From next year onwards, new handheld consoles are expected to make use of this Z2 Extreme chip.
Launched in June 2023, the ASUS ROG Ally handheld console is the first machine from a major manufacturer to step on the toes of Valve and its Steam Deck. ASUS has set itself apart in two key respects. Firstly, its machine runs on Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system, whereas Steam Deck is powered by SteamOS, a Linux derivative developed by Valve. Secondly, ASUS has also placed its trust in AMD to power its console, but there's no question of the Van Gogh, the chip specifically designed by AMD for Valve. No, ASUS has set its sights on a similar component, but with a few nuances: the Z1 Extreme.
© WCCFTech
And now, over the past few months, rumors have been circulating about the Z2 Extreme that AMD is developing to, of course, pave the way for its successor. Just three weeks ago, we were left with relatively bad news: rumors were circulating that the Z2 Extreme would be downsized to just 12 CPUs in RDNA 3.5 technology. This was still better than the Z1 Extreme with its 12 CPUs in RDNA 3. However, this rumour was recently denied and, as relayed by WCCFTech, the latest rumour confirms the initial information, which was even more enthusiastic.
Indeed, everything leads us to believe that AMD intends to considerably boost the power of its chip and, in so doing, of future handheld consoles. A veritable concentrate of technologies, the Z2 Extreme is set to benefit from a graphics solution featuring 16 RDNA 3.5 technology processing units, combined with - for the CPU part - 8 cores with an organization never before seen at AMD: 3 Zen 5 cores and 5 Zen 5c cores, which consume less energy but benefit from slightly less cache memory. No information has yet been released about the first consoles to use this Z2 Extreme, but AMD's close partners such as ASUS and Lenovo are already in the running.
