP and bandwidth capabilities will result in much better graphics output. In terms of performance, AMD is comparing the chip against both Intel and Apple offerings. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is shown to offer up to 3x better performance (2.6x on average) than the Intel Lunar Lake "Core Ultra 9 288V" CPU. The Lunar Lake chip is a 17-30W part and, even when we compare the 17W TDP with the minimum 45W configuration, the Strix Halo still has a 2.5x advantage in terms of TDP. The graphics performance is said to be up to 158% faster, or 1.4x on average which again is expected given the higher TDP that the Strix Halo chips boast. Compared to the Apple Macbook M4 Pro 12 and 14-core laptops, the AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" APUs once again offer superior or competitive performance. The last comparison is an AI one in which AMD claims that the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is the world's first Copilot+ PC APU to run 70B LLM and offers 2.2x faster AI performance in LM Studio versus the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB GPU, which is a desktop part. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 also offers up to 87% lower TDP for the same workload as the RTX 4090. In terms of availability, the AMD Strix Halo, Ryzen AI Max, and APUs will be available in Q1 and Q2 of 2025. The chips will be available in both laptops and Mini PC options from HP and ASUS. These platforms include the HP ZBook Ultra G1a, HP Z2 Mini G1a, and the ASUS ROG Flow Z13. More OEM options will be available in the coming months.

AMD announces 'Fire Range' and Ryzen AI Max, its most potent laptop chips yet

The former is now known as the Ryzen AI Max and Ryzen AI Max Plus, boasting the most powerful graphics AMD's ever put in a chip, with up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, 16 Zen 5 CPU cores, and a new memory interface with 256GB per second of bandwidth. AMD claims the highest-end AI Max Plus 395 has over 1.4x the graphics performance and 2.6x the 3D rendering performance of Intel's highest-end Lunar Lake chip, the Intel Core 9 288V -- and enough power to frequently beat Apple's M4 Pro MacBook Pro.

AMD's Long-Awaited RDNA 4 GPU Is an Apple M4 Pro Competitor

Where Intel's new CPU designs are a little too split between optimizing for AI and optimizing for everything else, the chips AMD debuted at CES 2025 show more consistency: If they have an NPU, it's the current generation rather than a mix. So if it's got "AI" in the name, that means it has the 50 TOPS (max) architecture, so that's one less tradeoff to worry about when buying a laptop. And AMD's CES looks more interesting, with new designs like the Ryzen AI Max and Max Plus chips, the mobile launch of its gaming-optimized X3D stacked-memory architecture in the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, and an expansion to its desktop X3D line with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D that has a technology twist intended to make it as good for creating as it is for gaming. The company also delivered more information about its new RDNA 4-generation of graphics architecture, which underpins the new Radeon RX 9000 series desktop GPUs, starting with the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT (shipping soon). AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 4, the new version of its upscaling and optimization software, builds on the capabilities of RDNA 4. There's also a profusion of the usual expansions of CPU lines. In this case they go to lower-end parts of the Ryzen AI chips launched this summer, the new generation of Ryzen 9 HX-series performance-focused CPUs, a minor refresh of its Z series (with the Ryzen Z2, Z2 Extreme and a new lower-end Z2 Go) and more. We don't have real specs yet for these new desktop graphics cards. We just know they'll be shipping this quarter from AMD's usual partners, such as Acer, Asus, Sapphire, XFX, ASRock, Gigabyte, PowerColor and more. We do know AMD has reworked its branding to match Nvidia's. Notice the -70 and -60 in the names? That's intended to indicate which GeForce RTX card they compete with... at least for the RTX 4000 cards. What happens if, say, a new RTX -60 performs like the 4070? The company has also skipped an RX 8000 series and gone straight to RX 9000, because its current desktop chips are there. RX 8000 will live on in laptops, as a way to indicate that the GPU is of the RDNA 3.5 generation. Which brings us to to 9000 series architecture... RDNA 4. This generation incorporates XDNA 2, the same AI architecture as the current CPUs. It also updates the ray tracing (third gen) -- I really hope it's gotten faster -- and an updated Radiance Display Engine (second gen), which controls color bit depth, HDR and connections. The compute units are supposedly more efficient and AMD says the media encoding is better. Like everyone, AMD's Adrenalin application offers some look-what-AI-can-do apps, including image generation, a chatbot to answer questions about AMD's products and more. The other "4" belongs to FidelityFX Super Resolution, which adds ML-powered upscaling -- that's what Nvidia DLSS has been doing for a few years -- specifically for RDNA 4 GPUs. It's targeting 4K high quality or high performance performance gameplay, and includes all the features currently FFXSR 3.1. The Max series are steroidal expansions to the line, flagship APUs for larger laptops that don't include a discrete GPU -- primarily for working with larger AI models and some gaming. They've got a new memory interface that increases memory bandwidth and a ton more graphics compute units, needed by the larger AI models and heavy graphics and video work. In fact, AMD says it's faster than Apple's 14-core version of the M4 Pro. AMD has renamed the higher-power integrated GPU, designating it the 8060S; it's fundamentally different than the M series GPUs because of its unified memory architecture (which, like Apple's chips, lets all the processing units share the total system memory). The X3D versions of AMD's CPUs have a large memory cache underneath the processor (3D V-cache), which is closer than usual. This minimizes the frequent trips between the cores and the cache -- frequent trips that generate heat. It helps keep the processor cores cool, which in turn allows it to run faster. Introducing a mobile version of that architecture in the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D will make it AMDs fastest mobile chip. Because it's expected to rely on a discrete GPU for its graphics processing, the integrated GPU on the HX series is typically low power, something it unfortunately shares with Intel's HX series. But with the discrete GPU and the relatively powerful NPU, laptops with it should be fast for almost any work or gaming. The desktop flagship that mirrors this is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Because the stacked cache design can result in a small drop in clock frequency on nongaming tasks, AMD tweaked the new CPU by adding a second die, which can run at the maximum frequency, essentially unstacking the 3D V-cache. Thus, AMD proclaims this chip not just the best for gaming, but for content creation as well. These are seemingly minor upgrades, but this processor line is popular for handheld gaming consoles, and there's a new lower-end Z2 Go which hints at perhaps a lower-priced class of these devices, which tend to be pricey (the relatively inexpensive Nintendo Switch uses an Nvidia Tegra processor).

AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU Scores Over 19,000 Points In Geekbench Multi-Core Test

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU has been benchmarked again at Geekbench, delivering impressive multicore performance. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13, which was recently spotted featuring one of the upcoming AMD Strix Halo APUs, was benchmarked once again in Geekbench. This is the GZ302EA model that comes with an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 CPU, which is one of the fastest in the lineup apart from the Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395. The APU boasts 16-cores and 32 threads and the Radeon 8060S integrated graphics based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. More on that later. The processor scored 2928 points in single and 19484 points in multicore tests and, while the scores are decent, it should be noted that the frequency it was operating at was around 3.0 GHz at base while the boost clock was reported at 5.1 GHz. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU can attain up to 5.1 GHz as per the previous leaks in Geekbench. Meanwhile, the Pro version can boost noticeably higher than the non-pro edition. Now, if we compare the latest scores to the previous ones, we find that the single-core performance is slightly higher but the multi-core score is slightly lower as well. As Geekbench results can vary significantly, this is expected. The AMD "Ryzen AI Max" Strix Halo APUs are based on the Zen 5 architecture, but these are quite different from Strix Point in terms of specs and iGPU. While Strix Point's flagship APU Ryzen AI 9 HX 370/375 can feature only up to 12 cores and 24 threads, the flagship Strix Halo chips can feature up to 16 cores and 32 threads. However, the integrated graphics is perhaps one of the biggest upgrades, which now brings 40 Compute Units compared to just 12 on the Strix Point chips. The Radeon 8060S is therefore expected to deliver superior gaming performance to the Radeon 880M and 890M and should compete with the RX 7600 or similar discrete GPUs. With such a powerful CPU-iGPU combination, the Strix Halo eliminates the need for discrete GPUs in budget gaming laptops and can offer significantly faster compute performance in CPU-oriented tasks as well. We did see some synthetic benchmarks of the Radeon 8060S, but none of the gaming benchmarks have surfaced online yet. We wait for its launch eagerly, which is supposedly CES 2025, when AMD will reveal more products.