The market for gaming handhelds has been expanding at an unprecedented rate, largely thanks to the impressive performance and efficiency improvements brought to the table by modern APUs. AMD's Strix Point APUs are no exception, and are expected to power a multitude of high-end handhelds. Thanks to its 12 (4 Zen 5 + 8 Zen 5c) cores and RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 890M iGPU, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is an impressive performer for sure. The chip can already be found in a plethora of gaming-oriented handhelds and laptops, and now a fresh offering from AOKZOE is poised to join the list.

Of course, AOKZOE is not nearly as well known as some of its competitors, such as GPD and Minisforum. AOKZOE has revealed only a single image for the product so far, and the differences between the A1, A1 Pro, and A1 X are expected to be minimal, at least on the outside. The company has revealed that the handheld will sport the aforementioned Strix Point flagship APU, along with an 8-inch display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a 72.7 Wh battery. These specifications are nothing extraordinary nowadays, and further details regarding the product, such as thermal performance, display quality, battery life, and the like can only be established with proper hands-on reviews. There are is no information on pricing or availability as of now, and more such details should become available as we inch closer to the A1 X's release.

Unannounced AMD Threadripper 9000 "Shimada Peak" processor SKUs have once again appeared on leaked shipping manifests—a 96-core variant was uncovered under similar circumstances last summer. The latest discovery—courtesy of reliable investigator Everest/Olrak_29 combing through info published on NBD—reveals a Zen 5-based product stack that lists 16, 32, 64 and 96-core models. Until now, industry watchdogs have not spotted evidence of 32-core and 64-core SKUs—alongside prior leaks that only mentioned 16-core and 96-core parts.

Team Red has not officially announced that it is working on a follow-up to its current generation Zen 4-equipped Threadripper 7000 "Storm Peak" CPU series, but tipsters believe that fundamental similarities—based on leaked core counts and specifications—position "Shimada Peak" as the logical/inevitable successor. Speculation points to all the leaked Threadripper 9000 HEDT processors having a TDP rating of 350 W. Industry insiders propose that the highest-end variant—sporting 96 cores and 192 threads—will contain 12 CCDs (eight cores per CCD), 32 MB L3 cache (per CCD), and a lone I/O die. Wccftech theorizes that the 32-core model will be specced with four CCDs, while "the 64-core variant will come with eight CCDs." Insiders have whispered about a possible "later in 2025" launch window for "Shimada Peak."

Thanks to the informative breakdown by Chips and Cheese, we are learning that AMD's latest Ryzen AI processors for laptops, codenamed "Strix Halo," utilize a parallel "sea of wires" interconnect system between their chiplets, replacing the SERDES (serializer/deserializer) approach found in desktop Ryzen models. The processor's physical implementation consists of two Core Complex Dies (CCDs), each manufactured on TSMC's N4 (4 nm) process and containing up to eight Zen 5 cores with full 512-bit floating point units. Notably, the I/O die (IOD) is also produced using the N4 process, marking an advancement from the N6 (6 nm) process used in standard Ryzen IODs on desktops. The key change lies in the inter-chiplet communication system. While the Ryzen 9000 series (Granite Ridge) employs SERDES to convert parallel data to serial for transmission between chiplets, Strix Halo implements direct parallel data transmission through multiple physical connections.

This design achieves 32 bytes per clock cycle throughput and eliminates the latency overhead associated with serialization/deserialization processes. The parallel interconnect architecture also removes the need for connection retraining during power state transitions, a limitation present in SERDES implementations. However, this design choice necessitates additional substrate complexity due to increased connection density and requires more pins for external connections, suggesting possible modifications to the CCD design compared to desktop variants. AMD's implementation required more complex substrate manufacturing processes to accommodate the dense parallel connections between chiplets. The decision to prioritize this more challenging design approach was driven by requirements for lower latency and power consumption in data-intensive workloads, where consistent high-bandwidth communication between chiplets is crucial.

At CES, AMD unleashed the much awaited Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" APUs with mammoth iGPUs, up to a whopping 40 CUs for the Radeon 8060S. These chips are powerful enough to not require discrete graphics at all, making them ideal for mini PCs, which lack the physical room for dedicated graphics. GMK appears to be among the first to announce a mini PC with the top-end Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU, although any further details are under wraps as of now.

Unlike the Strix Point parts, Strix Halo abandons the smaller and more efficient Zen 5c cores for a Zen 5-only setup, with up to 16 Zen 5 cores for the highest-end Ryzen AI Max+ 395 SKU. This allows for some serious performance potential, with AMD promising substantially better performance than both Intel's Lunar Lake and Apple's M4 Pro, although it would be much fairer to compare Strix Halo to Apple's M4 Max, and Intel's Arrow Lake-H/X instead. Regardless, there is no denying Strix Halo APUs open up new doors in terms of performance for compact systems, the rest remains to be seen as and when the products reach reviewers.

We had a chance to get close and personal with the new ZOTAC ZONE GAMING prototype at the CES 2025 show. While it is not a final product, we had a chance to see it in action as it is a working prototype and thanks to updated hardware, it should provide much higher performance compared to the ZOTAC Zone that we had a chance to review last year.

The biggest update is the 4 nm Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor. The Strix Point architecture brings 12-core/24-thread CPU (four performance and eight efficiency) based on Zen 5 architecture, 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. It also comes with Radeon 890M, a RDNA 3.5 architecture GPU with 16 Compute Units. ZOTAC also increased the amount of LPDDR5X RAM to 32 GB and raised M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD storage space to 1 TB. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 has a standard TDP of 28 W, and a configurable TDP between 15 W and 54 W, so it gives ZOTAC a lot of room to work with. It also features 50 TOPS XDNA NPU.

ASRock Industrial unveils the 4X4 BOX AI300 Series, a compact powerhouse designed to redefine AI computing with AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors. Featuring the Ryzen AI 7 350 and Ryzen AI 5 340 processors, this series delivers up to 50 TOPS of NPU performance, supporting Copilot+ PC experiences and AI-enhanced multitasking. With up to 96 GB dual-channel DDR5 5600 MHz memory, quad display up to 8K, and versatile connectivity, including dual LAN ports, Wi-Fi 6E, five USB ports with two USB4, it combines exceptional AI performance with scalability and efficiency.

Equipped with Ryzen AI as its dedicated AI engine, the 4X4 BOX AI300 Series ensures responsive AI processing paving the way for next generation productivity. Living up to its slogan, "Tiny Box AI Rocks," the 4X4 BOX AI300 Series is engineered for AI PCs, gaming, content creation, tech enthusiasts, prosumers, and AIoT applications.

Acer today announced the expansion of its Copilot+ PC offering across its laptop and desktop portfolio. These include the thin-and-light Swift Go 14 AI and Swift Go 16 AI laptops, value-oriented Aspire 14 AI laptops, sleek and stylish Aspire S AI and Aspire C AI all-in-one (AIO) desktops, and powerful Revo Box AI mini PC. All new products are equipped with the latest processors with integrated neural processing units (NPU) for performance to power AI-driven workloads.

The new Acer Copilot+ PCs harness the power of AI to boost productivity and creativity. The Swift Go 16 AI and Swift Go 14 AI laptops and the Aspire C AI AIOs are powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processors to deliver ultimate AI capabilities that boost productivity and efficiency for mobile professionals. The Aspire S AI and Revo Box AI feature Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2), helping people breeze through intensive workloads efficiently.

AMD today vastly fleshed out its mobile processor lineup with the introduction of two new processor lines besides the Ryzen AI Max 300 series. This includes the introduction of more processor models in the Ryzen AI 300 series that are powered by the "Strix Point" silicon, and the introduction of the Ryzen 200 series mobile processors, which are based on the older "Hawk Point" silicon. In 2024, AMD had debuted the Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point," but with just the top-end Ryzen AI 9 370 and 365, which came with maxed out 12-core/24-thread (4x Zen 5 + 8x Zen 5c) core configuration, and a maxed out iGPU with 16 CU. Today the company is introducing the Ryzen AI 7 350, the Ryzen AI 5 340, and their AMD PRO variants for commercial notebooks. Both the consumer and commercial parts have identical specs, except for the latter featuring the AMD PRO feature-set.

The Ryzen AI 7 350 comes with a CPU configuration of 8-core/16-thread (4x Zen 5 + 4x Zen 5c). All cores have a base frequency of 2.00 GHz, the Zen 5 cores boost up to 5.00 GHz. The iGPU on offer is the Radeon 860M, with 12 CU and an engine clock of up to 3.00 GHz. TDP is configurable between 15 W to 55 W. The Ryzen AI 5 340 comes with a 6-core/12-thread configuration (3x Zen 5 + 3x Zen 5c), and CPU clock speeds of 2.00 GHz base with 4.80 GHz boost achievable on the Zen 5 cores. The iGPU is heavily cut down, with just 4 CU available, and an iGPU engine clock of 2.90 GHz. Notebook designers can configure this chip with a wide power range from 15 W to 55 W. All four processor models mentioned above come with a Ryzen AI XDNA 2 NPU that's capable of 50 AI TOPS, which means they're all Microsoft Copilot+ AI PC logo eligible.

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.

AMD at the 2025 International CES debuted the Ryzen AI Max 300 series of mobile processors. These chips are designed to go up against the Apple M4 Pro, or the chip that powers the Apple MacBook Pro. The idea behind it is to provide leadership CPU and graphics performance from a single package, minimizing the PCB footprint from having a discrete GPU. In stark contrast, the Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake," is designed more to go against the Apple M4, or the chips that power the latest MacBook Air but not quite the MacBook Pro. What sets "Strix Halo" functionally apart from "Lunar Lake" or even the M4 Pro, is that the AMD chip doesn't have memory-on-package (MoP), it relies on discrete LPDDR5X memory chips.

The "Strix Halo" processor is "Fire Range" on steroids. There are one or two "Zen 5" CCDs, for up to a 16-core/32-thread core configuration. Each of these "Zen 5" cores are unlike the ones on "Strix Point," in that they feature a fully unlocked AVX512 hardware pipeline (512-bit FP). The CCD shares a lavish 32 MB of L3 cache among 8 "Zen 5" cores. This is hardly the star attraction. Unlike "Fire Range," which features the small 6 nm client I/O die from "Granite Ridge," The new "Strix Halo" features a massive SoC die built on the 5 nm EUV foundry node. This packs the star attraction of the processor, it's oversized iGPU that has a massive 40 compute units (2,560 stream processors).

AMD today announced the Ryzen 9 9000HX and 9000HX3D line of mobile processors targeting enthusiast-segment gaming notebooks and portable workstations. These chips compete in the same market-segment as the Intel Core Ultra 200HX series. Codenamed "Fire Range," and powered by the "Zen 5" microarchitecture, the chip succeeds the "Zen 4" based "Dragon Range." This is essentially a thin BGA package of the desktop "Granite Ridge" chiplet-based processor, just the way "Dragon Range" relates to "Raphael." The chip has two "Zen 5" CCDs with full-sized "Zen 5" cores that are geared for high clock speeds, and have the full hardware FP implementation for AVX512, unlike the "Zen 5" cores on the "Strix Point" mobile processor.

AMD has, curiously, skipped single-CCD variants of "Fire Range," there are no Ryzen 7 9000HX models being announced today. There are just three processor-models—the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, the Ryzen 9 9955HX, and the Ryzen 9 9850HX. The 9955HX3D is AMD's flagship mobile processor for gaming notebooks. It features a 16-core/32-thread configuration, and features 3D V-Cache memory on one of the two CCDs. The chip hence comes with 144 MB of "total cache" (L2 + L3). It ticks at 2.50 GHz base frequency, and can boost up to 5.40 GHz for the CCD with 3D V-Cache. It comes with a configurable TDP range of 55 W and 75 W. There is no NPU, but the client I/O die puts out a boatload of I/O that includes 28 PCIe Gen 5 lane, from which 24 are usable, so the discrete GPU has a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 connection, besides two M.2 NVMe Gen 5 connections directly from the processor.

AMD today expanded its Ryzen 9000X3D line of Socket AM5 desktop processors that combine the "Zen 5" microarchitecture with 3D V-Cache technology, with the introduction of two high core-count models, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D. The 9950X3D is a 16-core/32-thread chip, while the 9900X3D is 12-core/24-thread. These are dual-CCD processors, and much like the Ryzen 9 7000X3D, the 3D V-Cache is only present on one of the two CCDs, while the other is a regular CCD with just the 32 MB on-die L3 cache. There is one key difference, though. Since AMD has redesigned 3D V-Cache for "Zen 5" to be below the CCD and not above, the CCD with it has the same clock speed boosting characteristics as the CCD without 3D V-Cache; and AMD has worked to refine its software-based OS scheduler optimization such that productivity applications favor either of the CCDs, while games stick to the one with 3D V-Cache.

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D comes with a base frequency of 4.30 GHz, and boosts up to 5.70 GHz, with a 170 W TDP. This is much higher than the 5.20 GHz maximum boost frequency of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which makes the 9950X3D the company's fastest gaming desktop processor. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D is similarly interesting—you get a base frequency of 4.40 GHz, and 5.50 GHz maximum boost frequency, which is higher than that of the 9800X3D, although the CCD with the 3D V-Cache only has 6 cores. The 9950X3D should hence end up beating the 9800X3D in gaming workloads, while the 9900X3D should be either on par or slightly slower than the 9800X3D at gaming, although faster than any chip from the non-X3D Ryzen 9000 series.

Recent engineering samples of AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9 9950X3D reveal what appear to be the finalized specifications of the top-tier AM5 chip. The 16-core, 32-thread processor builds upon the gaming success of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D while addressing its core count limitations. The flagship processor features AMD's refined cache design, combining 96 MB of 3D V-Cache with 32 MB of standard L3 cache. Unlike its predecessor, the 7950X3D, the new Zen 5 architecture incorporates a redesigned CCD stacking method. The CCD now sits above the cache, directly interfacing with the STIM and IHS, eliminating thermal constraints that previously required frequency limitations. The processor features asymmetric cache distribution across its dual CCDs—one die combines 32 MB of base L3 cache with a 64 MB stacked V-Cache layer, while its companion die utilizes a standard 32 MB L3 cache configuration. In total, there is a 128 MB of L3 cache, with 16 MB of L2.

This architectural advancement enables the 9950X3D to achieve a 5.65 GHz boost clock across both CCDs, matching non-X3D variants. The processor maintains a 170 W TDP, suggesting improved thermal efficiency despite the additional cache. AMD's software-based OS scheduler will continue to optimize gaming workloads by directing them to the CCD with 3D V-Cache. Early leaks indicate the 9950X3D matches the base 9950X in Cinebench R23 scores, both in single and multi-threaded tests—a significant improvement over the 7950X3D, which lagged behind its non-X3D counterpart due to frequency limitations. AMD plans to expand the Zen 5 X3D lineup in Q1-2025 with both the 9950X3D and 9900X3D models. Full performance benchmarks and pricing details are expected at CES 2025, where AMD will officially unveil these processors alongside their RDNA 4 GPUs.

AMD fans are undoubtedly on their toes to witness the performance improvements that Strix Halo is ready to bring forth. Unlike Strix Point, which utilizes a combination of Zen 5c and full-fat Zen 5 cores, Strix Halo will do away with the small cores for a Zen 5 "only" setup, allowing for substantially better multicore performance. Moreover, it is also widely expected that Strix Halo will boast chunky iGPUs that will bring the heat to entry-level and even some mid-range mobile GPUs, allowing Strix Halo systems to not require discrete graphics at all, with a prime example being the upcoming ROG Flow Z13 tablet.

As per recent reports, the upcoming Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395 APU will sport an RDNA 3.5-based iGPU with a whopping 40 CUs, and will likely be branded as the Radeon 8060S. In a leaked Geekbench Vulkan benchmark, the Radeon 8060S managed to outpace the RTX 4060 Laptop dGPU in performance. However, according to yet another leaked benchmark, Passmark, the Radeon 8060S and the 32-CU 8050S scored 16,454 and 16,663 respectively - and no, that is not a typo. The 8060S with 40 CUs is marginally slower than the 8050S with 32 CUs, clearly indicating that the numbers are far from final. That said, performance in this range puts the Strix Halo APUs well below the RTX 4070 laptop GPU, and roughly the same as the RTX 3080 Laptop. Not bad for an iGPU, although it is almost certain that actual performance of the retail units will be higher, judging by the abnormally small delta between the 8050S and the 8060S.

AMD's client computing division is expected to have an action-packed 2025 International CES. On the CPU front, the company is expected to expand its Ryzen 9000X3D family with high-core count models, such as the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D. It is also expected to introduce certain power-efficient 65 W models of its non-X3D Ryzen 9000 series "Zen 5" chips, which serve as value options within this processor generation, to try and lure buyers off the 65 W Intel Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" models. On the gaming graphics side, the company is expected to debut its Radeon RX 9000 series, led by the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, both of which are based on the "Navi 48" silicon, and powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture.

That's not all, AMD is also expected to announce the new FSR 4 technology for gamers. Leaks describe FSR 4 as being a performance enhancement that's a generation ahead of FSR 3.x. While FSR 3.x combines super-resolution based performance enhancement, and algorithmic frame-generation that nearly doubles framerates; FSR 4 is expected to be AMD's first performance enhancement to incorporate AI to not just enhance the visual detail in super-resolution, but also to improve accuracy of frame-generation. At this point, it is not known if FSR 4 will be available as a feature at launch of the Radeon RX 9070 series. VideoCardz reports that the early-January announcements could be followed by late-January availability of the hardware.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D launched this November remains the fastest processor for PC gaming, but with just an 8-core/16-thread configuration, its performance in multithreaded productivity pales in comparison to the alternatives, including from AMD's own camp, such as the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. The company is planning to expand the Zen 5 X3D line of desktop processors in Q1-2025, with the introduction of its high core-count Ryzen 9 series SKUs, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D. HXL, a reliable source with hardware leaks, says that the Ryzen 9 X3D SKUs will lack the kind of "frequency debuff" we've seen with the older generation Ryzen 9 X3D chips such as the 7950X3D and 7900X3D.

On the 7950X3D, only one of the two 8-core CCDs comes with 3D V-Cache, the other is a regular CCD with 32 MB on-die L3 cache. The CCD with the 3D V-Cache has its frequency "debuffed" compared to the other CCD, mainly to deal with the thermal limitations of the way the 3D V-Cache is stacked on top of the CCD. With the Ryzen 9000 X3D generation, AMD has redesigned this CCD + L3D stacking such that the CCD is now above, directly interfacing with the STIM and IHS; with no conductive structural silicon along the way. This means that the CCD now thermally behaves like a regular Zen 5 CCD; and for this reason, not only will the CCD with 3D V-Cache on the 9950X3D/9900X3D have the same clock speeds and boosting behavior as the one without 3D V-Cache; but also the 9950X3D and 9900X3D are expected to ship with similar, if not identical clock speeds to the 9950X and 9900X.

Last week, we reported on a massive leak that gave us a glimpse at a surfeit of upcoming ROG gaming laptops from ASUS boasting Arrow Lake-HX and Strix Halo processors, along with RTX 50-series Laptop GPUs. The company has now gone ahead and officially teased its ROG Flow Z13 laptop and the ROG Strix 18 laptop, the videos for which were obtained by VideoCardz. Considering that these were just teasers, the details shared were sparse, but undoubtedly intriguing regardless.

The ROG Strix 18, will likely boast the Core Ultra 9 285HX and Core Ultra 9 275HX CPUs along with NVIDIA "Blackwell" Laptop GPUs, with up to an 175-watt RTX 5090 Laptop with 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM. Multiple other GPU options will also be available, with the RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU being the entry-point as per the leaked listings. Clearly, the Strix 18 is poised to be a powerful and power-hungry desktop replacement-class laptop, along with a massive 18-inch mini LED screen with a speedy 240 Hz refresh rate. Needless to say, the G18 has no intention of being affordable.

OneXPlayer has pulled back the veil on its G1 gaming notebook, and the product sure does look intriguing. Calling it a notebook might not even be fair, considering that its 8.8-inch display barely exceeds tablet territory. However, for lovers of compact gaming systems and handhelds, the G1 looks like it ticks many boxes, and its detachable keyboard is undoubtedly a welcome addition.

The system is powered by AMD's 12-core Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU with 4 Zen 5 and 8 Zen 5c cores, along with a powerful Radeon 890M iGPU with 16 CUs based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. The aforementioned 8.8-inch display is quite the looker as well, featuring a 2.5K resolution with a speedy 144 Hz refresh rate. At least on paper, it appears that the OneXPlayer G1 leaves very little room for complaint.

GEEKOM, a Taiwanese tech company famous for making high quality mini PCs, is heading to CES for the second consecutive year in 2025 with an exciting lineup of new products. Known as the Green Mini PC Global Leader, GEEKOM always focuses on improving the quality and reliability of its products, and it also spares no effort in cutting down carbon emissions and making the world a greener place.

Among the many mini PCs that GEEKOM plans to put on show at CES 2025, there are many industry firsts. The GEEKOM QS1, for instance, is the world's first mini PC powered by a Qualcomm chipset. The tiny computer sports an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X1E-80-100 processor with twelve 4.0 GHz Oryon CPU cores, a 3.8 TFLOPS Adreno X1-85 GPU and a 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU. It is smart and fast enough to breeze through all of your daily home and office computing chores, yet energy-efficient enough to significantly cut down your electric bill.

Ever since AMD introduced Strix Point, enthusiasts like ourselves have been eagerly awaiting details regarding the high-end Strix Halo APUs with integrated graphics that are rumored to be powerful enough for the system to not require discrete graphics at all. Leaks regarding the upcoming performance mobile APU lineup have been trickling out steadily, and a fresh new Geekbench leak reveals the CPU performance of the Ryzen AI+ Max 395 APU, which boasts a 16-core configuration consisting entirely of Zen 5 cores, unlike Strix Point which features a mix of Zen 5 and the smaller Zen 5c cores. And oh dear, are the numbers ever so lucrative.The APU managed to rake in 2,849 points in the single-core department, and a whopping 20,708 points in multicore. As Videocardz correctly notes, this result is far ahead of AMD's current top-end mobile offering, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, which manages around 16,900 points in the multicore test. In single-core, however, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D does edge ahead, with around 2,900 points. That said, the ROG Flow Z13 laptop that the APU was housed in is most likely still in the testing phase, so it is entirely possible that the final product will sport even better performance. That being said, the Apple M4 Max SoC, however, remains in a league of its own with 3,800 points in single-core and a shocking 25,000 points in multicore. With CES 2025 just around the corner, it's only a matter of weeks before the Ryzen AI Max+ lineup finally sees the light of day and reaches our hands.

CES 2025 is less than a month away and leaks about AMD Strix Halo APUs are starting to emerge. Today we have confirmation via a leaked Geekbench Vulcan test that AMD will launch the Ryzen AI MAX+ PRO 395 w/ Radeon 8060S "Strix Halo" APU. Information reveals that this APU is equipped with 16 Zen 5 cores with 32 threads, a 3 GHz base frequency (4.4 GHz max), and a boost up to 5.1 GHz. It sports a 32 MB L3 cache per CCD for a total of 64 MB since it uses a dual CCD chip design. The TDP should be between 55-130 W. Moreover, the "PRO" in the product naming suggests that AMD could release non-PRO models at a later date.

The integrated Radeon 8060S iGPU adopts the RDNA 3.5 architecture with 40 computing units and was tested using an AMD reference board design codenamed AMD MAPLE-STXH and 64 GB of memory scoring 67,004 points in the Geekbench Vulkan test. This initial result is lower than AMD Radeon RX 7600 RDNA 3 discrete entry-level products (despite having more cores 40CU vs 32CU), and higher than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050. However, since the benchmark was run on an evaluation platform without optimized drivers and more likely using an early test sample product, we can expect the actual performance of the Radeon 8060S iGPU to be higher.

About a month ago, we reported about the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D "Zen 5" processor with 3D V-Cache that is flying off the shelves, with scalpers trying to make a profit from buying the retail inventory. The processor continues to face widespread availability issues more than a month after its launch, though the company assures consumers that relief is on the horizon. "We are working diligently to get as much supply to market as possible, with more processors being shipped every week," an AMD spokesperson told Tom's Hardware. "We expect availability to get better as shipments ramp throughout the quarter." The CPU is not only hard to find but also proves to be one of the most sought-after processors on Amazon.

The supply shortage has created opportunities for scalpers, who are listing the processor at prices reaching $1,000—more than double its retail price. Even established retailers like Walmart have listed the chip at inflated prices, approaching $800. Adding to consumers' challenges, some third-party sellers have posted fraudulent listings, making it crucial for buyers to verify seller credibility. While major retailers like Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, and B&H Photo maintain the official $479 price point when in stock, securing a unit at this price has proven challenging for most consumers. As the holiday season is here, AMD's promised production ramp-up is much needed, as gamers have been planning their upgrade months in advance and are in dire need of pushing the performance of their systems up another notch.

AMD has silently disabled the loop buffer feature in its Zen 4 processor architecture through an AGESA microcode update. This development, first reported by the website Chips and Cheese, affects the entire Ryzen 7000 series processors and related EPYC models. The loop buffer, a power-optimization feature capable of storing 144 entries (72 per thread with SMT enabled), was implemented for the first time in AMD's Zen 4 architecture but has been notably absent from the newer Zen 5 design. The feature's primary function was to allow the processor's front end to power down while maintaining operational efficiency. The change was discovered when testing an ASRock B650 PG Lightning motherboard paired with a Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor. Hardware performance monitoring showed the loop buffer was active in BIOS version 1.21 (AGESA 1.0.0.6) but ceased to function after updating to BIOS 3.10 with AGESA 1.2.0.2a.

In a performance test conducted by Chips and Cheese, we learned that there is no significant impact from the feature's deactivation, suggesting the existing op cache provides sufficient bandwidth for optimal processor operation. AMD's architectural design has historically relied on its op cache for similar functionality. The feature appeared experimental, given the lack of documentation and the absence of programming guides for loop buffer optimization. Unlike competitors Intel and Arm, who have extensively documented their loop buffer implementations, AMD's approach appeared less developed. While the exact reasoning behind the deactivation remains unclear, disabling undocumented features is a step in the right direction, mainly as future Zen architecture iteration doesn't rely on a loop buffer, as seen with Zen 5.

AYANEO has officially revealed its latest handheld gaming console, dubbed the AYANEO 3. The company has teased the handheld multiple times in the past, while refraining from sharing any specifications regarding the same. Now, however, the company has detailed the internals for its new flagship handheld along with a few extra details.

The AYANEO 3 appears to be powered exclusively by AMD APUs, with Intel's Lunar Lake options nowhere to be found. Interested buyers will get to choose between either the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU, or the Ryzen 7 8840U "Hawk Point" APU. The "Strix Point" option happens to be AMD's latest and greatest, packing 4 Zen 5 and 8 Zen 5c cores, while the "Hawk Point" option sports 8 Zen 4 cores only.

AMD Ryzen AI MAX 300-series processors, codenamed "Strix Halo," have been on in the news for close to a year now. These mobile processors combine "Zen 5" CPU cores with an oversized iGPU that offers performance rivaling discrete GPUs, with the idea behind these chips being to rival the Apple M3 Pro and M3 Max processors powering MacBook Pros. The "Strix Halo" mobile processor is an MCM that combines one or two "Zen 5" CCDs (some ones featured on "Granite Ridge" desktop processors and "Turin" server processors), with a large SoC die. This die is built either on the 5 nm (TSMC N5) or 4 nm (TSMC N4P) node. It packs a large iGPU based on the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, with 40 compute units (CU), and a 50 TOPS-class XDNA 2 NPU carried over from "Strix Point." The memory interface is a 256-bit wide LPDDR5X-8000 for sufficient memory bandwidth for the up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores, the 50 TOPS NPU, and the large 40 CU iGPU.

Golden Pig Upgrade leaked what looks like a company slide from a notebook OEM, which reveals the iGPU model names for the various Ryzen AI MAX 300-series SKUs. Leading the pack is the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395. This is a maxed out SKU with a 16-core/32-thread "Zen 5" CPU that uses two CCDs. All 16 cores are full-sized "Zen 5." The CPU has 64 MB of L3 cache (32 MB per CCD), each of the 16 cores has 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache. The iGPU is branded Radeon 8060S, it comes with all 40 CU (2,560 stream processors) enabled, besides 80 AI accelerators, and 40 Ray accelerators. The Ryzen AI MAX 390 is the next processor SKU, it comes with a 12-core/24-thread "Zen 5" CPU. Like the 395, the 390 is a dual-CCD processor, all 12 cores are full-sized "Zen 5." There's 64 MB of L3 cache, and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The Radeon 8060S graphics solution is the same as the one on the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395, it comes with all 40 CU enabled.