AMD Strix Halo: Ryzen AI Max+ 395 gets 96 GB of video memory

There are now concrete indications of what will happen above the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375. According to this, the Ryzen AI Max will follow based on the monster APU Strix Halo with an extremely powerful graphics unit. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is said to be at the top.

To the maximum!

“Things are getting really big above the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375,” was the headline a month ago. It was obvious that this referred to Strix Halo, AMD’s “monster APU,” which is supposed to outshine everything that has come before in terms of integrated GPU.

The tipster from a Chinese forum, already known for leaks, has now gone one step further and named three models: The entry-level model is the Ryzen AI Max 385 with 8 CPU cores and an iGPU with 32 CUs. In addition, there is the Ryzen AI Max 390 with 12 cores and 40 CUs. The flagship model is the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with 16 cores and 40 CUs. It is no coincidence that the new name “Max” is reminiscent of Apple’s M-series processors.

The key data for AMD Strix Halo, the first APU with a chiplet design, had been leaked long in advance. It is said to have a total of 16 full Zen 5 cores (8 per CCD) and the most powerful integrated graphics unit of all time. A full 20 WGP in the RDNA 3.5 design means 40 CUs, which would be more than a dedicated Radeon RX 7600 XT and corresponds to two thirds of the capacity of the PlayStation 5 Pro. In addition, there is up to 128 GB of fast LPDDR5X memory and a 32 MB MALL cache, which presumably works in a similar way to the previous Infinity Cache.

Months ago, numerous benchmarks were published showing that Strix Halo can beat a GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU. But whether that is really the case remains to be seen.

Strix Halo with effective 96 GB video memory?

As the latest report goes on to say, the Strix Halo should be able to use up to 96 GB of RAM as video memory. This would make them suitable for memory-hungry workstation applications and also allow them to hold large LLMs. The APUs should also have an NPU with 60 TOPS. However, the LPDDR5X is considerably slower than dedicated VRAM such as GDDR6.