It's not easy to keep track of all the processors AMD is preparing around the Zen 5 architecture.
Since the arrival of Lisa Su at the head of AMD and the launch of the Zen architecture, the American group has been doing better... much better, in fact! Generation after generation, Zen architectures have enabled the company to revive its fortunes and come out on top against the giant Intel. Zen 2, Zen 3, Zen 4 and soon Zen 5... each iteration of the architecture is eagerly awaited by users and financial analysts alike, and Zen 5 is clearly a major challenge for AMD. And there's no mistaking the number of product lines planned by the company around Zen 5.
If all goes according to plan, the first notebooks based on Strix Point chips - the Ryzen AI 300 - will go on sale on July 15. A fortnight later - around July 31 - AMD will launch the Granite Ridge processors, better known as Ryzen 9000s: the first Zen 5s for desktops. At a slightly later date - rumors point to early 2025 - AMD is reportedly planning to launch a more muscular version of the Strix Point, the Strix Halo. We don't yet know the commercial name of these processors, but they will feature a much more powerful graphics solution than the Strix Point, albeit still in RDNA 3.5.
VideoCardz
AMD's stated aim with Strix Halo is to offer "all-in-one" chips that can compete with Apple and its "M" processors in the mini-PC market in particular. We're pushing the "all-in-one" envelope, however, as AMD is not expected to integrate memory into its Strix Halo chips, which will nonetheless be accompanied by very precise specifications, as evidenced by a shipping manifest recovered by the VideoCardz site. This manifest is the first "proof" of the existence of the Strix Halo processors and their platform, the Maple Rev.B and its FP11 socket.
If the document is to be believed, AMD is preparing some real monsters with Strix Halo. In addition to rumors suggesting the possibility of a maximum of 16 Zen 5 cores combined with 40 RDNA 3.5 cores, there's also talk of chips accompanied by a maximum of 128 GB of LPDDR5-8000 RAM on a 256-bit bus... enough to put even Apple's M3 Pro to the sword, at least on paper. What's more, the Maple Rev.B platform seems likely to authorize a maximum of 120 watts for the Strix Halo processor: such power would give AMD quite a bit of latitude to adjust things according to needs, depending on whether one favors performance or power consumption. VideoCardz also points out that Strix Halo should enable AMD to offer chips capable of competing with dedicated mobile graphics cards such as the NVIDIA GeForce x050/x060 series.
