AMD Ryzen AI Max APUs Beat RTX 4090 in AI Performance
On January 7, 2025, AMD unveiled its latest APU series, the Ryzen AI Max, at the CES 2025 event in Las Vegas. This new lineup, codenamed "Strix Halo," is designed to deliver superior performance for high-end AI PCs, promising an exceptional Copilot+ experience. The flagship model, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, features an impressive 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU, providing a significant performance boost for AI-driven applications.
The Strix Halo platform is tailored specifically for AI-powered PCs and introduces two main series: the Ryzen AI Max and Ryzen AI Max Pro. Each series is further divided into Max and Max+ variants, with the Max+ offering top-tier specifications.
The platform is built on AMD's cutting-edge Zen 5 CPU architecture and RDNA 3.5 GPU, utilizing advanced chiplet packaging technology. Each Zen 5 CPU core resides on an independent CCD, with up to two CCDs providing 16 Zen 5 cores. The integrated graphics (iGPU) can feature up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units. Additionally, the platform supports LPDDR5x memory with bandwidth reaching up to 256GB/s and integrates the "XDNA 2" NPU, delivering 50 TOPS of AI processing power, making it a leader in AI performance for Windows 11 AI+ PCs.
According to AMD, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 outperforms Intel's Core Ultra 9 288V in 3D rendering, with overall performance up to 2.6 times faster and graphical performance improved by as much as 158%.
In terms of AI capabilities, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 stands out with its XDNA 2 NPU, offering up to 50 TOPS. It is the world's first APU designed for Windows 11 AI+ PCs that supports 70B LLM. Its AI performance in LM Studio surpasses that of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 by 2.2 times, all while consuming 87% less power.
The Ryzen AI Max 300 series includes the following models:
· Ryzen AI Max (Pro) 395: 16 cores, 32 threads, up to 5.1GHz, 80MB cache, 40 compute units (CU).
· Ryzen AI Max (Pro) 390: 12 cores, 24 threads, up to 5.0GHz, 76MB cache, 32 compute units (CU).
· Ryzen AI Max (Pro) 385: 8 cores, 16 threads, up to 5.0GHz, 40MB cache, 32 compute units (CU).
· Ryzen AI Max Pro 380: 6 cores, 12 threads, up to 4.9GHz, 22MB cache, 16 compute units (CU).
These new APU models are expected to be available in the first and second quarters of 2025. Leading brands such as HP and ASUS will partner with AMD to launch mobile workstations and gaming devices powered by the Ryzen AI Max series.
