AMD’s incoming flagship laptop CPUs could be called Ryzen AI Max, and might be astonishingly fast – we’re just worried about the price

Strix Point Halo processors now have a name – Ryzen AI Max – and more promises they’ll be extremely powerful

· TechRadar

News By Darren Allan published 20 September 2024

Image Credit: AMD

A leak on AMD’s incoming Strix Point Halo chips shows the configurations and apparently official names for these powerful CPUs for driving gaming laptops (and maybe handhelds) – but less welcome is a fresh hint that these processors might be eye-wateringly expensive.

If you’ve missed the fuss around Strix Point Halo (often referred to as simply Strix Halo), these are the top-end Strix Point offerings, and with vanilla Strix Point chips being called Ryzen AI 300, the Strix Halo CPUs are reportedly going to be named Ryzen AI Max 300.

VideoCardz picked up on the rumor that comes from Golden Pig Upgrade, a well-known leaker on Weibo who furnishes us with the initial three processors that AMD will release in this range, and their key specs.

They are as follows:

  • Ryzen AI Max+ 395 – 16-cores (Zen 5) + 40 Compute Units (RDNA 3.5 graphics)
  • Ryzen AI Max 390 – 12-cores + 40 Compute Units
  • Ryzen AI Max 385 – 8-cores + 32 Compute Units

Of course, we need to be skeptical here – as with any chatter from the grapevine – but the specs align with what we’ve heard before, and the naming makes sense to us. ‘Max’ seems like a fitting label to adorn these CPUs with (giving us a hint of Apple-esque vibes, it must be said).

The leaker also observes support for up to 96GB of video memory with Strix Halo, indicating that AMD is going to target professional users and the notebook workstation market with the chip, not just gaming laptops.

Here’s where there’s a slight worrying twist in that VideoCardz also noticed a post on X (from Hoang Anh Phu) highlighting that GPD, a manufacturer of gaming laptops and handhelds, recently dialed back a notebook from being equipped with a Strix Point CPU (HX 370) to an older Hawk Point processor (Ryzen 7 8840U).

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