According to a recent leak from Golden Pig on Weibo, AMD is gearing up to introduce the Ryzen 7 8745HS, a modified version of the existing Ryzen 7 8845HS APU. The key difference in this new chip lies in its neural processing capabilities. While the 8845HS boasts AMD's XDNA-based NPU (Neural Processing Unit), the upcoming 8745HS is rumored to have this feature disabled. Specifications for the 8745HS are expected to closely mirror its predecessor, featuring eight Zen 4 cores, 16 threads, and a configurable TDP range of 35-54 W. The chip will likely retain the Radeon 780M integrated GPU with 12 Compute Units. However, it is possible that AMD might introduce slight clock speed reductions to differentiate the new model further.

It is also worth pointing out that Hawk Point generation is not Copilot+ certified due to first-generation XDNA NPU being only 16 TOPS out of 40 TOPS required, so having an NPU doesn't help AMD advertise these processors as Copilot+ ready. The success of this new variant will largely depend on its pricing and adoption by laptop/mobile OEMs. Without the NPU, the 8745HS could offer a more budget-friendly option for users who don't require extensive local AI processing capabilities. After all, AI workloads remain a niche segment in consumer computing, and many users may find the 8745HS an attractive alternative if pricing is reduced, especially given the availability of cloud-based AI tools.

Apparently the AMD "Strix Halo" processor is real, and it's large. The chip is designed to square off against the likes of the Apple M3 Pro and M3 Max, in letting ultraportable notebooks have powerful graphics performance. A chiplet-based processor, not unlike the desktop socketed "Raphael," and mobile BGA "Dragon Range," the "Strix Halo" processor consists of one or two CCDs containing CPU cores, wired to a large die, that's technically the cIOD (client I/O die), but containing an oversized iGPU, and an NPU. The point behind "Strix Halo" is to eliminate the need for a performance-segment discrete GPU, and conserve its PCB footprint.

According to leaks by Harukaze5719, a reliable source with AMD leaks, "Strix Halo" comes in a BGA package dubbed FP11, measuring 37.5 mm x 45 mm, which is significantly larger than the 25 mm x 40 mm size of the FP8 BGA package that the regular "Strix Point," "Hawk Point," and "Phoenix" mobile processors are built on. It is larger in area than the 40 mm x 40 mm FL1 BGA package of "Dragon Range" and upcoming "Fire Range" gaming notebook processors. "Strix Halo" features one or two of the same 4 nm "Zen 5" CCDs featured on the "Granite Ridge" desktop and "Fire Range" mobile processors, but connected to a much larger I/O die, as we mentioned.

AOOSTAR has released a new Mini PC for its GEM series powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 Hawk Point processor. Despite its compact size (130 mm x 126 mm x 45 mm), the AOOSTAR GEM13 integrates an AMD Ryzen R7 8845HS Octa-Core processor with 16 threads, running at speeds of up to 5.1 GHz, and an NPU for AI with up to 38 TOPS. It includes a powerful 12-core Radeon 780M iGPU RDNA 3 that reaches a speed of 2.7 GHz. This setup should be sufficient to support a wide range of applications and games running in 720p and 1080p resolution. For internal memory and storage, it supports up to 32 GB DDR5 5600 MHz and up to 1 TB storage via an M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe x4 SSD. Inside, there is enough space to install an additional 2.5" SATA internal storage unit.

For network connectivity, it features a combination of WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and two RJ45 2.5G network ports. As for interfaces, it sports 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0 ports, a full front USB-C, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and two HDMI 2.1 video outputs. It also has a USB4 Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4 data, power, and video output that could be used for an eGPU to increase gaming performance. The AOOSTAR GEM13 comes with a small 100 W external power supply and Windows 11 Pro as the operating system.

MINISFORUM, a leading manufacturer of high-quality Mini PCs, is proud to announce the release of its latest product, the UM890 Pro. This powerful Mini PC is designed with the latest generation AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor, utilizing the cutting-edge Zen 4 architecture, providing enhanced performance for multitasking, gaming, and creative work.

The UM890 Pro is equipped with the Cold Wave 2.2 cooling system, ensuring the PC's stability and robust connectivity capabilities. It also supports quick disassembly, making it easy to upgrade and maintain. With DDR5 dual-channel memory, speeds up to 5600 MHz, and a maximum capacity support of 96 GB, the UM890 Pro offers exceptional performance. Additionally, it can install two M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD solid-state drives simultaneously, with a maximum capacity support of 8 TB, effectively enhancing storage performance and boosting system responsiveness.

Prices of AMD Ryzen 8000G "Hawk Point" desktop APUs in the Socket AM5 package saw reductions over the week. The Ryzen 7 8700G, the fully unlocked part, is now available for $299, a $30 cut from its launch price of $329. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 8600G has now slipped under the $200-mark, with a $199 price-tag. The chip had originally launched at $229. Both these chips feature a 16 TOPS NPU, and are the first desktop processors that are capable of on-chip AI acceleration. Both processors are based on the 4 nm "Hawk Point" monolithic silicon, and feature "Zen 4" CPU cores. The 8700G packs an 8-core/16-thread CPU with an RDNA 3 iGPU that has 12 compute units (CU); while the 8600G is 6-core/12-thread, with an iGPU that has 8 CU.

Things get interesting with the Ryzen 5 8500G, which is now down to $159 from its launch price of $179. This new price makes the processor competitive with the 13th Gen Core i3 and the lower end of the Core i5 lineup. Unlike the other two 8000G series chips, the 8500G lacks an NPU, and is based on the 4 nm "Phoenix 2" silicon that has two "Zen 4" and four "Zen 4c" CPU cores for a 6-core/12-thread CPU configuration. Both kinds of cores share a 16 MB L3 cache. It has a heavily cut-down RDNA 3 iGPU with just 4 CU. The Ryzen 8000G desktop APU series only features PCIe Gen 4 (no Gen 5), which may not mean much for today's discrete GPUs, but limit your SSD upgrade path to Gen 4 (Gen 5 SSDs will be limited to 7 GB/s).

The top-spec AMD Ryzen AI 9 300 series "Strix Point" processor, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, is expected to post a 20% performance improvement over both the CPU and integrated graphics fronts, over its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 8945HS "Hawk Point," according to leak by Golden Pig Upgrade. On the CPU front, the HX 370 packs a 12-core/24-thread CPU based on a combination of four "Zen 5" and eight "Zen 5c" cores. The single-thread performance gains on the basis of the "Zen 5" microarchitecture's generational IPC increase, besides higher clock speeds; while the multithreaded performance increases on account on more cores. This performance increase isn't linearly scaling with the 50% increase in core-count.

On "Hawk Point," all eight cores are "Zen 4," capable of boosting to high frequencies, with two of them being marked as CPPC preferred cores, capable of boosting the highest. On "Strix Point," however, only four cores are based on the "Zen 5" architecture and capable of boosting to high frequency bands; while the other eight are "Zen 5c," which don't boost as high. While the IPC of "Zen 5c" is identical to "Zen 5," the fact that it doesn't boost as high, means that the generational multithreaded performance gain from the core-count increase is expected to be closer to 20%, with Golden Pig Upgrade talking about a Cinebench R23 nT score of over 20000 points, with "Hawk Point" scoring around 16000 points.

Zotac took the plunge into the emerging market of Windows-based gaming handhelds that a lot of PC hardware brands are getting into off late. The device has a 7-inch 1080p AMOLED multi-touch display, but you can connect an external display using over DisplayPort. At the heart of the Zotac ZONE is the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U "Hawk Point" processor, with its Radeon 780M graphics. This chip is wired to 16 GB of LPDDR5X-7500, and a 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD. The device features an M.2-2280 Gen 4 slot, so you are spoiled for choice with SSD upgrades.

The Zotac ZONE handheld console uses Windows 11 Home, but with its first-party One Launcher UI that organizes your games across DRM platforms, lets you configure input, tweak performance or battery life, and much more. The star attraction with this device's connectivity is its two USB4 type-C ports, one of which has DisplayPort passthrough), and PD 3.0. There's also a microSD UHS-II reader. A 4-pole 3.5 mm headset jack handles analog audio. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. Powering it all is a 48.5 Wh battery. The device measures 310 mm x 135 mm x 40 mm, and is expected to weigh under 700 g.

German PC OEM Schenker, along with its two brands—XMG targeted at high-performance mobile workstations and gaming notebooks; and Tuxedo, targeting Linux-friendly notebooks; made a splash at the 2024 Computex. We visited their pullout booth. The EVO 14 is a 14-inch class performance notebook powered by choices of Intel Core Ultra 7 155H "Meteor Lake" or AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS "Hawk Point" mobile processors; an innovative new dual-fan cooling solution, with 65 W sustained power delivery, and an 80 Wh battery pack. The 14-inch display features a 16:10 aspect ratio, 400 nits brightness, and 3K resolution. Memory options go all the way up to 96 GB, and I/O includes either USB4 or Thunderbolt 4, depending on the hardware platform. The EVO 15 is almost identical in terms of specs, but with a larger 99.8 Wh battery, and a 15.3-inch 500 nits display, and a full-sized edge-to-edge keyboard.Update 07:03 UTC: We have some pricing and availability details from Schenker.

AMD is indeed bringing the Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F desktop processors to the retail PIB channel. Both these processors are based on the 4 nm "Hawk Point" or "Phoenix 2" silicon, but with their iGPU disabled, hence the "F" in the model name. Company slides related to the two were leaked to the web. The processors feature CPU cores based on the "Zen 4" microarchitecture, and are built in the Socket AM5 package.

The Ryzen 7 8700F features the 8-core/16-thread "Zen 4" CPU that the 8700G, but with lower CPU clock speeds of up to 5.00 GHz boost (compared to up to 5.10 GHz for the 8700G). Although its iGPU is disabled, its NPU isn't. The Ryzen AI NPU offers 16 AI TOPS performance. The processor retains the 65 W TDP of the 8700G. Moving on to the 8400G, and here we see the processor being based on the "Phoenix 2" silicon, with 6 CPU cores. Two of these are "Zen 4," and can reach the processor's 4.70 GHz maximum boost frequency; while the other four are "Zen 4c," and operate at lower clock speeds. The chip physically lacks an NPU, and its iGPU is disabled. It still has 65 W TDP to feed its CPU cores. In their retail packages, both processors include a Wraith Stealth cooling solution that's meant for 65 W TDP processors.

AMD's next-generation Ryzen 9000 "Strix Point" mobile processor, which succeeds the current Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" and Ryzen 7040 "Phoenix," is confirmed to feature a CPU core-configuration of 12-core/24-thread, according to a specs-leak by HKEPC citing sources among notebook OEMs. It appears like Computex 2024 will be big for AMD, with the company preparing next-gen processor announcements across the desktop and notebook lines. Both the "Strix Point" mobile processor and "Granite Ridge" desktop processor debut the company's next "Zen 5" microarchitecture.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from "Zen 5" is that AMD has increased the number of CPU cores per CCX from 8 in "Zen 3" and "Zen 4," to 12 in "Zen 5." While this doesn't affect the core-counts of its CCD chiplets (which are still expected to be 8-core), the "Strix Point" processor appears to use one giant CCX with 12 cores. Each of the "Zen 5" cores has a 1 MB dedicated L2 cache, while the 12 cores share a 24 MB L3 cache. The 12-core/24-thread CPU, besides the generational IPC gains introduced by "Zen 5," marks a 50% increase in CPU muscle over "Hawk Point." It's not just the CPU complex, even the iGPU sees a hardware update.

AMD is reportedly planning to launch the Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F Socket AM5 desktop processors for a global launch, in the retail channel, as boxed processors. The two chips had launched earlier this month in the Chinese retail market. The 8700F reportedly comes with an OPN of 100-100001590BOX, while the 8400F is marked 100-100001591BOX. The "F" in both SKUs denotes a lack of integrated graphics. The Ryzen 7 8700F is an 8-core/16-thread processor based on the 4 nm "Hawk Point" silicon, while the 8400F is a 6-core/12-thread processor based on "Phoenix 2," which offers two "Zen 4" cores that run at higher clock speeds, and four "Zen 4c" cores that run at lower speeds.

The lack of an iGPU isn't the only thing differentiating the 8700F from the 8700G, the new chip even comes with slightly lower CPU clock speeds—100 MHz lower base and maximum boost frequencies. The 8700F CPU runs at a base frequency of 4.10 GHz, with 5.00 GHz maximum boost, when compared to the 4.20/5.10 GHz speeds of the 8700G. The 8400F, on the other hand, runs at 4.20 GHz base frequency, and a 4.70 GHz maximum boost frequency that applies to at least its two "Zen 4" cores; its four "Zen 4c" cores run at lower frequencies. There is no word on pricing. One reason you could want an 8700F over something like a 7700 would be its appetite for memory overclocking, if you can overlook the lack of integrated graphics, a smaller L3 cache, and most importantly, the lack of PCIe Gen 5, and four fewer PCIe lanes.

Microsoft, Intel, and AMD are attempting to jumpstart demand in the PC industry again, under the aegis of the AI PC—devices with native acceleration for AI workloads. Both Intel and AMD have mobile processors with on-silicon NPUs (neural processing units), which are designed to accelerate the first wave of AI-enhanced client experiences on Windows 11 23H2. Microsoft's bulwark with democratizing AI has been Copilot, as a licensee of Open AI GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, Dali, and other generative AI tools from the Open AI stable. Copilot is currently Microsoft's most heavily invested application, with its most capital and best minds mobilized to making it the most popular AI assistant. Microsoft even pushed for the AI PC designator to PC OEMs, which requires them to have a dedicated Copilot key akin to the Start key (we'll see how anti-competition regulators deal with that).

The problem with Microsoft's tango with Intel and AMD to push AI PCs, is that Copilot doesn't really use an NPU, not even at the edge—you input a query or a prompt, and Copilot hands it over to a cloud-based AI service. This is about to change, with Microsoft announcing that Copilot will be able to run locally on AI PCs. Microsoft identified several kinds of Copilot use-cases that an NPU can handle on-device, which should speed up response times to Copilot queries, but this requires the NPU to have at least 40 TOPS of performance. This is a problem for the current crop of processors with NPUs. Intel's Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" has an AI Boost NPU with 10 TOPS on tap, while the Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" is only slightly faster, with a 16 TOPS Ryzen AI NPU. AMD has already revealed that the XDNA 2-based 2nd Generation Ryzen AI NPU in its upcoming "Strix Point" processors will come with over 40 TOPS of performance, and it stands to reason that the NPUs in Intel's "Arrow Lake" or "Lunar Lake" processors are comparable in performance; which should enable on-device Copilot.

The Orange Pi Neo handheld gaming PC was first exhibited in Europe earlier in the year—where the Manjaro Linux team handed out demo units to attendees of FOSDEM. The initial batch of Orange Pi Neo handhelds were specced with AMD's ubiquitous Ryzen 7 7840U "Phoenix" mobile APU, but a recent official launch event—in China—revealed a new-gen alternative. The Manjaro Linux social media account summarized this weekend presentation: "we launched Orange Pi Neo in Shenzhen. The Ryzen 7 7840U model (16 GB/512 GB) will be 4099 CNY / 499 USD and Ryzen 7 8840U (16 GB/512 GB) model starts at 4499 CNY / 599 USD."

The newly unveiled price points have been deemed quite reasonable and competitive—when lined up against the nearest competition. The Manjaro Linux distribution could be a sticking point for more discerning OS-heads, but alternative operating routes could be outlined by online communities in the near future. The $599 AMD "Hawk Point" Ryzen 7 8840U-based option seems to be slightly overpriced, when you consider the marginal performance improvements it levies when compared to the very similarly appointed Ryzen 7 7840U APU. The "modernized" processor nets you a more potent XDNA NPU, but both product generations house Team Red's Radeon 780M iGPU. Orange Pi and Manjaro are likely testing the waters with an initial Chinese market launch—we hope to see a wider global rollout in the coming months.

AMD's Beijing AI PC Innovation Summit served as introduction point for a Chinese market launch of "Hawk Point" Ryzen 8040 mobile series and 8000G desktop processors—news coverage has, so far, focused on that rollout as well as a teasing of next-gen "Strix Point" processors. HXL/9550pro has put a spotlight on an easy-to-miss presentation slide—their social media post revealed the existence of new budget-friendly Ryzen 8000F CPUs. Team Red seems to be preparing two China-exclusive SKUs: Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F—not many details were revealed on-stage, so reporters have played a guessing game with speculated technical information. Industry experts believe that the 8700F is an iGPU-less version of AMD's "Hawk Point" Ryzen 7 8700G APU—utilizing the same 8 core and 16 thread configuration, but missing the Radeon 780M integrated graphics solution.

The lower-end SKU is a more perplexing product, since AMD did not elaborate much during "budget" product unveilings—VideoCardz put its thinking hat on for this one: "meanwhile, the 8400F might be harder to guess, as the name sits between 8500G and 8300G, both featuring vastly different configurations. An educated guess would be 6 cores and 12 threads, possibly with two Zen 4 and four Zen 4c cores." The "F" model suffix gained attention last year—courtesy of Team Red's Ryzen 5 7500F CPU. This iGPU-less "Raphael" Zen 4 SKU was initially released as a Chinese market exclusive, but eventually headed West as an option for system integrators.

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite is about to make landfall in the ultraportable notebook segment, powering a new wave of Windows 11 devices powered by Arm, capable of running even legacy Windows applications. The Snapdragon X Elite SoC in particular has been designed to rival the Apple M3 chip powering the 2024 MacBook Air, and some of the "entry-level" variants of the 2023 MacBook Pros. These chips threaten the 15 W U-segment and even 28 W P-segment of x86-64 processors from Intel, such as the Core Ultra "Meteor Lake," and Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point." Erdi Özüağ, prominent tech journalist from Türkiye, has access to a Qualcomm-reference notebook powered by the Snapdragon X Elite X1E80100 28 W SoC. He compared its performance to an off-the-shelf notebook powered by a 28 W Intel Core Ultra 7 155H "Meteor Lake" processor.

There are three tests that highlight the performance of the key components of the SoCs—CPU, iGPU, and NPU. A Microsoft Visual Studio code compile test sees the Snapdragon X Elite with its 12-core Oryon CPU finish the test in 37 seconds; compared to 54 seconds by the Core Ultra 7 155H with its 6P+8E+2LP CPU. In the 3DMark test, the Adreno 750 iGPU posts identical performance numbers to the Arc Graphics Xe-LPG of the 155H. Where the Snapdragon X Elite dominates the Intel chip is AI inferencing. The UL Procyon test sees the 45 TOPS NPU of the Snapdragon X Elite score 1720 points compared to 476 points by the 10 TOPS AI Boost NPU of the Core Ultra. The Intel machine is using OpenVINO, while the Snapdragon is using Qualcomm SNPE SDK for the test. Don't forget to check out the video review by Erdi Özüağ in the source link below.

Last week, AMD's Ryzen 8000GE desktop APU lineup appeared online—four lower power (TDP of 35 W) SKUs are set to join the already released 65 W TDP AM5 "Hawk Point" family. GucksTV has acquired a flagship 8000GE model, albeit in engineering sample form—a Hong Kong-based Ebay Store lists "AMD Ryzen 7 8700GE ES Tray" processors. At the time of writing only one unit remains in stock, priced at $298.99 with the option for free international delivery. The "hugohk" shop appears to specialize in supplying all sorts of Team Red engineering sample CPUs. GucksTV's German language video review pitches the Ryzen 7 8700GE engineering sample against the finalized retail release Ryzen 7 8700 APU.

AMD has not made any official release date announcements regarding the leaked Ryzen 8000GE range, but VideoCardz believes that "expectations are high that these variants will hit the market soon through system integrators." The GucksTV comparison video shows that: "On average, the single-core of 8700GE performance drops by 5%, while multi-core is 17% below 8700G. For graphics, that's a 23% average drop in performance while requiring 52% less power." The reviewer noted that his engineering sample was not allowing access to memory OC profiles, until a motherboard BIOS update was implemented (most likely via Beta firmware)—granting 6400 MT/s instead of the normal JEDEC rate of 5200 MT/s. The test platform utilized an ASRock A620I Lightning WiFi Mini-ITX mainboard—finalized Ryzen 7 8700GE APUs could be ideal candidates for usage in quiet/low temperature compact form factor systems.

AMD Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" mobile processors continue to roll out in all sorts of review sample guises—mostly within laptops/notebooks and handheld gaming PC segments. An example of the latter would be GPD's Hawk Point-refreshed Win Max 2 model—Cary Golomb, a tech reviewer and self-described evangelist of "PC Gaming Handhelds Since 2016" has acquired this device for benchmark comparison purposes. A Ryzen 7 8840U-powered GPD Win Max 2 model was pitched against similar devices that house older Team Red APU technologies. Golomb's collection included Valve's Steam Deck LCD model, and three "Phoenix" Ryzen 7840U-based GPD models. He did not have any top-of-the-line ASUS or Lenovo handhelds within reach, but the onboard Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU is a close relative of 7840U.

Golomb's social media post included a screenshot of a Batman: Arkham Knight "average frames per second" comparison chart—all devices were running on a low 10 W TDP setting. The overall verdict favors AMD's new Hawk Point part: "Steam Deck low TDP performance finally dethroned...GPD continues to make the best AMD devices. 8840U shouldn't be better, but everywhere I'm testing, it is consistently better across every TDP. TSP measuring similar." Hawk Point appears to be a slight upgrade over Phoenix—most of the generational improvements reside within a more capable XDNA NPU, so it is interesting to see that the 8840U outperforms its predecessor. They both sport AMD's Radeon 780M integrated graphics solution (RDNA 3), while the standard/first iteration Steam Deck makes do with an RDNA 2-era "Van Gogh" iGPU. Golomb found that the: "three other GPD 7840U devices behaved somewhat consistently."

AMD's first generation XDNA-based Neural Processing Unit (NPU) arrived last year, as an onboard aspect of their "Phoenix" Ryzen 7040 mobile processor series, followed many months later by Intel's similarly NPU-laden Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" generation. It was recently revealed that a Windows 11 DirectML preview grants preliminary support for Core Ultra NPUs—Microsoft's software engineering department seems to be prioritizing Intel AI tech. Team Red has already released XDNA on desktop platforms—with its Ryzen 8000G APU family—and the "Hawk Point" 8040 series is nearing a retail launch, but these processors (plus 7040) remain unsupported by Microsoft's DirectML API. An interesting AMD community blog entry was posted two weeks—news outlets have been slow to pick up on its relevance.

Intel NPU activity can be monitored in Windows Task Manager (see screenshot below), and an upcoming update will add competing AMD parts to the mix. Joel Hruska's Team Red community blog post reveals that NPU monitoring for Ryzen 8040 series processors is due soon: " As AI PCs become more popular, there's a growing need for system monitoring tools that can track the performance of the new NPUs (Neural Processing Units) available on select Ryzen 8040 Series mobile processors. A neural processing unit - also sometimes referred to an integrated or on-die AI engine -- can improve battery life by offloading AI tasks that would otherwise be performed on the CPU or GPU. AMD has been working with Microsoft to enable MCDM (Microsoft Compute Driver Model) infrastructure on the AMD NPU (Neural Processing Unit)-enabled Ryzen 8040 Series of mobile processors. MCDM is a derivative of Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) that is targeting non-GPU, compute devices, such as the NPU. MCDM enables NPUs to make use of the existing GPU device management infrastructure, including scheduling, power management, memory management, and performance debugging with tools such as the Task Manager. MCDM serves as a fundamental layer, ensuring the smooth execution of AI workloads on NPU devices."

Colorful is now exclusively a GeForce RTX graphics card vendor, but it had a brief stint with AMD Radeon under the separate Colorfire brand. This brand is reportedly making it back, but not for graphics cards. Colorful isn't just selling graphics cards and motherboards, but also has a growing line of gaming notebooks. Apparently, the Colorfire brand will denote notebooks powered by AMD Ryzen mobile processors. The discrete GPUs are still GeForce RTX 40-series. The news emerged from a regulatory filing by Colorful's notebook ODM, Clevo, which is a well known notebook manufacturer for several brands. The filings speak of the Colorfire MEOW R15 24, and the MEOW R16 24, which presumably feature 15-inch 16:9 and 16-inch 16:10 displays, respectively.

Both the Colorfire notebooks are powered by AMD Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" mobile processors with full Ryzen AI enablement, while their discrete graphics options include GeForce RTX 4060 series and RTX 4070 series Laptop GPUs. The listings also mention at 180 W power supply for the MEOW R15 24; and a 230 W one for the MEOW R16 24, which seems to tally well with a combination of a Ryzen 8040HS series 45 W-class processor, and a GeForce RTX 4060/4070 series GPU with configured total graphics power in the 130 W to 160 W range.

AMD's small but fledgling Ryzen 8000 line of Socket AM5 desktop APUs is about to grow, with the addition of four new low-power SKUs, under the Ryzen 8000GE line. These chips come with a TDP of 35 W compared to the 65 W of the regular 8000G APUs, and a lowered PPT (package power tracking) value, making them energy-efficient variants. To be clear, these are not AMD's 8000-series APUs meant for the commercial desktop market, for that the company has the Ryzen PRO 8000 series and Ryzen PRO 7000 series.

The Ryzen 8000GE series are meant to square off against Intel's 14th Gen Core T-series SKUs that have processor base power values of 35 W, and significantly lower maximum turbo power values than the regular processor models. To carve out these chips, AMD has lowered the clock speeds and TDP compared to the regular 8000G series. Since the underlying 4 nm "Hawk Point" silicon achieves fairly good clocks in its 35 W HS-segment notebook processors, one can expect reasonably good boost residency with the 8000GE desktop chips.

AMD Ryzen 7 8700G continues to be the favorite new toy for overclockers and enthusiasts. Der8auer succeeded in de-lidding the chip (removing its IHS), to reveal the monolithic "Hawk Point" silicon underneath. By default, the chip uses soldered TIM, but with the IHS removed and sTIM residue cleaned off, the chip could be prepared for direct die cooling, through liquid metal TIM. This feat enabled load temperatures to drop from 85°C to just over 60°C. This enabled a 5.00 GHz all-core overclock for the chip's 8 "Zen 4" CPU cores.

Also over the last week, SkatterBencher succeeded in getting the iGPU engine clock of the 8700G to 3.30 GHz, which is 50 MHz higher than the slider limit for Precision Boost Overdrive. SkatterBencher's report says that an 8700G can have its power limits raised all the way up to 170 W. The 3.30 GHz iGPU overclock was supported by a core voltage of 1.25 V (which is high considering the tight vCore limits AMD sets for its APUs). The increased power limits and clock speeds result in a 22.31% iGPU performance increase when averaged over 14 tests.

AMD's newly announced Ryzen 8000G "Hawk Point" desktop APUs do not support ECC memory, contrary to what the specifications on the AMD website had initially shown, Reddit users found out. The company has since quietly edited its product pages to remove the bit about ECC support. For the overwhelming majority of desktop client use cases, including enthusiast PCs, ECC memory support is irrelevant. That said, the memory controllers of "Phoenix" in Ryzen PRO 7000 mobile processors for commercial notebooks support ECC memory, and so it stands to reason that upcoming Ryzen PRO models for both commercial desktops and notebooks might feature it.

The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G are based on the 4 nm "Hawk Point" monolithic silicon, with a more overclocker-friendly set of DDR5 memory controllers than the ones found in the Ryzen 7000 "Raphael" processors. Besides support for several high-frequency DDR5 modes, the memory controller technically supports ECC (at least "Phoenix" does, on the Ryzen PRO 7000 mobile processors). The memory controller also supports a maximum of 256 GB of memory, or 64 GB dual-rank memory modules per slot. It also supports 24 GB and 48 GB DIMM densities.

Tianbo has prepared a very an intriguing Cyberpunk 2077-themed Mini PC for the Chinese gaming hardware market—the JD.com listing (as reported by VideoCardz) showcases black and white enclosures with a sci-fi aesthetic and plenty of RGB lighting courtesy of the slimline internal cooling solution's illuminated 9 cm fan. It is not immediately clear whether CD Projekt and R. Talsorian Games have jointly approved the GOD88 Mini PC's prominent usage of their Cyberpunk title/logo/font. The specification sheet and accompanying imagery place emphasis on the Cyber GOD88's APU of choice: an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS mobile processor—this sits at second place within Team Red's recently launched 8040 "Hawk Point" series, their Ryzen 9 8945HS chip takes principal position here.

The GOD88's Ryzen 7 8845HS APU is no slouch when compared to the Ryzen 9 sibling—it runs the same 8-core/16-thread configuration, with a 5.1 GHz max boost (only trailing behind by 100 MHz). The spec sheet mentions a configurable TDP of 35 - 54 W. Tianbo's Mini PC is sold as a barebones system, according to the JD.com product page—customers are expected to plug in their own choice of RAM and storage. Dual-channel DDR5-5600 memory is supported, while the cramped interior can accommodate a single full-sized M.2 2280 PCIe 4×4 SSD. The Tianbo GOD88 "High Performance" Cyberpunk Mini PC will be open to pre-orders (via JD.com) on February 5—barebones pricing is set at 2688 RMB (~$378.50).

We already know about AMD Ryzen 7 8700G APU's enjoyment of overclocked memory—early reviews demonstrated the graphical benefits granted by fiddling with "iGPU engine clock and the processor's memory frequency." While gamers can enjoy a boosted integrated graphics solution that is comparable in performance 1080p stakes to a discrete Radeon RX 6500 XT GPU, AI enthusiasts are eager to experiment with the "Hawk Point" pat's Radeon 780M IGP and Neural Processing Unit (NPU)—the first generation Ryzen XDNA inference engine can unleash up to 16 AI TOPs. One individual, chi11eddog, posted their findings through social media channels earlier today, coinciding with the official launch of Ryzen 8000G processors. The initial set of results concentrated on the Radeon 780M aspect; NPU-centric data may arrive at a later date.

They performed quick tests on AMD's freshly released Ryzen 7 8700G desktop processor, combined with an MSI B650 Gaming Plus WiFi motherboard and two sticks of 16 GB DDR5-4800 memory. The MSI exclusive "Memory Try It" feature was deployed further up in the tables—this assisted in achieving and gauging several "higher system RAM frequency" settings. Here is chi11eddog's succinct interpretation of benchmark results: "7600 MT/s is 15% faster than 4800 MT/s in UL Procyon AI Inference Benchmark and 4% faster in GIMP with Stable Diffusion." The processor's default memory state is capable of producing 210 Float32 TOPs, according to chi11eddog's inference chart. The 6000 MT/s setting produces a 7% improvement over baseline, while 7200 MT/s drives proceedings to 11%—the flagship APU's Radeon 780M iGPU appears to be quite dependent on bandwidth. Their GIMP w/ Stable Diffusion benchmarks also taxed the integrated RDNA 3 graphics solution—again, it was deemed to be fairly bandwidth hungry.

AMD's Ryzen 7040 "Phoenix" mobile APUs debuted last year with Ryzen AI capabilities (via onboard Xilinx IP), thanks to the fitting of an on-board NPU—Team Red's first generation XDNA AI Engine received immediate support on Windows platforms. Naturally, Linux users expressed frustration about being left out in the cold—later on in the year, AMD put some feelers out (as reported by Phoronix), and gauged interest in a potential Linux deployment of Ryzen AI. Fast forward to January 2024, we see movement with an initial release on open platforms—according to Michael Larabel's latest article: "More than 1,000 requests for Linux support were logged following that October statement and since then I've been hearing quietly of AMD working on Linux support... Well, there's now an open-source but currently out-of-tree driver available. "

AMD's GitHub has been updated with the "first public code drop of the XDNA Linux driver." According to System Requirements, the entry point "to run AI applications (test machine) on an Ryzen AI processor" is Phoenix silicon, as expected. Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" is presumably on the support list, since it shares the same basic underpinnings—albeit with greater NPU performance. One of AMD's GitHub authors has teased that "Strix" will also be supported in the future—second generation XDNA NPUs are expected to drop later this year. Targets for GFX1150 and GFX1151 were uncovered earlier this week—"Strix Point" and "Strix Point Halo" (respectively) are codenames for next generation Team Red APUs.