AMD's next-gen Ryzen Z3 handheld chips have popped up in a new leak, and it looks like AMD may be swapping CPU cores for more graphics. Leaker Gotou_3rd on X says the Ryzen Z3 shares its IP with Zen 6-based Medusa Point, but in a semi-custom design.
The configuration is a 4+2 CPU layout (four standard cores and two low-power cores) paired with 12 RDNA 4m compute units. The leaker added that the core configuration may still change, so I'd treat that part with caution. The chips are also said to use a 25 x 25 mm FF6 package.
The standard Medusa Point has been linked to a 10-core layout with four Zen 6 cores, four Zen 6c cores, and two low-power cores, alongside 8 compute units. If the Z3 leak pans out, AMD would drop the four dense cores and spend that budget on a bigger GPU. RDNA 4m is described as a derivative of RDNA 3.5 that adds RDNA 4-class matrix hardware, which should give it native FSR 4 support.
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That also fits earlier rumors of Medusa Point sticking with an updated RDNA 3.X GPU instead of RDNA 4 or RDNA 5. Leaked slides apparently show the regular Z3 optimized for 15 W and a Z3 Extreme aiming for around 25 W. It's unclear whether both get all 12 compute units.
The current Ryzen Z2 Extreme uses 8 CPU cores and 16 RDNA 3.5 compute units, so on paper the Z3 has less of both. Clock speeds, memory bandwidth, and the newer architecture will decide how that plays out, and we don't know any of those yet. Six cores should be plenty for most handheld games, but we'll need real benchmarks to say for sure.
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There's also no word on launch timing or which handhelds will use the chips.
