Huge AMD Strix Point leak gives Snapdragon X Elite CPU something to worry about – and Apple’s M4, too
There’s been a mammoth leak of AMD’s incoming CPUs that covers the Strix Point and Strix Point Halo APUs, processors with integrated graphics that are an all-in-one solution saving you the cost of buying a separate GPU.
Arm yourself with your favored complement of cautionary items applied around rumors – your hat of wariness and staff of skepticism, perhaps – as this one comes from a post on X (formerly Twitter) that has since been deleted. Hong Kong-based tech site HKEPC captured all the details before the post was removed, though (as flagged by VideoCardz).
Credits and cautions out of the way, this is supposedly an official document, and it is huge. We’re talking 144 pages apparently, showing what we can expect from both Strix Point APUs, and the top-end Strix Point Halo chips that will follow them. Much of it underlines previous rumors, but there’s some interesting new info here too.
The leaked material indicates that these with be Zen 5-based chips with RDNA 3.5 (aka RDNA 3+) refreshed graphics, and next-gen XDNA 2 for the NPU. (Yes, these chips are actually 3-in-1s, as it were, that come with a CPU, GPU, and also an NPU now that we’re in the age of the AI PC).
Strix Halo APUs will be available in up to 16-core (32-thread) configurations, featuring 40 CUs for its integrated RDNA 3.5 graphics, and 32MB of MALL cache for that integrated GPU. As speculation previously suggested, the 16-core flagship will actually be a pair of chiplets (2 x 8-cores).
For AI performance, we can expect the NPU of the Halo range to reach 60 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), which is seriously beefy.
With Strix Point vanilla, we’re supposedly getting up to 12-core (24-thread) APUs armed with a GPU featuring 16 CUs and AI processing chops to the tune of 50 TOPS.
Analysis: TOPS trumps
Those are some pretty nippy specs, and the NPUs and GPUs in particular look seriously promising. Notably, the TOPS ratings shared are just for the NPU, and don’t represent the combined AI processing capabilities of the APU. 60 TOPS (for Halo) and 50 TOPS (Strix Point vanilla) are nippy speeds for NPUs, and even the latter figure outguns the much-talked-about Snapdragon X Elite (at 45 TOPS).
Qualcomm is definitely talking up a great game with that incoming Snapdragon X Elite – and rightly so from what we’ve seen, to be fair – but remember, AMD’s Strix Point should land later this year, and maybe Apple’s M4 too. So, before too long, the competition will be a lot more fierce in the land of the best laptops.
Apple may well be worried about Strix Point, too, particularly Halo which could power some excellent MacBook Pro rivals. With that integrated GPU in particular, Strix Point Halo looks like a monster. As we’ve discussed before, if the AMD flagship has 40 CUs, that considerably outpowers the existing RX 7600 XT (at 32 CUs), and remember, the incoming APU has a faster tweaked RDNA 3 architecture too. The mentioned 32MB of MALL cache should speed up things even further as the cherry on top. (HKEPC mentions that this should function similarly to AMD’s Infinity Cache in pepping up performance).
We were already excited about the Halo silicon especially, and this does nothing to pour any cold water on that particular fire – though bear in mind, Strix Point Halo won’t turn up until later (2025), or that’s the theory. Apple and Qualcomm, and Intel too of course, watch out…
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