AMD Ryzen 8040 chips to get 'Neural Processing Unit' monitoring in Windows Task Manager

AMD's just-released Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" processors will have their included NPUs (Neural Processing Unit) receiving real-time monitoring inside of Windows Task Manager, according to AMD.

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In a new post on its website, AMD explained: "AMD has been working with Microsoft to enable MCDM (Microsoft Compute Driver Model) infrastructure on the AMD NPU (Neural Processing Unit)-enabled Ryzen 8040 Series of mobile processors. MCDM is a derivative of Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) that is targeting non-GPU, compute devices, such as the NPU. MCDM enables NPUs to make use of the existing GPU device management infrastructure, including scheduling, power management, memory management, and performance debugging with tools such as the Task Manager. MCDM serves as a fundamental layer, ensuring the smooth execution of AI workloads on NPU devices".

AMD explains: "One of the reasons AMD has integrated an NPU into select Ryzen 8040 processors is to help vendors create new, AI-powered apps and experiences. Being able to monitor device usage in real-time can make software development easier, so integrating this functionality makes sense for everyone, from developers and system vendors to the individual end-user".

• Read more: AMD Ryzen 8040 series 'Hawk Point' APUs: Zen 4 CPU, RDNA 3 GPU, XDNA for AI

It was a while ago since we had a major addition to Windows Task Manager, where back in 2017, we saw the introduction of real-time GPU monitoring in Task Manager. It's a convenient way to quickly check what your GPU is doing alongside your CPU, RAM, storage, and other components inside of your PC.

We don't know why AMD is only adding the Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" CPUs specifically, as there has been no word on Ryzen 7040 and the new desktop Ryzen 8000G series processors... both of which also have built-in NPUs.