AMD today solved the biggest challenge affecting its mobile processor family against Intel—CPU core-counts in the high-end HX-segment, with the introduction of the new Ryzen 7045HX series "Dragon Range" mobile processors. Based on the "Zen 4" microarchitecture, these processors offer core-counts of up to 16-core/32-thread, and target enthusiast gaming notebooks and mobile workstations. The processors debut the new "Dragon Range" multi-chip module (MCM). This is essentially a non-socketed version of the desktop "Raphael" MCM built in a mobile-friendly BGA package with a thin substrate and no IHS, with up to two 5 nm "Zen 4" 8-core CCDs, and a 6 nm cIOD (client I/O die).

The "Dragon Range" MCM uses the same chiplets as desktop "Raphael" Ryzen 7000 processors, and so its I/O is similar. The cIOD puts out a dual-channel (4 sub-channel) DDR5 memory interface, and a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 interface for discrete graphics, along with two PCI-Express 5.0 x4 links for up to two Gen 5 NVMe SSDs. The platform core-logic (chipset) is functionally similar to the desktop AMD B650E. All processor models in the series come with a TDP of 45 W, and a package power tracking (PPT) of "at least" 75 W. Each "Zen 4" CPU core comes with 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache, and each CCD has 32 MB of L3 cache.AMD is launching the Ryzen 7045HX "Dragon Range" series with four processor models—the 16-core/32-thread Ryzen 9 7945HX leads the pack, followed by the 12-core/24-thread Ryzen 9 7845HX. These two dual-CCD models are followed by single-CCD ones, the 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 7745HX, and the 6-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 7645HX. The Ryzen 9 7945HX is clocked at 2.50 GHz base, with a maximum boost frequency of 5.40 GHz. The 7845HX has a 3.00 GHz base frequency, boosting up to 5.20 GHz. The 7745HX ticks at 3.60 GHz base, boosting up to 5.10 GHz. The 7645HX has the highest base frequency at 4.00 GHz, but boosts only up to 5.00 GHz.

Compared to AMD's previous mobile flagship part, the Ryzen 9 6900HX "Rembrandt," the Ryzen 9 7945HX offers an 18% increase in single-threaded performance on virtue of the increased IPC of "Zen 4" over "Zen 3+." With multi-threaded performance, the processor offers a 78% performance gain based on its doubled core-count. The multi-threaded performance scaling may seem low, but this is probably because the processor only has 75 W-ish at its disposal to power 16 cores. Compared to the Intel Core i9-12900HX "Alder Lake" processor, the 7945HX offers anywhere between 24% to 169% higher multi-threaded performance in the handful tests AMD showed. These would make the 7945HX perform in the league of the Core i9-13980HX.The first gaming notebooks powered by the Ryzen 7045HX "Dragon Range" processors should start shipping in February 2023. Among the confirmed design-wins are Dell's Alienware m16 and m18; an ASUS ROG Strix product, and a Lenovo Legion product.