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A new leak regarding the next-gen AMD APU, Strix Halo, is doing the rounds again. The Steam Deck and ROG Ally's processors have significantly high performance, but according to the new leaks, they will pale in comparison to the next-gen APU. In fact, if the leak turns out to be accurate, this next-gen processor could be as powerful as the PS5.
This new AMD APU will come to next-gen laptops and handheld devices first and has the potential to change the portable gaming market forever. In this article, we analyze what the leak says and determine how powerful the next-gen APU could be.
NOTE: This article is based on leaks and is subject to change. The article solely reflects the writer's opinions on the leaks.
Next-gen AMD APU: AMD Strix Halo
AMD Strix Halo is the codename of the next-gen AMD APU based on the Zen 5 CPU and RDNA 3+ GPU architecture. However, the upcoming Strix Point APUs are also based on the same architecture. So what's the difference between the two AMD APU variants, and what makes Strix Halo processors better than Strix Point?
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Well, Strix Point processors are designed for general performance and have balanced specs. But the Strix Halo APUs are designed strictly for gaming performance, made evident by the presence of 40 compute units, which is more than what's inside the PS5.
This was mentioned in the previous leaks too, but the new ones bring in more information.
What does the leak suggest about the iGPU?
An X leaker, @Olrak29_, posted a render of what the new AMD APU could probably look like. However, the leaker is relatively unknown and doesn't have the same credibility as others like @TUM_APISAK or @momomo_us, so take it with a grain of salt.
According to the posted render, the larger die is dedicated to the iGPU based on the RDNA 3+ architecture.
It is probably an improved version of RDNA 3 architecture and has 20 Work Group Processors. Each Work Group Processor has a pair of compute units, so essentially, it has 40 compute units. The leaks didn't mention anything about the clock speed of the compute units, but there is new information about the memory system.
It is expected to have an LPDDR5X-based memory with a 256-bit wide memory bus. Integrated GPUs are heavily dependent on memory, so having a wider and faster bus helps tremendously. The LPDDR5X memory has a 32-bit wide bus per channel, so if the memory has a 256-bit wide bus, it must be on eight memory channels.
As of writing, the most powerful consumer AMD APU is the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G. It has a 128-bit memory bus on a dual-channel DDR5 memory system, which has 64-bit per channel. Essentially, the new Strix Halo processor will have double the memory bandwidth of the current AMD APU.
The memory bandwidth will be further accelerated by the presence of a 32MB Infinity Cache, which will be a first for a consumer AMD APU.
What does the leak suggest about the CPU and the interconnect?
Besides the large iGPU die, you will find two small CPU die in the render. According to the leak, they are based on Zen 5 LP architecture. AMD Zen 5 is the upcoming x86 CPU architecture and Zen 5 LP naming suggests it is a form of low-power Zen 5 cores, just like the full-fledged Zen 4 and lower-power Zen 4c cores.
The leaker, @Olrak29_, also mentioned that a next-gen Infinity Fabric interconnect will connect the two small CPU dies to the large GPU die. The current Infinity Fabric interconnect probably isn't enough for the new AMD APU that needs high-speed bandwidth.
A user by the name @BigECV6 asked if the interconnect in the Strix Halo is the same as the one in the future Zen 6 design. To this, @Olrak29_ mentioned that the new interconnect is debuting exclusively on the Strix Halo APUs first, before possibly coming to Zen 6.
The leaker also mentioned an XDNA 2-based NPU device, capable of delivering 40 TOPs of processing power. This NPU performance number can possibly be increased with the AI performance from the GPU.
How does the Strix Halo APU compare to the PS5?
Those who remember the PlayStation 5 specs would know that the console has 36 compute cores, while the upcoming Strix Halo APUs supposedly have 40 compute units. Thus, the PS5 has fewer compute units than the Strix Halo processor. But what does that mean? Will the new AMD APU be more powerful than the PS5? Not likely.
Compute units alone don't define how powerful the GPU is. The clock speeds and the memory system also play a significant role. So, while the Strix Halo probably won't be more powerful than the PS5, they could have a similar performance.
The leak suggests that the 256-bit wide memory bus, along with 32MB of Infinity Cache, could get it closer to the memory performance of the PS5 or even faster. Strix Halo APUs may end up delivering the full power of the PS5 in your next laptop or even a new handheld gaming device.
But Sony isn't sitting idle either. The company is gearing up to release the PS5 Pro, which should be significantly more powerful than the PS5. However, take all this information with a grain of salt, as there's no way of knowing just how accurate the leaks are until the products are released.
