AMD Announces the Ryzen Z2 Line of SoCs for Gaming Handhelds

[btarunr]

AMD at the 2025 International CES unveiled the Ryzen Z2 line of SoCs for gaming handhelds that combine an x86-64 based SoC with a customized version of Windows 11. This market segment is poised to heat up with the entry of the Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processor, and so AMD is responding with its latest IP. The Ryzen Z2 series is based on the 4 nm "Strix Point" silicon, which combines "Zen 5" and "Zen 5c" CPU cores with a fairly large iGPU based on the new RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture that's optimized for LPDDR5X memory. AMD's engineering effort focused on modest CPU performance gains over the Ryzen Z1 "Phoenix Point," but significant graphics performance gains. The NPU is disabled on all models.

The "Strix Point" silicon physically features two CCX, one with four "Zen 5" cores sharing a 16 MB L3 cache, and the other with eight "Zen 5c" cores sharing an 8 MB L3 cache. The iGPU of "Strix Point" is based on RDNA 3.5, and comes with 16 CU (compute units), a step up from the 12 CU of "Phoenix Point." The series is led by the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, which features an 8-core/16-thread CPU configuration that probably consists of four "Zen 5" cores, four "Zen 5c" cores, and a maxed out iGPU with 16 CU. The chip has a cTDP range of 15 W to 35 W. The "Zen 5" cores boost up to 5.00 GHz.



Next up is the Ryzen Z2 (non-Extreme). This chip comes with a CPU configuration of 8-core/16-thread, but is based on the older "Phoenix Point" silicon, all eight of its cores are "Zen 4," and come with 16 MB of shared L3 cache. The iGPU is a maxed out RDNA 3 unit with 12 CU. With this generation, AMD is introducing a new entry level chip for handheld consoles that are into casual gaming. The company is calling this the Ryzen Z2 Go. This chip is based on the older "Phoenix 2" silicon, and comes with a combination of two "Zen 4" and two "Zen 4c" cores.

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[Cheeseball]

Looks like the Z2 Extreme its a semi-"cutdown" Strix Point part. So maybe 4 normal cores and 4 "c" cores? Because the HX 370 and AI 365 have proven that 4+6c/8c works, with 4 less "c" cores it would be quite balanced on a 4+4c config (just like Intel Lunar Lake is doing now, but with SMT) so any power can be shifted to the main 4 cores, unlike on the Z1 Extreme/7840U/8840U where the TDP covers all cores, so it gets constrained at less than 15W.

 

[HOkay]

I am excite! 33% more GPU should hopefully mean pretty much 30% more performance in games, that might be just about enough to push me to buying a Legion Go 2. Though maybe after the price has dropped a little as I'm expecting an £800 MSRP

 

[yfn_ratchet]

A Z2 Go handheld would actually appeal to me quite a bit. Just enough beef to run the games I'd be running on a handheld anyways, without an utterly gimped GPU. The price is what makes or breaks it for me, I suppose...

 

[Cheeseball]

A Z2 Go handheld would actually appeal to me quite a bit. Just enough beef to run the games I'd be running on a handheld anyways, without an utterly gimped GPU. The price is what makes or breaks it for me, I suppose...

That Z2 Go would most likely be the unofficial successor of the Steam Deck's Aerith/Sephiroth (Van Gogh) APU. 4C/8T (I'm talking CPU side) is still perfect for most low TDP gaming as it only needs to share 15W to 20W amongst the 4 cores and the iGPU. With 12 CUs instead of 8 CUs, the graphical performance should be better.

But take note that Z2 and Z2 Go are most likely using the 680M like previously leaked months ago, which is still fine for almost all games today as the Steam Deck is Zen 2+RDNA2 whereas this one is most likely Zen 3+ with RDNA2. My best educated guess is that Z2 is a rebadged 6800U/6800HS/6900HS and the Z2 Go is a semi-"new" quad-core version of the 6800U.

 

[yfn_ratchet]

But take note that Z2 and Z2 Go are most likely using the 680M like previously leaked months ago, which is still fine for almost all games today as the Steam Deck is Zen 2+RDNA2 whereas this one is most likely Zen 3+ with RDNA2. My best educated guess is that Z2 is a rebadged 6800U/6800HS/6900HS and the Z2 Go is a semi-"new" quad-core version of the 6800U.

I disagree, given what AMD disclosed in its statement:

With this generation, AMD is introducing a new entry level chip for handheld consoles that are into casual gaming. The company is calling this the Ryzen Z2 Go. This chip is based on the older "Phoenix 2" silicon, and comes with a combination of two "Zen 4" and two "Zen 4c" cores.

This much would clue us in that it's based on the old Z1 SoC but with two of the Zen 4c cores chopped off and a 680M/780M taped on, making it a little more GPU-sided (and fingers crossed, a nudge cheaper).

 

[Cheeseball]

I disagree, given what AMD disclosed in its statement:

This much would clue us in that it's based on the old Z1 SoC but with two of the Zen 4c cores chopped off and a 680M/780M taped on, making it a little more GPU-sided (and fingers crossed, a nudge cheaper).

Hmmm okay that would be better then. Two Zen 4 normal and two c cores with a 680M is better news than using the older Zen 3+ cores.

 

[Dr. Dro]

It's not always that I'm more interested in the low end part, but that Z2 Go piqued my interest. 2C/2c design, while retaining the full 12 CU graphics (680M?), it should perform very well in a TDP constrained scenario, improving heat and battery life which are essential for handhelds.

The one thing that always bothered me about the non-Extreme Z1 was its poor graphics performance, which this chip would not suffer from.

 

[Cheeseball]

It's not always that I'm more interested in the low end part, but that Z2 Go piqued my interest. 2C/2c design, while retaining the full 12 CU graphics (680M?), it should perform very well in a TDP constrained scenario, improving heat and battery life which are essential for handhelds.

The one thing that always bothered me about the non-Extreme Z1 was its poor graphics performance, which this chip would not suffer from.

Yeah, the Z1 non-Extreme was a weird release. 6C/12T (not bad), but 4 CUs? If it was at least 8 CUs, it would've been a defacto alternative to the Steam Deck's specs since only a few CPU cores would need to be fed the shared 15W to 30W (plugged-in mode) TDP.

 

[kapone32]

This should drop the prices even further of previous Handheld generations. This is good.

 

[outlw6669]

I might be an outlier, but I would really like to see these SOCs for handhelds only having the Compact cores.

Since the Compact cores are power optimized, it would allow the iGPU to use a larger chunk of the limited TDP, while also avoiding any high latency switching between CCXs.

But, I guess a sensible design for handhelds is out of the question, as it would look slower than its competition in CPU centric (non-gaming) benchmarks