Reviews for the AMD RDNA 3.5 Radeon 8060S iGPU are showing impressive performance, surpassing mid-range discreet graphics offerings. AMD’s Strix Halo APUs, aka Ryzen AI Max Series, are poised to take on team Green, and Blue while still trading blows with Apple. With up to 16 Zen 5 cores, and 128 GB system memory (up to 96 GB can be dedicated as VRAM), these new processors look to be a one-size-fits-all solution for gaming, content creation, general productivity, and AI development. At the top of the Strix Halo product stack is the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 which is at center stage for reviews showing its AMD RDNA 3.5 Radeon 8060S iGPU outperforming many competitors.
Ryzen AI Max 395+ Specifications (via AMD product page):
- Package Die Count: 3
- Architecture: 16x Zen 5
- CPU Cores/Threads: 16/32
- Base/Boost Clock: 3 GHz/Up to 5.1 GHz
- L2/L3 Cache: 16 MB/64 MB
- AMD Configurable TDP: 45-120W
- Manufacturing Process for CPU Cores + I/O Die: TSMC 4nm FinFet
- NPU Specifications: Up to 126 TOPS (Overall), up to 50 TOPS (NPU)
- Graphics: Radeon 8060S
- GPU Clock: 2900 MHz
- Compute Units: 40
- DirectX: 12
- Display Connectivity Support: DP 2.1, HDMI 2.1
- DisplayPort Max Refresh Rates (SDR): 7680×4320 @ 60Hz , 3840×2160 @ 240Hz , 3440×1440 @ 360Hz , 2560×1440 @ 480Hz , 1920×1080 @ 600Hz
- DisplayPort Max Refresh Rates (HDR): 7680×4320 @ 60Hz , 3840×2160 @ 240Hz , 3440×1440 @ 360Hz , 2560×1440 @ 480Hz , 1920×1080 @ 600Hz
- Max Video Encode Bandwidth (SDR): 1080p630 8bpc H.264, 1440p373 8bpc H.264, 2160p175 8bpc H.264, 1080p630 8bpc H.265, 1440p373 8bpc H.265, 2160p175 8bpc H.265, 4320p43 8bpc H.265, 1080p864 8/10bpc AV1, 1440p513 8/10bpc AV1, 2160p240 8/10bpc AV1, 4320p60 8/10bpc AV1
- Max Video Decode Bandwidth: 1080p60 8bpc MPEG2, 1080p60 8bpc VC1, 1080p786 8/10bpc VP9, 2160p196 8/10bpc VP9, 4320p49 8/10bpc VP9, 1080p1200 8bpc H.264, 2160p300 8bpc H.264, 4320p75 8bpc H.264, 1080p786 8/10bpc H.265, 2160p196 8/10bpc H.265, 4320p49 8/10bpc H.265, 1080p960 8/10bpc
- AMD Enhanced Virus Protection (NX bit): Yes
Testing:
The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 package is 441mm² and includes a CPU, GPU, and NPU. The two Zen 5 CCDs and RDNA 3.5 Radeon 8060S iGPU sit atop an I/O die that (per Tom’s Hardware) can support 3D V-Cache. The NPU occupies a portion of the iGPU. Notebookcheck has thoroughly tested the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and RDNA 3.5 Radeon 8060S iGPU in Timespy where it completely dominated older iGPUs such as the Radeon 890M and Arc 140 V, led many of the GPUs in the discreet pack, and surpassed various Apple M3/M4 offerings but still unsurprisingly fell very short of the M4 Max. Testing also showed that users could expect to play Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 in 1080p with max settings. QHD is still just a bit out of reach for GPU-intensive games but games with lighter workloads do well.
Discussion (10 replies)
Join Discussion →Runs 1080p low/medium on battery/silent mode (35w-45w)
A single CPU core can max out at 20+watts.
There are 16 such cores
Then 40 CU GPU
It appears that this APU can consume upto 450w if you have a way to feed it & cool it
At the same time it can scale down to 15w & go toe-to-toe with strix point in handhelds
Starting from 20+watts it pulls ahead of other APUs
10w-20w doesn't scale well properly tho in current design
This APU paired with 128gb RAM would be very much useful for AI workloads
I'm just waiting.. we are not far from AMD going the full SOC route. Especially for things like handhelds and laptops.
Once they have a solid SOC then their devices can get thinner, lighter, and faster. Throw in some enhanced cooling and we can have some AMD devices similar to a mac mini that trade blows with the current apple CPU, AND can be a gaming console as well.
But... investors are going to make sure that AMD pillages TF out of it's customer base and ends up ruining a great comeback story by becoming the evil they defeated.
Finally! We just need this out of a laptop and into a mini / small pc!
When I looked up the product page it did list this APU as mobile/desktop and I too instantly thought how cool it would be to have in some kind of desktop.
Your dream handheld is here (probably costs 10x as much as a steam deck LCD on sale)
More powerful than the base PS5, i reckon. Also you might get some form of FSR 4 support in future
optimal operating range is 25watts to 55watts for the strix halo.
Within this range you get linear scaling of performance with power.
At 55w you should be able to get 2 hours of gaming on the bundled battery
Only question what is the max practical resolution for a 9" OLED screen. Is this resolution too much for this screen ?
Ayaneo Next II — 9" 2400×1504 60/90/120/144/165 Hz display, 85w strix halo apu & 115Wh battery
[embedded media]
The Ayaneo Next II is a hulking gaming handheld with a 9-inch display
We should expect an equally hefty price tag to go along with the premium handheld.
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the...handheld-with-a-9-inch-display-175018940.html
https://www.ayaneo.com/article/905
Ayaneo equipped the Next II with Hall effect joysticks and triggers to prevent deadzones and stick drift.
Borrowing from its previous high-end handheld called the Ayaneo Kun, the Next II also features dual smart touchpads that can be customized with gesture controls and key mapping.
The back of the handheld is home to four extra buttons, but you can also set specific controls for four other customizable buttons.
I've never been into the hand held gaming thing. Brought my wife's OLED Nintendo switch with me on a business trip. Played it a few hours... over all it was nice to have but I wouldn't want it as a primary device.
Stuff like this tries to be all things... that isn't for me yet. At least not in that form factor.
Not sure why Valve didn't go in the Switch direction, they'd make something like the Aya Next (Deck 2) with a dock for TVs instead of the GabeCube.
Cost on Strix Halo must be through the roof I guess.
I've actually wondered the same thing. I guess one perspective is they're really trying to offer a cheaper handheld compared to the whole kit n kaboodle of the switch or premium like the claw, rog, or ayneo's and then let the gabecube be the home upgrade.
Personally, I'd prefer a Halo Strix top of the line w/ dock that would basically do it all, but they probably can't do that at a low price point for families to see it as a real option.
They aren't making product to rule the hardware market. They are making product to prove a market and have more people buying steam games and paying them their 30% per title.
This sums up my experience with Steam Deck - it's nice to have when the wife ropes me into watching dumb TV shows, but yeah, really glad it isn't my primary device. It's mostly nice because it's purpose built - what it does, it does very well, and it doesn't pretend to be a 4K gaming machine or anything. It purrs right along at 1280x800, and if that doesn't work for you... then too bad.