Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)

[DisEnchantment]

Speculate at will

 

[LightningZ71]

Fire Range will likely have the highest ST available in mobile and will be the one with the dGPUs at the top end of the market. Strix Halo doesn't have the PCIe lanes for a dGPU with competitive available lanes left for storage, etc.

 

[Glo.]

A detail that is not hasardous :

"Our big Middle cores are better than their army of little cores" AMD's Ben Conrad chats about some of the design decisions behind Ryzen AI APUs and what makes Strix Halo tick

AMD announced several new Ryzen AI APUs across Strix Point, Kraken Point, Fire Range HX3D, and Strix Halo product lines at CES 2025. We sat down with AMD's Ben Conrad to discuss these APUs, what went into their design, and what they mean for AMD, OEM partners, and laptop buyers in 2025.

www.notebookcheck.net

Now we know why Nvidia wanted to buy ARM, and why they are designing their own SOC chips.

 

[yottabit]

Strix Halo doesn't support dGPUs.

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Oh! Well strangely I agree with this decision. It will keep OEMs from damaging the promise of what it is supposed to be

 

[MS_AT]

Strix Halo doesn't support dGPUs.

We still don't know if it will support dGPUs via USB4 (not sure why it should not but yeah), at least the fact that asus refreshed its mobile dgpu together with z13 suggests it might be possible, but its a guess work until we get a confirmation.

Use dGPU when plugged in. More flexibility.

So external dGPU will do just as fine

 

[igor_kavinski]

So external dGPU will do just as fine

Most people would prefer not to carry one around.

 

[GTracing]

Most people would prefer not to carry one around.

The image of someone lugging a laptop and an eGPU enclosure to a lan party gave me a chuckle, lol

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

The image of someone lugging a laptop and an eGPU enclosure to a lan party gave me a chuckle, lol

Memories of lugging a full tower desktop and a CRT to LAN parties intensify.

I think at some point I had two CRTs I would bring.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Memories of lugging a full tower desktop and a CRT to LAN parties intensify

Where's our LAN party hardware carrying servant bot??? It's 2025. Everyone was supposed to have one by now!

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Where's our LAN party hardware carrying servant bot??? It's 2025. Everyone was supposed to have one by now!

Back in the day we all had these:

 

[LightningZ71]

I'm just glad we moved away from CRTs. Lugging my 17" Sony Vivitron monitor around was a real PITA...

edit: Yes, I realize that the Vivitron was actually Gateway branded. My computer at the time was still living in it's original Gateway 2000 case as well. Inside, it was completely a Sony Trinitron 17 inch monitor weighing more than a toddler or mid sized dog...

 

[fastandfurious6]

I really hope more Strix Halo systems get announced soon. I’m personally hoping for a thicker Thinkpad or other system with a giant battery. I’m a bit disappointed that everything is a thin and light so far.

This is going to be huge

OLED HALO THINKPAD ~2kg 16-18inch will truly be king of laptops

#1 cpu 9950x in laptop ✅
#1 AI up to 128gb ✅
#top 'productivity/work' ✅
#all games 1080p ultra ✅
#best chassis ever ✅
#thinkpoint nipple ✅

instant buy at $2k

will also demolish any need for other so-called "workstation laptops" unless direct nvidia/cuda is needed

no idea what AMD mobile product team thought about 13 inch ULW being the right 'segment' for halo...
they're wrong

 

[igor_kavinski]

instant buy

It's only gonna cost about 2 to 3 monthly salaries for the average person...

 

[fastandfurious6]

realistically if they follow pricing history it must be around $2k for average model, MAX $3k

if 9955hx + 5060 laptops start from like $1.4k , similar perf, why would Halo start at $3k? hmmmm

 

[igor_kavinski]

if 9955hx + 5060 laptops start from like $1.4k

Sounds a bit too optimistic.

 

[fastandfurious6]

maybe a bit more if 1400 is some cut 12core

 

[adroc_thurston]

if 9955hx + 5060 laptops start from like $1.4k , similar perf, why would Halo start at $3k? hmmmm

Because one is a luggable with 30m of battery life and the other is something you can actually use?

 

[Abwx]

We still don't know if it will support dGPUs via USB4 (not sure why it should not but yeah), at least the fact that asus refreshed its mobile dgpu together with z13 suggests it might be possible, but its a guess work until we get a confirmation.

So external dGPU will do just as fine

Apparently it wont.

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[MS_AT]

Apparently it wont.

The way I read the question: "Will it be possible to use PCIe lanes to attach USB4 chipset", the way I see the answer "We are trying to handle everything off the chip (IOD) itself". After all Strix Point supports USB4 and afaik allows tunneling of PCIe. Why they would strip this functionality from Halo. I mean HP mini PC is advertising "USB4-C 40 Gb/s/TBT4". But in the end I guess we will find out, when it is out

 

[fastandfurious6]

Because one is a luggable with 30m of battery life and the other is something you can actually use?

9955hx easily 3+ hours if in the correct power saving modes

then gaming in 16'' laptop far from a wall socket is a very rare scenario to care at all lol

 

[adroc_thurston]

9955hx easily 3+ hours if in the correct power saving modes

wow that's useless.

then gaming in 16'' laptop far from a wall socket is a very rare scenario to care at all lol

Halo isn't made for gaming 16" laptops.
Built for a sleeker, nicer form-factors people would actually want.

 

[fastandfurious6]

nah mate x13 rogflow is a wrong choice for the target segment

those who know Halo will still buy it but it wont really reach out to the real target segment

it needs 14-16-18 inch thinkpads labeled as powerful workstations while more lightwieght

but lenovo is on intel camp for some reason... weird

 

[adroc_thurston]

nah mate x13 rogflow is a wrong choice for the target segment

there are other devices.

it needs 14-16-18 inch thinkpads labeled as powerful workstations while more lightwieght

The new Zbook is 14" with a lot of panel options. Just that it'll cost you.

 

[Abwx]

The way I read the question: "Will it be possible to use PCIe lanes to attach USB4 chipset", the way I see the answer "We are trying to handle everything off the chip (IOD) itself". After all Strix Point supports USB4 and afaik allows tunneling of PCIe. Why they would strip this functionality from Halo. I mean HP mini PC is advertising "USB4-C 40 Gb/s/TBT4". But in the end I guess we will find out, when it is out

As i understand their vision they want to make some sort of closed system like Apple, at least on the hardware side of things.

but lenovo is on intel camp for some reason... weird

Lenovo and HP are the bigger buyers of AMD APUs, you are surely confusing with Dell wich is essentialy some kind of Intel s manufacturing subcontractor.

On another note the Intel + Nvidia laptop used as comparison by AMD for Strix Halo has a 80W GPU, 65W + 15W boost, and it show at NBC review with the GPU only Furmark test getting the whole laptop at 115W sustained, wich is indicative of a 80W GPU.

 

[Joe NYC]

Subramony's statement is not entirely conclusive whether the same or a different chip is used. But if the Strix Halo CCDs are a different line of chips, where do the bins go which don't make it for Strix Halo? (Are its chip design and manufacturing shared with Turin?)

That was how I understood it too. So perhaps a dual interface on the CCD that could either be placed on RDL, bypassing SerDes or can get the microbumps to be placed directly on the organic substrate and use SerDes.

 

[fastandfurious6]

Anyone here with views in Chinese market to know when Mechrevo 9955hx laptops become available?

They seem to be the best set of features by far and ironicaly the cheapest as well

China numba wan!