In two versions
Later this year, AMD will release Strix Halo mobile processors that will be very different from anything else on the market. And today we have details about these APUs.
Stix Halo will include three chiplets: two processor chiplets and one SoC chiplet. Each CPU chiplet will have 8 Zen 5 cores, 8 MB L2 cache and 32 MB L3 cache. Such chiplets will be produced at TSMC facilities using the N4X technical process and will have an area of 80-85 mm2.
That is, in total, the top APU of this generation will have 16 Zen 5 cores, 16 MB of L2 cache, 64 MB of L3 cache, and the frequency will be about 5.8 GHz.
But AMD still has Ryzen HX mobile APUs with 16 cores. What will make Strix Halo stand out is the iGPU. It will have 40 CUs, that is, 2560 stream processors based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture at a frequency of about 3 GHz. For comparison: even the desktop Radeon RX 7600 has only 2048 stream processors, while the PS5 has 2304 (on RDNA 2 architecture). Yes, the power limit of the entire APU will significantly limit the capabilities of the graphics core relative to a discrete video card, however, the updated architecture and 25% more computing units can lead to the fact that the real performance of the iGPU in Strix Halo may well be even higher than that of the RX 7600. Especially with the PC has fast memory, and such processors will support LPDDR5X-8533. Apart from the PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X APUs and older Apple M platforms, and all these products play in other segments, Strix Halo will be a unique solution on the market.
It’s also worth adding that the processor will support four PCIe 5.0 lanes, eight PCIe 4.0 lanes, two USB4, up to four displays, and the TDP will range from 45 to 150/175 W.
On the ChipHell forum, thanks to a user who had previously shared information about the GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 before their announcement, test results for Strix Halo in versions with 12 appeared and 16 CPU cores and 32 and 40 CU units for iGPU.
As you can see, the CPU performance will be quite impressive. The 12-core version will be on par with the 16-core Ryzen 9 7945HX and 24-core Core i9-14900HX, and the new flagship will be a third faster. As for the iGPU, things are even more impressive. In 3DMark Timespy, the 32-block version competes with the 110-watt discrete RTX 4060 Laptop, and the 40-block — with a 140-watt RTX 4070 Laptop, and in the other two versions of the Strix benchmark, Halo is slightly weaker than the same competitors. In any case, this is a completely unfathomable level for the integrated graphics core in an x86-compatible PC processor.