AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based 'Strix Halo' APU benched: clocks in at 5.36GHz

AMD is just days away from launching its new Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs in a fleet of new AI PC laptops, but the beefier "Strix Halo" APU has now been benched, teasing its upgraded performance chops.

The results are coming from the Geekbench 5 database where a purported ES (engineering sample) processor, the "Strix Halo" APU, features 16 high-performance Zen 5 cores and up to 40 Compute Units based on the upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture.

Strix Point APUs will launch with 16 or 12 Compute Units based on the same RDNA 3.5 GPU, but Strix Halo will deliver gaming performance to laptops at a level not seen before on an APU.

AMD's upcoming Strix Halo APU features 8 cores and 16 threads of Zen 5 processing power clocking in at up to 5.36GHz, with the Geekbench log showing that the Strix Halo ES APU was running with core CPU clocks between 3.4GHz and 4.8GHz, not actually hitting its rated 5.3GHz+ clock speed, but the retail Strix Halo APUs should hit these clock speeds (and we're excited to see it happen).

• Read more: AMD's next-gen Zen 5-based 'Strix Halo' FP11 package is as big as Intel LGA1700 size
• Read more: AMD's next-gen enthusiast-tier Zen 5-powered Strix Halo APU teased with 128GB of RAM
• Read more: AMD 'Strix Halo' Zen 5 mobile APU pictured: chiplet-based, integrated GPU is powerful
• Read more: AMD's high-end Ryzen AI 'Strix Halo' APUs spotted: 16C/32T Zen 5, 120W TDP, 64GB memory
• Read more: AMD 'Strix Halo' APU leak: 16 Zen5 CPU cores, RDNA 3.5 GPU, 32MB of MALL cache

AMD's upcoming Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs will max out at 5.1GHz, so the Strix Halo ES APU being rated at 5.36GHz could mean we could see Strix Halo APUs hitting somewhere like 5.4GHz to 5.5GHz, which will be a delicious mix with the 40 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU power.

Inside of the Strix Halo CPU will include 32MB of L3 cache and 8MB of L2 cache (4MB L3 + 1MB L2 per Zen 5 core). AMD's upcoming Strix Halo APU are in chiplet configurations, with the maximum amount of cores and cache topping out at 16 cores and 32 threads, and up to 64MB of L3 cache. There'll also be an additional 32MB of MALL cache for the integrated RDNA 3.5 GPU that has its own 40 Compute Units (far more than Strix Point APUs).

Strix Halo APUs will also support up to a whopping 128GB of RAM on the AMD FL11 platform, so we can expect big things from this little APU when it drops later this year, and more so into 2025 as the fight for the higher-end APU market inside of new laptops well and truly begins.

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The new Strix Halo ES APU scored up to 2177 points in the single-core Geekebench 5 run, and up to 13,993 points in the multi-core test. This is a fantastic result for an early engineering sample (ES) processor, punching far above many of the leading laptop processors on the market (from AMD, and from Intel).

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The new Strix Halo APU will feature a chiplet-based design, with one or two Zen 5 CCDs and a huge SoC die that features an oversized integrated RDNA 3+ GPU, and 256-bit LPDDR5X memory controllers not found on the cIOD. AMD is aiming at CPU and GPU performance that competes with Apple's M3 Pro and M3 Max SoCs, at comparable PCB and power consumption.

AMD is using an integrated RDNA 3+ GPU in its next-gen Strix Halo APU, with a huge 40 Compute Units that works out to 2560 Stream Processors, 80 AI accelerators, 40 Ray accelerators, 160 TMUs, and an unknown amount of ROPs, with GPU clock speeds of up to 3.0GHz

AMD Ryzen AI HX Strix Halo APU expected features:

• Zen 5 Chiplet Design
• Up To 16 Cores
• 64 MB of Shared L3 cache
• 40 RDNA 3+ Compute Units
• 32 MB MALL Cache (for iGPU)
• 256-bit LPDDR5X-8000 Memory Controller
• XDNA 2 Engine Integrated
• Up To 60 AI TOPS
• 16 PCIe Gen4 Lanes
• 2H 2024 Launch (Expected)
• FP11 Platform (55W-130W)