AMD confirms next-gen Strix Halo APU: up to 16-core CPU based on Zen 5, 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores

AMD has teased its next-gen "Strix" and "Strix Halo" APUs inside of its open-source platform for CPU computation: ROCm. Check out the mentions of the new monster APUs below:

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AMD "Strix" and "Strix Halo" APU ROCm commits (source: AMD)

We've heard about "GFX1150" and "GFX1151" codes before, but now AMD is openly referring to them in ROCm commits. The new posts are based on the first Strix Point silicon that's called "STRIX1," which follows the naming scheme along with "PHOENIX1" APUs.

AMD's next-gen Strix Point APU is a mainstream silicon aimed at next-gen laptops, while Strix Halo will be the monster APU that will compete directly with Apple's new M-series processors.

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AMD "Strix" and "Strix Halo" APU ROCm commits (source: AMD)

AMD's new Strix Point and Strix Halo APUs will both feature the next-gen Zen 5 microarchitecture and AMD's upgraded RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture. We should see AMD embed its upgraded XDNA 2 AI accelerator on the new Strix Point and Strix Halo APUs, which will super-drive AI performance to somewhere in the 45 TOPs to 50 TOPS area.

• Read more: AMD teases its next-gen Strix Point APUs with 3x AI NPU perf with XDNA 2
• Read more: AMD's next-gen Strix Halo, Strix Point, Kraken Point APUs have 3x AI boost
• Read more: AMD Strix Point Halo APU teased: RDNA 3.5 GPU cores, next-gen Zen 5 CPU cores
• Read more: Microsoft preparing 'AI PC' branding for 2024 systems
• Read more: Windows 12 is apparently launching in June 2024 alongside a wave of new AI PCs

This is a huge leap in AI performance over the new Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" APUs that top out at 16 TOPs of AI performance, and it'll beat the pants off of the AI performance with Phoenix that maxes out at 10 TOPs.

Now, when it comes to the CPU and GPU configuration of AMD's next-gen Strix Halo APU... it looks like we can expect up to 16 cores of CPU power based on the Zen 5 architecture. This means Strix Halo APUs won't be some low-power option but rather a high-end APU with a powerful CPU and powerful GPU.

Speaking of the GPU, we have AMD's updated RDNA 3.5-based GPU with 40 Compute Units, which should provide some great performance (yet we have no idea where performance will land). Performance will vary depending on the power being pumped into it; with the APU limited to running at between 55W and 120W, performance will depend on CPU and GPU loads (and the game being played).

We don't know what advancements the updated RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture will bring, but we should expect some nice improvements across the board in terms of gaming performance. We should expect more RDNA GPU cores than what's found inside AMD's current fleet of APUs, as well as its upcoming Radeon RX 7600 XT graphics card.

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The first we heard on AMD's next-gen Strix Point and Strix Halo APUs was from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, which you can see in his leaked Ryzen 8000 and Ryzen 9000 series APU roadmaps. AMD's next-gen Zen 5 CPU architecture will be launching this year, but we don't know exactly what products will launch.

MLID's sources suggest we'll see AMD's new Strix Point APU with 12 cores and 45-50 TOPS of AI performance launching in the s second half of 2024, while the Strix Halo APU with 16 cores + 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs + 45-50 TOPS of AI performance will be launching in 2025.