Microsoft’s Copilot+ initiative for super-powerful AI PCs is becoming a reality at Computex 2024. Today, AMD announced its next major chip platforms, Ryzen AI 300 for notebooks and Ryzen 9000 for desktops, which respectively target more powerful laptop AI performance and fast gaming on desktops. Notably, the Ryzen AI 300 chips feature a revamped neural processing unit (NPU) with 50 TOPS (tera operations per second) of AI performance, more than three times that of AMD’s previous laptop hardware. The new desktop processors, meanwhile, are reportedly 16 percent faster than their predecessors when it comes to overall performance.
The key takeaway from these announcements is that Qualcomm is no longer the only company boasting fast AI hardware for Copilot+ PCs. That initiative, which Microsoft unveiled a few weeks ago, sets a new basic specification standard for AI PCs. Copilot+ PCs require an NPU with at least 40 TOPS of AI performance, 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSDs to qualify as Copilot+ notebooks. Microsoft has also tied long battery life to the initiative, but it’s unclear whether the Ryzen AI 300 chips will be able to achieve the reported 20-plus hours of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon processors. (We also expect Intel to respond later today at Computex with more details about its Lunar Lake Copilot+ chips.)
So far, AMD’s new laptop chips include two models: the 12-core Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the 10-core AI 9 365. As usual, we expect the company to replenish its lineup with mid-range and lower-end offerings in the coming year. Both Ryzen AI 9 chips reach a maximum boost speed of at least 5GHz, and they also feature built-in RDNA 3.5 Radeon 890M and 880M graphics. According to AMD’s benchmarks, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is 98 percent faster than Apple’s M3 chip in Blender, and 73 percent faster than Intel’s Core Ultra 185H. (It’s worth noting that the company tested its hardware with 32 GB of RAM against Apple and Intel systems with 16 GB of RAM, according to the testing footnotes.)
Both the Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen 9000 chips are powered by AMD’s Zen 5 architecture, which is a “major update” for the company, Senior Processor Technical Marketing Manager Donny Woligrosky said in a media briefing. He claims it offers better branch prediction (which helps with accuracy and latency), higher overall throughput, and up to two times better instruction bandwidth. For regular users, this means you can expect Zen 5 systems to feel a bit more responsive and better prepared to handle large data loads.
While AMD’s new AI chips are the star of the show, the company isn’t leaving desktop users behind. The new Ryzen 9000 chips shine with the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X, which comes close to the 6GHz dream with boost speeds of 5.7 GHz. It’s a power-hungry beast, though, requiring 170 watts, so more reasonable hardware nerds might want to opt for the Ryzen 9 9900X (120W TDP) or the eight-core Ryzen 7 9700X (65W). These new chips don’t include NPUs like the Ryzen 8000G, but for now, gamers and demanding PC users can make do with the raw computing power of desktop CPUs and powerful GPUs. (NVIDIA is also trying to power some AI functions with its RTX GPUs, avoiding the need for a standalone NPU.)
In addition to these new desktop chips, AMD is also unveiling the X870E and X870 AM5 chipsets. They include the next-generation PC features you’d expect, including PCIe 5, USB4, WiFi 7 and DDR5. For its older AM4 hardware, AMD also unveiled the 16-core Ryzen 9 5900XT and the eight-core Ryzen 7 5800XT, both of which can reach speeds of 4.8 GHz.
We’re still waiting on pricing details for AMD’s new hardware, but the company says we can expect Ryzen AI 300 systems and Ryzen 9000 chips in July. Those new laptops include the ASUS ZenBook S 16 and Zephyrus G16, as well as the MSI Stealth A16 AI+.