AMD has a lot of people fantasising about its next APU, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, announced as the pinnacle of a range dubbed ‘Strix Halo’. There’s a lot of anticipation surrounding this reference, and the recent leaks only add fuel to the fire. We were able to discover bluffing performances, both on the CPU and GPU side. According to the data reported, the processor is capable of exceeding 19,000 points in multi-core on Geekbench. This adds to previous leaks, notably under 3DMark Time Spy, where the graphics part of this future APU is said to rival entry-level dedicated graphics cards. Just a few months ago, some rumours, more in the realm of fantasy, suggested graphics power close to that of a mobile RTX 4070… We’re heading for a more modest level, above a mobile RTX 4060 all the same.
3 references in the Strix Halo range
The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 version would therefore be the top of a range of APUs with 3 (or maybe 4) versions:
| SKU | Core/Threads | iGPU | Core | NPU | |
| Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | Zen 5 | 16 / 32 | RDNA 3.5 | 40 | XDNA 2 |
| Ryzen AI Max+ 390 | Zen 5 | 12 / 24 | RDNA 3.5 | 40 | XDNA 2 |
| Ryzen AI Max+ 385 | Zen 5 | 8 / 16 | RDNA 3.5 | 32 | XDNA 2 |
It’s also important to note that the Strix Halo APUs are built exclusively on Zen 5 cores, thus avoiding the hybrid Zen 5/Zen 5c approach adopted for the Strix Point. Clearly a choice for performance… but one that will obviously be a handicap in terms of TDP and power consumption. Finally, while these leaks herald a positioning that has been promising for many months, some people are wondering whether the mention of ‘AI’ in the product name is purely marketing. After all, we’ve seen that many people are looking to capitalise on the artificial intelligence buzz. But in view of the initial scores and AMD’s communication, it would appear that real work is being done on AI optimisation. There is even talk of concrete applications for streaming, video encoding and real-time image processing.
An APU more at home in mini PCs?
All that remains now is to understand where AMD is going to push this APU. As we mentioned earlier, the choice of design to prioritise performance will result in an increase in TDP. This new APU will therefore make the machine in which it is housed run a little hotter. Partners who want to use this APU in mobile solutions will therefore have to work on cooling. Let’s hope that the thermal management is up to scratch, with an efficient design that will maintain acceptable temperatures for a mobile solution. The other alternative would be the arrival of mini PCs with a really high-performance graphics solution… It’s a route that is appealing to many people.
For the time being, according to all the information in circulation, the size of this APU would preclude its possible arrival on an AM5 socket. Its destiny will therefore be to be soldered onto a motherboard… for a laptop or similar.
