AMD's next-gen Kraken Point APU: 4 x Zen5 and 4 x Zen5c cores with RDNA 3.5 GPU teased

AMD is currently cooking its next-gen Kraken Point APU, a new premium APU entry that will reportedly feature Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores and an upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU.

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The company is gearing up for its new APUs, codenamed Strix Point and Strix Halo, with Kraken Point sharing similar specs to the Strix Point APU. Both of these new APUs will feature Zen 5 and Zen 5c CPU cores, as well as an upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture. They'll also both feature an upgraded XDNA 2-based AI processor, with Kraken Point falling under the Strix Point APU when it comes to Zen 5c core counts.

We're hearing new information from leaker "Everest" on X, suggesting that AMD's next-gen Kraken Point APU will feature 4 x Zen 5 and 4 x Zen 5c cores, a total of 8 cores based on the new Zen 5 CPU architecture. Strix Point, however, has 4 x Zen 5 cores and 8 x Zen 5c cores, leaving Kraken Point with one-third fewer Zen 5c cores.

AMD's upcoming Kraken Point APU will also feature 4 x WGPs (Workgroup Processors) that should see 8 Compute Units, with this being the same graphics configuration as AMD's previous-gen Rembrandt APU (with Zen 3+ cores and RDNA 2 GPU cores). It might be the same graphics configuration, but Kraken Point's integrated GPU is based on the upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture, which is a decent leap from RDNA 2. We're expecting the default TDP to be up to 65W, similar to AMD's new Hawk Point APU.

We heard all about AMD's new APUs from leaker Moore's Law is Dead last year, with Kraken Point falling underneath Strix Point, which is under Strix Halo, and above that, we have the next-gen Fire Range APUs that will introduce X3D cache to AMD's growing APU family.

AMD's upcoming Strix Point and Kraken Point APUs will be aimed at users and OEMs that want the flexibility of an APU -- with a CPU and GPU -- or it can be teamed with a discrete graphics card. We won't have 4K 120FPS gaming from an APU anytime soon, but the upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture with 8 Compute Units should offer some fantastic gaming performance at 1080p and 1440p depending on the game.

AMD will be competing directly against Intel's next-gen Lunar Lake CPUs with its upcoming APUs, aiming at budget and low-power designs (just like Intel will be doing with Lunar Lake).