Thursday, April 25th 2024
AMD "Strix Point" Mobile Processor Confirmed 12-core/24-thread, But Misses Out on PCIe Gen 5
AMD's next-generation Ryzen 9000 "Strix Point" mobile processor, which succeeds the current Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" and Ryzen 7040 "Phoenix," is confirmed to feature a CPU core-configuration of 12-core/24-thread, according to a specs-leak by HKEPC citing sources among notebook OEMs. It appears like Computex 2024 will be big for AMD, with the company preparing next-gen processor announcements across the desktop and notebook lines. Both the "Strix Point" mobile processor and "Granite Ridge" desktop processor debut the company's next "Zen 5" microarchitecture.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from "Zen 5" is that AMD has increased the number of CPU cores per CCX from 8 in "Zen 3" and "Zen 4," to 12 in "Zen 5." While this doesn't affect the core-counts of its CCD chiplets (which are still expected to be 8-core), the "Strix Point" processor appears to use one giant CCX with 12 cores. Each of the "Zen 5" cores has a 1 MB dedicated L2 cache, while the 12 cores share a 24 MB L3 cache. The 12-core/24-thread CPU, besides the generational IPC gains introduced by "Zen 5," marks a 50% increase in CPU muscle over "Hawk Point." It's not just the CPU complex, even the iGPU sees a hardware update.Apparently, AMD is increasing the workgroup processor (WGP) count of the iGPU from 6 on the current "Hawk Point" processor, to 8 on "Strix Point." This works out to 16 compute units, or 1,024 stream processors, making a 33% increase in the shader engine's performance. The new iGPU is based on the updated RDNA 3+ graphics architecture. "Strix Point" also debuts AMD's 2nd Generation Ryzen AI NPU based on the XDNA 2 architecture. This NPU offers 50 AI TOPS in performance, an over 3-fold increase from the 16 TOPS offered by the NPU on "Hawk Point."
In terms of I/O, one can expect an updated display engine with DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR10, DSC, and support for 8K @ 60 Hz with a single cable. The memory interfaces are expected to remain unchanged spare for increased reference speeds, with support for DDR5 and LPDDR5(x) memory types. One area for disappointment is the PCIe interface. We had expected "Strix Point" to feature PCIe Gen 5, but it seems like AMD had other plans. The PCIe interface of "Strix Point" will be similar to that of "Phoenix" and "Hawk Point," it will stick to PCIe Gen 4. While this might not mean much for discrete GPUs, it would mean that you can't use the latest Gen 5 NVMe SSDs at their advertised speeds.
The same specs sheet also confirms a lot of specs of the larger "Strix Halo" chiplet-based mobile flagship processor, you can read all about it in our older article.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from "Zen 5" is that AMD has increased the number of CPU cores per CCX from 8 in "Zen 3" and "Zen 4," to 12 in "Zen 5." While this doesn't affect the core-counts of its CCD chiplets (which are still expected to be 8-core), the "Strix Point" processor appears to use one giant CCX with 12 cores. Each of the "Zen 5" cores has a 1 MB dedicated L2 cache, while the 12 cores share a 24 MB L3 cache. The 12-core/24-thread CPU, besides the generational IPC gains introduced by "Zen 5," marks a 50% increase in CPU muscle over "Hawk Point." It's not just the CPU complex, even the iGPU sees a hardware update.Apparently, AMD is increasing the workgroup processor (WGP) count of the iGPU from 6 on the current "Hawk Point" processor, to 8 on "Strix Point." This works out to 16 compute units, or 1,024 stream processors, making a 33% increase in the shader engine's performance. The new iGPU is based on the updated RDNA 3+ graphics architecture. "Strix Point" also debuts AMD's 2nd Generation Ryzen AI NPU based on the XDNA 2 architecture. This NPU offers 50 AI TOPS in performance, an over 3-fold increase from the 16 TOPS offered by the NPU on "Hawk Point."
In terms of I/O, one can expect an updated display engine with DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR10, DSC, and support for 8K @ 60 Hz with a single cable. The memory interfaces are expected to remain unchanged spare for increased reference speeds, with support for DDR5 and LPDDR5(x) memory types. One area for disappointment is the PCIe interface. We had expected "Strix Point" to feature PCIe Gen 5, but it seems like AMD had other plans. The PCIe interface of "Strix Point" will be similar to that of "Phoenix" and "Hawk Point," it will stick to PCIe Gen 4. While this might not mean much for discrete GPUs, it would mean that you can't use the latest Gen 5 NVMe SSDs at their advertised speeds.
The same specs sheet also confirms a lot of specs of the larger "Strix Halo" chiplet-based mobile flagship processor, you can read all about it in our older article.