AMD Confirms Zen 4 Dragon Range, Phoenix APUs for 2023

[Raevenlord]

AMD has confirmed its revamped APU strategy will be delivered throughout three different APU line-ups come 2023. While Raphael will take care of AMD's hopes in the desktop space, the company is readying a new, "Dragon Range" lineup of "pinnacle gaming"-oriented APUs, leveraging the company's upcoming Zen 4 architecture, DDR5, and PCIe 5. Dragon Range APUs will feature the "highest core, thread, and cache ever for a mobile gaming CPU" - although AMD stopped just short of confirming exactly what "highest" translates to. To aid in its extreme gaming aspirations, TDP for Dragon Range is set at 55 W - they thus "largely exist in the space where gaming laptops are plugged in the majority of the time," according to AMD director of technical marketing Robert Hallock.

Another APU family, Phoenix, will be aimed at thin and lights with a penchant for gaming. Phoenix too will leverage AMD's Zen 4 core, DDR5 memory subsystem, and PCIe 5 interfaces. Being aimed at thin and lights, Phoenix APUs are set for a 35 W - 45 W operating range. Interestingly, AMD didn't share any other details - more crucially, the graphics architecture that's to be employed in these high-performance APUs.





With RDNA3 products hitting the ground running sooner rather than later, it remains to be seen if AMD will take Intel's increased competition in the graphics space as a hint to provide the latest graphics architectures in its APU offerings, or if the company will keep a steadfast improvement to performance as it catches up the APU graphics IP to the latest and greatest.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[ModEl4]

So, 2023 we will have these 3, but where is the 15-29W models?

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

The leaks on Phoenix seem pretty impressive

 

[Space Lynx]

So, 2023 we will have these 3, but where is the 15-29W models?

you won't have anything. the bots and third party sellers control the world of new releases now. maybe in 2024 you will have.

lack of competent government to make laws to prevent this kind of stuff is the problem. there should be a 1 year moratorium on all third party sellers for new items costing $299.99 or more. and a limit 1 per household enforced by law

 

[ModEl4]

you won't have anything. the bots and third party sellers control the world of new releases now. maybe in 2024 you will have.

lack of competent government to make laws to prevent this kind of stuff is the problem. there should be a 1 year moratorium on all third party sellers for new items costing $299.99 or more. and a limit 1 per household enforced by law

I don't see any problem with Alder Lake regarding availability or inflation, on the contrary. And the performance/price is extremely competitive forcing AMD to drop prices all around. And anyway isn't this a discussion for another thread?
If the availability is going to be a problem i wonder how much fault is it from bots/third party resellers and how much from AMD's incompetence to secure N5 capacity if the below is true:

Intel mulls adopting TSMC 5nm process in new Meteor Lake chips

Intel is evaluating a revision to its blueprints for the 14th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" CPUs by turning to TSMC's 5nm process family to manufacture all of the integrated chips, according to industry sources.

www.digitimes.com

 

[Daven]

So, 2023 we will have these 3, but where is the 15-29W models?

I’m guessing they will continue to support this range with the Ryzen 5 6600U and Ryzen 7 6800U.

 

[Valantar]

I’m guessing they will continue to support this range with the Ryzen 5 6600U and Ryzen 7 6800U.

Depends on launch timing, but it's definitely possible for U-series SKUs to launch later. Then again that would mean more than a year between U-series APU generations, which ... well, wouldn't be good for AMD's partner relations, as those do like their yearly cadences.

Still, I wouldn't say no to a thin-and-light (convertible? Yes please!) with a 35W APU with a honking great iGPU - 20-24 CUs, high clocks and quad channel LPDDR5? One can dream, I suppose.

 

[Chrispy_]

So, 2023 we will have these 3, but where is the 15-29W models?

I'm still patiently awaiting the first laptop using a U-series Zen3 or even just a 6000-series HS without a hot and hungry dGPU mandating an extra pound of battery and copper to power and cool it.

 

[Valantar]

I'm still patiently awaiting the first laptop using a U-series Zen3 or even just a 6000-series HS without a hot and hungry dGPU mandating an extra pound of battery and copper to power and cool it.

Yeah, same as lady year they are really slow at getting actual products out the door (even if a few specific ones have been announced, such as the ThinkPad Z series.

Though I think the dGPU-less Asus X13 might be out? It isn't sold in my region, but AFAIK it launched alongside the RTX 3050/Ti variants.

 

[Chrispy_]

Yeah, same as lady year they are really slow at getting actual products out the door (even if a few specific ones have been announced, such as the ThinkPad Z series.

Though I think the dGPU-less Asus X13 might be out? It isn't sold in my region, but AFAIK it launched alongside the RTX 3050/Ti variants.

Global product search for "Asus X13 -3050" comes up pretty dry. It may be out somewhere but it's not obvious.
I suspect it's a paper launch

 

[Valantar]

Global product search for "Asus X13 -3050" comes up pretty dry. It may be out somewhere but it's not obvious.
I suspect it's a paper launch

For some reason my first search led me to the Australian Asus site, where I found the model number GV301RA-LJ046W for the 3050-less version, which can be found for sale and in stock at least here, here, here, here, here and here (there are more, but there's a limit to how many links I can be bothered to copy ).

Looking at Asus' US site, there doesn't seem to be a dGPU-less SKU there (but five with one!), unfortunately. The Swedish site is a bit more convoluted, at first only listing a single 3050-equipped SKU in the overview, but this links to a model series overview with three listings - 680m (GV301RA), 3050 (GV301RC) and 3050 Ti (GV301RE). So I guess if you can find a GV301RA SKU in your region, that should be dGPU-less? There are sadly none shown in any price comparison listings here - there are only two SKUs there, 3050 Ti and 3050 Ti + 6850M eGPU - so I guess they're rolling that model out in just a few areas, at least to begin with.

 

[Chrispy_]

For some reason my first search led me to the Australian Asus site, where I found the model number GV301RA-LJ046W for the 3050-less version, which can be found for sale and in stock at least here, here, here, here, here and here (there are more, but there's a limit to how many links I can be bothered to copy ).

/Aussie accent: Bugger!

Australia is as physically far away from me as it's possible to get without using spacecraft.

 

[Valantar]

/Aussie accent: Bugger!

Australia is as physically far away from me as it's possible to get without using spacecraft.

Yeah, it sucks. If I were to get a laptop for myself right now, that would be my first choice. If it was available, that is.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Phoenix with RDNA3 is going to be a beast of an APU. Intel won't know what hit them on the mobile iGPU front. Already Rembrandt iGPU destroys Intel AL iGPU.

The Dragon range is clearly their attempt to take on Intel's high power "so-called" mobile CPU's like the 12900HK or actually the 13900HK next year.

 

[Konceptz]

PS5 Pro , Xbox Series X Pro incoming….

 

[Valantar]

PS5 Pro , Xbox Series X Pro incoming….

At some point, yes, but what does that have to do with these APUs? The current XSX/PS5 APUs are vastly more powerful than these in the GPU department, and its unlikely that they'll be switching cpu architectures for compatibility and development reasons. Consoles also use semi-custom APUs, which you won't find on any AMD roadmap.

 

[Valantar]

@Chrispy_ this might be of interest to you:

Embargo lift on the full laptop review is still a few days out, but these do seem to be coming any time now.

 

[Chrispy_]

@Valantar
That's pretty cool. Seems like 35W might be the sweet spot for 680M graphics which means the 6800HS might be a viable/better option if I can find a 14 or 15" slim laptop with a dual-fan cooler that handles 35W TDP.

 

[Valantar]

@Valantar
That's pretty cool. Seems like 35W might be the sweet spot for 680M graphics which means the 6800HS might be a viable/better option if I can find a 14 or 15" slim laptop with a dual-fan cooler that handles 35W TDP.

Test seem to be pouring in just now:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Integ...-Iris-Xe-look-like-child-s-play.618595.0.html
That's a 6900HS, and far too few tests for my liking, but still quite impressive - close to the 1650 in lighter loads, though it pulls away as render complexity increases.