AMD Introduces Ryzen Z1 Series Processors, Expanding the "Zen 4" Lineup into Handheld Game Consoles

[TheLostSwede]

Today, AMD introduced the new Ryzen Z1 Series processors, the ultimate high-performance processor for handheld PC gaming consoles. The Ryzen Z1 Series features two high performance processors, the Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme, both offering industry-leading gaming experiences, uncompromising battery life, and featuring AMD RDNA 3 architecture-based graphics. AMD is partnering with Asus to launch the first Ryzen Z1 Series device with the Asus ROG Ally, a premium handheld PC console, featuring up to a Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor.

"At AMD, we're continually advancing the next generation of gaming experiences, from consoles to desktops to on-the-go handheld devices," said Jason Banta, corporate vice president and general manager, Client OEM at AMD. "Ryzen Z1 processors deliver gamers an elite gaming experience and extreme portability in exciting gaming form factors."





All-New AMD Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processors
Featuring up to 8 cores and 16 threads, the Ryzen Z1 Series processors offer breathtaking visuals and, with the efficiency of "Zen 4" architecture, deliver incredible battery life for a truly portable, high-performance gaming experience. With AMD RDNA 3 architecture-based graphics built right in, gamers will have the power to play graphically intensive modern games smoothly. Users can optimize their game play with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition by utilizing features including AMD Radeon Super Resolution, Radeon Chill, Radeon Image Sharpening, AMD Link and more. These features can boost performance with increased frame rates and responsiveness, while helping extend battery life.

Every AMD Ryzen Z1 Series processor supports USB4 for fast and easy connectivity for the latest external storage and display devices, as well as the latest LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X memory standards, delivering fast performance and low latency for more responsive gaming.

Designed for New Form Factors of Computing
With compatibility for Windows 11 and other operating systems, Ryzen Z1 Series processor-based devices can deliver the full breadth of Windows 11 applications and games. Gamers will have access to hundreds of PC games through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (sold separately) and seamless access to their game libraries. Built on x86 architecture and ready for Windows 11, users of Ryzen Z1 Series devices will also have native access to popular social and productivity software. Ryzen Z1 devices are also equipped with smart power management technology which will allow them to game and run these applications well with great battery life.



"At Xbox, we put the player at the center by giving them choice on the experience and device that best fit their gaming needs," said Roanne Sones, head of Xbox hardware. "With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate we're bringing hundreds of games to new devices, including on-the-go gaming handhelds, and are excited to see AMD investing in new processors to grow this device category."

Ryzen Z1 Series Devices Available Soon
AMD Ryzen Z1 processors will be available first in the Asus ROG Ally. More information about the Asus ROG Ally availability and pricing will be announced by Asus on May 11.

"Having a great gaming experience doesn't mean you have to be tied to a chair or a charger," said Shawn Yen, product management director of Gaming Business Unit, Asus. "With the new Ryzen Z1 Series processors, we're working with AMD to deliver the power, visuals and efficiency needed to enable a superior portable gaming experience—whether you're traveling, commuting for work or simply want to game untethered."

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[Nostras]

Losing 2 cores is whatever, but losing 2/3rds of your compute units is something else good lord. Z1 needs to be seriously cheaper or you're shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Daven]

I’m guessing these guys can burst in the 20-30W range, sustain in the 10-15W range and idle under 5W.

 

[alphaLONE]

Losing 2 cores is whatever, but losing 2/3rds of your compute units is something else good lord. Z1 needs to be seriously cheaper or you're shooting yourself in the foot.

I think they're high on their upsell juice from the RX 7900XT and R9 7900X

 

[TheLostSwede]

I’m guessing these guys can burst in the 20-30W range, sustain in the 10-15W range and idle under 5W.

15-30 W on the now working product page linked to at the bottom of the news post.

 

[dj-electric]

I dislike how absolutely mutilated the GPU is on the Z1 vanilla. Shame

 

[Denver]

Losing 2 cores is whatever, but losing 2/3rds of your compute units is something else good lord. Z1 needs to be seriously cheaper or you're shooting yourself in the foot.

Take a look at the 660M(6CU) vs 680M(12CU) comparisons.

The performance loss is generally not proportional to the CU reduction because the potential of the full version is limited by bandwidth.

 

[usiname]

The performance difference between Z1 and Z1 Extreme is so small, only if they add video memory on the chip this APU will destroy 7500xt and 4050

 

[BoboOOZ]

Losing 2 cores is whatever, but losing 2/3rds of your compute units is something else good lord. Z1 needs to be seriously cheaper or you're shooting yourself in the foot.

Indeed, the only way it makes remotely any sense is a much smaller resolution. Even for such a small resolution, I have trouble seeing how you could reach a good utilization of 6 CPU cores.

 

[zo0lykas]

The performance difference between Z1 and Z1 Extreme is so small, only if they add video memory on the chip this APU will destroy 7500xt and 4050

Next generation, this generation is powerful enough, if we look at the market.

And if they add memory, price tag go up, and thats not smart move when you have already good performance and that tiny device.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Take a look at the 660M(6CU) vs 680M(12CU) comparisons.

The performance loss is generally not proportional to the CU reduction because the potential of the full version is limited by bandwidth.

In this case, judging by AMD's own benchmarks, there seems to be a huge difference in performance though, depending on the game admittedly.

 

[Nostras]

Take a look at the 660M(6CU) vs 680M(12CU) comparisons.

The performance loss is generally not proportional to the CU reduction because the potential of the full version is limited by bandwidth.

Assuming the 700 series comes with LPDDR5x this shouldn't be as much as an issue.
Issue yes, but not as much.

And bandwidth is very game dependent, so average maybe but I'd expect the Extreme to seriously outperform the non one in some cases.

I'd wager these are more power than bandwidth constrained tbh.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Amd: Worlds most demanding games......

Me: Um none of those games are overly demanding....

Considering it's 720p low settings pretty dismal performance really would expect 1080p medium at least..

 

[Daven]

15-30 W on the now working product page linked to at the bottom of the news post.

Cool thanks!

 

[Squared]

Take a look at the 660M(6CU) vs 680M(12CU) comparisons.

The performance loss is generally not proportional to the CU reduction because the potential of the full version is limited by bandwidth.

But 4CU vs 12CU is going to be a bigger difference. Even in AMD's benchmarks you can see one game go from 47.9fps to 25.3fps, and that's not even the biggest percentage difference in the list. Moreover for Ryzen 7040 the 780M is 12CU and the 760M is 8CU.

The Steam Deck is also cut down, it went on sale close to when Ryzen 6000 did, and offered 4 Zen2 cores and 8 RDNA2 CUs to Ryzen 6000's 8 Zen3 cores and 12 (or 6) RDNA CUs, making it much more GPU-focused. The Ryzen Z1 is CPU-focused. It's not a gaming APU.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

This SoC needed either >=16MB Infinity Cache for the iGPU, 256bit bus or LPDDR6X 15333MT/s.

Like this, the 12CU version is only going to be fully used on pure compute tasks.

 

[n-ster]

Would have made more sense to have the Z1 be half of the Extreme, 4c/8t and 6CUs, maybe the extra cores makes sense because of Windows vs SteamOS. They probably targeted the Z1 with FSR 2.2 Quality or Performance to be roughly equal to 1080p native Z1 Extreme. Do we know how much and how fast the RAM will be?

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Would have made more sense to have the Z1 be half of the Extreme, 4c/8t and 6CUs, maybe the extra cores makes sense because of Windows vs SteamOS. They probably targeted the Z1 with FSR 2.2 Quality or Performance to be roughly equal to 1080p native Z1 Extreme. Do we know how much and how fast the RAM will be?

IIRC Phoenix supports up to LPDDR5X 7500.

 

[n-ster]

IIRC Phoenix supports up to LPDDR5X 7500.

Ohhh right this isn't the ROG Ally post The Z1 Extreme paired with like 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 sounds ideal, but I wonder how much it actually affects performance

 

[Luke357]

The Ryzen Z1 is CPU-focused. It's not a gaming APU.

It is literally designed for gaming handhelds...

 

[R0H1T]

This SoC needed either >=16MB Infinity Cache for the iGPU, 256bit bus or LPDDR6X 15333MT/s.

Like this, the 12CU version is only going to be fully used on pure compute tasks.

Something like that, or better, is coming but it will take some time ~ notably with limitations on memory bandwidth. They would ideally need to make it 256 or at latest 128 bit wide, even if it's just limited to LPDDRxx or whatever alternative they come up with.

 

[Squared]

It is literally designed for gaming handhelds...

It is being sold for use in gaming handhelds. But I don't see anything about its design to suggest that was designed for that market. (However, the Z1 Premium does appear to have been designed for gaming.)

 

[chstamos]

AMD is releasing some very interesting iGPUs in the portable, ultraportable, handheld space, and I only wish they'd stop releasing -comparatively- garbage iGPUs on desktop. What we're getting on the desktop, especially for the thermal/power headroom inherent, is very weak.

 

[Nephilim666]

Here I am playing Hogwarts Legacy at 900p upscaled to 1600p (16:10) on 6800u (8-core zen3+ with 12Cu rdna2), mostly medium settings, absolutely playable with 40Hz.

Z1 extreme missed an opportunity to be truly custom silicon rather than just a lightly power curve optimised 7840u.

 

[The_Enigma]

That's nice to compare it to the Nintendo Switch, but the Switch is OLD and not very relevant, and going out of production soon. I mean come on, that Switch SoC is running Maxwell graphics and four A57 CPUs. How many gens ago was that for Nvidia on the GPU side and ARM on the cpu side??
How does the new Z1 and Z1E perform compared to the newer Orin Nano? That is the latest gen competition from Nvidia and the SoC level equivalent.

Orin Nano specs (and Orin was rumored to be the SoC for the "Switch 2"):

• GPU:
  1024-core NVIDIA Ampere architecture GPU with 32 Tensor Cores
• CPU:
  6-core Arm® Cortex®-A78AE v8.2 64-bit CPU 1.5MB L2 + 4MB L3
• Memory:
  8GB 128-bit LPDDR5 68 GB/s
• TDP:
  7W-15W configurable

Core wise they seem comparable, so it would be interesting to see which has better performance between the Z1E RDNA3 based GPU (1536 cores) vs the Ampere based GPU (1024 cores), and the 6-core ARM vs the 8c/16t Zen4. Id bet the Z1E wins on the CPU side, but the GPU side comparison would be interesting. Though how much it wins by while also using double the power could be an issue.