AMD Strix Point APUs rumored to have been debuffed by AI - kind of

AMD's original plan to have a beefy SLC got changed to accommodate a huge AI Engine block, given the need for speedier AI acceleration.

AMD Strix Point APUs rumored to have been debuffed by AI - kind of
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There's been some fresh chatter on the grapevine regarding AMD's incoming Strix Point APUs, and if the rumor is right, then you can thank AI for these chips being a bit less powerful than they otherwise would have been for other tasks outside of artificial intelligence workloads.

Strix Point could have been more impressive outside of AI tasks, apparently (Image Credit: AMD)
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Strix Point could have been more impressive outside of AI tasks, apparently (Image Credit: AMD)

How does that work exactly? Well, Wccftech noticed a post over on the Anandtech forums, in which Uzzi38 - a regular name on the hardware leaking scene - dropped something of a bombshell regarding AMD readjusting its priorities with Strix Point due to the importance of AI.

In short, the original plan was changed to make room for a massive AI Engine block (AIE), which meant a large System-Level-Cache (SLC) that was originally set to be part of the APU got dropped.

As Uzzi38 puts it:

"Worse [sic] bit about the massive AIE [on Strix Point] is that in order to make room for it, AMD chopped off the original plan of slapping on a SLC. Something that would have been incredible for both CPU and iGPU performance. But yaaaaaaaaaaaay AI bubble."

Yay, AI bubble, indeed. According to AMD's latest revelations, Strix Point should offer 3x the performance of its current NPUs, which should mean it hits around 48 TOPS - just a touch more than its rivals (Intel Lunar Lake is 45 TOPS, as is the Snapdragon X Elite's NPU).