Discussion AMD SoC Halo series GPU discussion

[adroc_thurston]

And if AMD actually intended these for sale primarily to gamers the first SKU out in the wild wouldn't be a 13-inch tablet and business laptops with MBP-rivaling prices.

yeah it would dingus, it's a new (well, long abandoned) swimlane of extended graphics configs.
The last time anything Intel GT3e shipped was Coffee Lake-U all the way back in what, 2018?

 

[jpiniero]

If your only concern is gaming performance, you are not the target market for this chip.

Correct. But the market for over $1000 Windows laptops is tiny enough as it is. Gaming Laptops is probably most of that.

That's always been the issue with Mega IGP laptop chips. If it wasn't for AI Hype, OEMs probably wouldn't be interested in Strix Halo no matter the usefulness.

 

[adroc_thurston]

But the market for over $1000 Windows laptops is tiny enough as it is

not really, no.

Gaming Laptops is probably most of that.

Kinda.

OEMs probably wouldn't be interested in Strix Halo no matter the usefulness.

wrong.
they wanna Mx Pro compete.

 

[poke01]

M3 was already on N3B versus STX Halo is on N4P.

Yes, I know that. I was stating the all core clock increase between M4 Pro and M3 Pro which is around 9%.

 

[marees]

The CPU gets a clear win even in low TDP (cyberpunk) but the GPU starts coming into its own only starting from 20+ watts TDP

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891901179350679773

 

[ToTTenTranz]

In terms of raw gaming performance, I just don't see the appeal of strix halo over a traditional gaming laptop.

On a thin 13" model with Halo you can fit a much larger battery and the VRAM limit is now lifted because Halo uses the whole system RAM.

Good luck playing games on a 8GB dGPU in 2025 forward even at 1080p, which is what you get on the 4070M and will most probably get on the Blackwell equivalent.

The lower power draw and better battery life is definitely a plus. I won't argue there. But most people aren't going to tinker with power limits.

They don't need to. Silent mode sets it to 30-35W total system power.

It makes sense from a performance per watt standpoint. Makes zero sense from an economic sense.

What you are missing is that Strix Halo will only be used on very expensive devices.

I'm a lot more likely to spend 1800€ on a handheld with a Strix Halo than 900€ on a RX 9070XT.

I don't have better options for the former, but I do for the latter. And there's a good chance I would use the handheld a lot more.

 

[poke01]

[
This is a better comparison for creative tasks as it’s 50watts.
It’s close, against the M4 Pro. Really what saved Apple was that extra increase in P cores from 6 P cores on the M3 Pro to 10.

If the M4 Pro stayed at 6 P cores then Strix Halo would have destroyed the M4 Pro in CPU nT related tasks. But Apple did well with 10 P cores despite the core/thread advantage that AMD has and N3E helped Apple too.

Also looking at this I don’t see how M4 will be able to compete in 2026. Thinking M4 is enough to compete with Medusa Halo is crazy talk.

What’s more interesting is the GPU side of things. But I’ll do that later but AMD has no competition here.

 

[gdansk]

Also looking at this I don’t see how M4 will be able to compete in 2026. Thinking M4 is enough to compete with Medusa Halo is crazy talk.

It'll still be competitive. Those are all highly parallel workloads. Zen 6 won't even catch up to M4 in SPECint 1T.

So if you want a blender laptop, sure. But there's Range which will do that even better. But as a mixed used development machine M4 Pro/Max will be on par with Medusa Point/Halo at least two years earlier.

 

[GTracing]

On a thin 13" model with Halo you can fit a much larger battery and the VRAM limit is now lifted because Halo uses the whole system RAM.

Good luck playing games on a 8GB dGPU in 2025 forward even at 1080p, which is what you get on the 4070M and will most probably get on the Blackwell equivalent.

I posted this earlier in the thread, but Strix Halo's iGPU isn't powerful enough to play new AAA games without turning down settings anyways. A 5070 mobile is going to give a better experience even in VRAM limited games like Indiana Jones.

 

[adroc_thurston]

A 5080 mobile is going to give a better experience even in VRAM limited games like Indiana Jones.

That's a lot more watts and money.
Worthless.

 

[GTracing]

That's a lot more watts and money.
Worthless.

Sorry, I meant 5070 mobile, corrected.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Frankly they can SKU an 8+40 or 8+36 config for more paletable price points.

Crazy thought:
Could AMD match a 12-core Zen5c CCD from Turin Dense with the Halo IOD?

Those should behave a bit better on lower package power limits.

This will take up to 70 class GPUs laptops when the prices come down in the coming years.

And there's always that pesky 8GB limit on the 4070m, probably on the 5070m as well.

For recent games, any Halo with 32GB LP5X is going to largely outclass the 4070m in 0.1% and 1% frametimes (i.e. stuttering).

Cut-down Strix Halo with one CCD (I presume MAX 385 and under) is not actually a 4070m competitor though if these benchmarks are anything to go by.

Cutting down a CCD would probably bring zero difference in gaming performance. If anything, it would probably increase performance because more watts would be available for the iGPU.

 

[gdansk]

Could AMD match a 12-core Zen5c CCD from Turin Dense with the Halo IOD?

No, different link.

 

[adroc_thurston]

Could AMD match a 12-core Zen5c CCD from Turin Dense with the Halo IOD?

Nope, these have IFOPs.

Sorry, I meant 5070 mobile, corrected.

that one sucks.
Sucks a fat one. more on that later.

 

[insertcarehere]

I'm a lot more likely to spend 1800€ on a handheld with a Strix Halo than 900€ on a RX 9070XT.

I don't have better options for the former, but I do for the latter. And there's a good chance I would use the handheld a lot more.

And a vast, vast majority of the people would look at the pricing, then go buy the Switch 2/Steam Deck instead and keep the change. The super high end gaming handheld market does not have enough volume to tap on.

Cutting down a CCD would probably bring zero difference in gaming performance. If anything, it would probably increase performance because more watts would be available for the iGPU.

In the theoretical dreamscape that such a cut down SKU would preserve the whole iGPU, maybe. In the whole history of AMD APU releases we have never seen such a SKU offered. Every single binned variant with cut down CPU also came with cut down GPU configs, expecting anything different for Strix Halo is fantasy.

 

[poke01]

And we see NVs limiting VRAM come into play for AI models that are too big for rubbish 8GB vram on the 4070/5070 laptop

 

[adroc_thurston]

Every single binned variant with cut down CPU also came with cut down GPU configs, expecting anything different for Strix Halo is fantasy.

Well it's not binned, you just yoink the other CCD.
is 9800X3D binned?

Zen 6 won't even catch up to M4 in SPECint 1T.

this cope again?

 

[poke01]

Here’s the full video:

Good review

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Nope, these have IFOPs.

I posted this earlier in the thread, but Strix Halo's iGPU isn't powerful enough to play new AAA games without turning down settings anyways.

Not true.

A 5070 mobile is going to give a better experience even in VRAM limited games like Indiana Jones.

If the 5070 mobile performs close to the 4070 mobile (which seems like a possibility due to SM performance regression), that's also not true.




BTW here's how the 1% performance looks like on the 4070m desktop equivalent (4060 Ti 8GB) running Indiana Jones, at the same 1080p Ultra settings:

 

[adroc_thurston]

Frankly they can SKU an 8+40 or 8+36 config for more paletable price points.

and put it under the Ryzen Z2 Ultra branding.
i'm a genius. hire me AMD-sempai.

 

[jpiniero]

not really, no.

Go look on Amazon and see what consumers actually buy. You'll see what I mean.

Strix Halo was absoultely designed for gaming first... and got repurposed for AI because of the hype.

they wanna Mx Pro compete.

People buy Macs to get away from Windows because Windows is so crappy now.

 

[adroc_thurston]

Go look on Amazon and see what consumers actually buy. You'll see what I mean.

what.

Strix Halo was absoultely designed for gaming first... and got repurposed for AI because of the hype.

Nope.

People buy Macs to get away from Windows because Windows is so crappy now.

People buy macs because they're macs.

 

[gdansk]

this cope again?

Who is coping? AMD being two years behind is a new record. They were on par with Zen 3 to M1 despite the process disadvantage.

Strix Halo, as the future, shows not to expect much.

 

[adroc_thurston]

They were on par with Zen 3 to M1.

Not really, no. There's that one subtest.

Strix Halo, as the future, shows not to expect much.

new core + N2p hello hello

 

[poke01]

People buy Macs to get away from Windows because Windows is so crappy now.

Windows is good for gaming and windows only apps. I mean I use both.

I couldn’t do my day job without windows and for most it’s like that.