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AMD Zen 5 CPU leak suggests a new era for gaming laptops

New mobile AMD CPUs have leaked, showing core counts and RDNA 3.5 graphics, plus AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics cards expected at Computex.

AMD Zen 5 leak

A couple of AMD CPU and AMD GPU leaks have revealed the company’s plans for its future Zen 5 mobile APUs and suggested we’ll see the mid-range AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card arrive at the Computex trade show in Taipei next month.

The first leak, via Moore’s Law is dead (MLID) provides a host of details on the company’s upcoming mobile chips, which are set to launch next year and follow the imminent launch of the AMD Zen 4-based Phoenix APUs – expected to be used in the new Asus ROG Ally mobile games console.

The new chips have codenames of Hawk Point, Strix Point, Strix Halo and Fire Range and they are set to arrive in Q1 2024, Q2-Q3 2024, 2H 2024, and 2H 2024, respectively.

Hawk Point is expected to be a slight update to the Phoenix APU, and include up to eight Zen 4 cores with a 12 compute unit (CU) GPU based on updated RDNA 3.5 architecture and a TDP rating of 15-45W. Strix Point is a more powerful chip based on the company’s new Zen 5 CPU architecture and will include up to 12 cores as well as use the new RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture. It’s rated for between 15-45W.

AMD Zen 5 leak

Image source: MLID

Next up is the Strix Halo which is said to be lined up to take on the Apple M-series of chips. It sports up to 16 cores, with up to a 40 CU GPU and a power rating of 20-120W. The graphics on this chip are expected to rival the RTX 4070 Max-Q for frame rate performance, while 32, 24, and 20 CU configurations are expected to compete with RTX 4060, 4050, and 3050 GPUs respectively.

AMD Zen 5 leak

Image source: MLID

Finally, there’s Fire Range, which is essentially a desktop-replacement laptop processor. It includes up to 16 cores but they’re desktop-class cores, not mobile-oriented ones like on the other chips. This AMD APU also includes older RDNA 2 graphics, highlighting how it would be expected to be paired with a discrete mobile graphics card and only be required for light desktop work, not gaming.

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We’ve a while to wait for these APUs to arrive – and it may take even longer than the above dates for laptops using these products to appear – but if these performance suggestions hold up, we could be in line for some impressively powerful AMD gaming laptops.

As for AMD Radeon RX 7600 rumors, Igor’sLAB reports that add-in board partners (AIBs) – those that make the cards using the GPUs provided by AMD or Nvidia – will be showing off AMD RX 7600 graphics cards at the Computex trade show in Taipei at the end of next month. The show starts on May 30th 2023 and is often a venue chosen for launching major CPU and GPU updates.

A mid-range card like the AMD Radeon RX 7600 would be highly anticipated as although graphics card prices have fallen in recent months, the latest architectures from AMD and Nvidia are still only available at the high-end, with the $600 recent Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 being the most affordable yet.

If such a launch does occur, it would likely coincide with Nvidia releasing the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, with the two companies keen to ensure they have rival products available at the same time.

Would you be in the market for a mid-range, sub-$500 graphics card, or do you need a more powerful GPU at the heart of your PC build? Let us know your thoughts on the Custom PC Facebook or Twitter pages, or join the discussion on our 350,000+ member Custom PC and Gaming Setup Facebook group. Meanwhile, you can find our current top graphics card picks in our best graphics card list.