AMD's unveiling of the new Ryzen 9 9950HX3D for desktop computers undoubtedly has a bunch of gamers and creators salivating, but there's also some huge mobile CPU news coming out of CES 2025.
While it would usually be the reveal of an updated "Fire Range" Ryzen 9 9955HX3D mobile CPU with 3D V-Cache hogging all of my attention, some of AMD's bold claims surrounding a completely new set of chips have me very interested.
Is the Ryzen AI Max+ actually faster than an NVIDIA RTX 4090?
AMD's Ryzen AI 300 mobile processors made their debut in June 2024 with an initial run of Ryzen 9 chips. I cover the new Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 300 CPUs also announced at CES below, but it's the new Ryzen AI Max hogging all of the attention.
The new "Halo" series of mobile CPUs made for Copilot+ PCs brings up to 16 "Zen 5" cores, up to 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units (making it the most powerful integrated GPU within the Windows ecosystem), and an XDNA 2 Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with up to 50 TOPS of power for local AI acceleration. A redesigned memory interface allows for up to 96GB of system memory to be used on the integrated GPU, with a 256GB/s bandwidth.
This dedicated memory architecture massively boosts the potential to run huge AI workloads, and, in some cases, AMD says the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 flagship chip can outperform the mighty NVIDIA RTX 4090 desktop GPU. It's an understatement to say that's a bold claim, and indeed, the test was performed within some narrow confines.
AMD tested the two pieces of hardware using a 70-billion parameter LLM (in this case, Llama 3.1). With the Radeon 8060S integrated GPU using a full 96GB allowance of RAM from the test system's 128GB total, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 bested the RTX 4090 by 2.2x in AI performance, all while drawing up to 87% less power.
NVIDIA's RTX 4090 is the most powerful consumer GPU in the world — at least until the RTX 5000 series is unveiled — so that's not a small achievement on AMD's part. It's a small slice of the whole pie, but it's clear that AMD is serious about creating chips that are ideal for AI workloads.
Elsewhere, AMD says its Ryzen AI Max+ 395 can outperform the Core Ultra 9 288V by an average of 2.6x for 3D rendering, and its iGPU performance is on average 1.4x faster compared to the same Intel CPU. Even the 12- and 14-core Apple M4 Pro chips fall behind, with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 coming out ahead in Cinebench, Blender, Corona, and Vray.
The new Ryzen AI Max+ and AI Max mobile CPUs are expected to launch in the first half of 2025, and you'll be able to find them in a wide range of laptops, including workstations, mini PCs, and compact 2-in-1s.
AMD expands its more affordable Ryzen AI 300 mobile chips
The Ryzen AI Max chips come in well above the current Ryzen AI 9 300 CPUs in terms of power and price, but AMD also has four new chips on the way intended for more affordable PCs.
The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 and AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 are expected to launch in Q1 2025, while their PRO-series counterparts are expected in Q2 2025. AMD highlights some serious performance improvements compared to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) and Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V. The Ryzen AI 7 350 hits a 35% average increase in multithreaded tests compared to the X Plus, and a 30% average increase compared to Intel.
In terms of AI PC work, the NPU inside these chips beats the NPU in the aforementioned Qualcomm and Intel CPUs in Procyon AI benchmarks. That's good news for any fans of Copilot+ AI tools in Windows 11.
AMD's 3D V-Cache makes it return to mobile CPUs
I'm a true believer in AMD's 3D V-Cache technology, and the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in my personal gaming PC isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If you're more of a fan of gaming laptops, you don't have to miss out on the fun.
3D V-Cache allows AMD to stack more cache on the CPU die, resulting in considerable improvements specifically for gaming. While X3D tech isn't new to the mobile space — Windows Central's Zachary Boddy reviewed the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 X3D with a 7000-series X3D mobile CPU — it has made its return in the form of a "Fire Range" Ryzen 9 9955HX3D.
AMD says it's "the world's best gaming and content creation mobile processor," coming at you with 16 cores, 32 threads, a 144MB cache (the same size as the desktop-class Ryzen 9 9950X3D), and a 54W TDP.
The Ryzen 9 9955HX3D is joined by a couple of CPUs without the 3D V-Cache, making them better suited to a life of creation without as much gaming. The Ryzen 9 9955HX has the same core/thread count and TDP, but it drops the cache to 80MB. There's also the Ryzen 9 9850HX with 12 cores, 24 threads, a 54W TDP, and a 76MB cache.
All three CPUs are expected to launch in the first half of 2025.
