HardwareProcessorsWe’ve got our hands on AMD Strix Point and Granite Ridge, and they’re both so prettyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareProcessorsWe’ve got our hands on AMD Strix Point and Granite Ridge, and they’re both so prettyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Image1of3(Image credit: AMD)(Image credit: AMD)(Image credit: AMD)
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(Image credit: AMD)
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(Image credit: AMD)
Dave, Jacob, and Andy are all busy in Taiwan at the moment, checking out all of the latest PC hardware and peripherals on display atComputex 2024. One of the biggest events so far has been AMD’s Zen 5 architecture launch, powering the newRyzen 9000andRyzen AI 300series of desktop and mobile processors.
As you can see in the images above, the Ryzen 9 9950X sample (though it could be a 12-core Ryzen 9 9900) looks very much like aRyzen 9 7950X, but that doesn’t really matter. It’s incredible to think that each CCD comprises billions of transistors, made on TSMC’s N4 process node, which form 8 processing cores and 32MB of L3 cache.
The larger IOD lets the two CCDs communicate with each other but it also hooks them up to the RAM in the motherboard, as well as the main NVMe SSD, graphics card, and some USB ports. It also sports a little integrated GPU to handle basic graphics duties.
It’s a bit of a shame that you can’t quite see inside the chiplets but you could use your imagination or better still, just take a gander at the Strix Point sample we were given.
That’s the codename for the new Ryzen AI 300 series of chips with up to 12 cores, 24 threads, and an integrated GPU with 16 compute units (CUs). Better known as APUs, as AMD calls them, you find these insidegaming laptops, a few SFF prebuilt PCs, andhandheld gaming PCs.
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Now you reallycansee inside this particular chip—the large block on the left-hand side is the CPU cores, the GPU is roughly in the centre, and the NPU (an AI accelerator) is at the bottom-right of the die. In the second image above, the chip has been rotated, so the positions of each block are reversed.
APUs that are targeted at gaming, such as the Z1 Extreme in the newROG Ally Xor the semi-custom chips that power thePlayStation 5andXbox Series X/S, dedicate most of the chip’s area to the GPU. With Strix Point, the CPU side of things is notably larger than the graphics part, though to be fair, it is only a 16 CU processor.
But if you want somethingbigthen how about a CPU designed for AI servers and data centers? AMD also announced a new EPYC series, codenamed Turin and it’s packing up to 13 chiplets. Which just looks ludicrous when you see one in the flesh, so to speak.
Depending on which Zen 5 EPYC model this is, you’re potentially looking at 192 cores—all packed into a single processor. That’s one seriously sweet CPU. Shame it’s rubbish for gaming and costs more than an entire gaming PC, but who really cares when it has that many cores?
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If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage
If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 off
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AMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage
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LatestThe Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilSee more latest►
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If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 off
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