Computex 2024: AMD launches first Zen 5 desktop and laptop processors

While Nvidia's Computex keynote was a little quiet this year, AMD is making a big splash. At this year's event, AMD has launched its first Zen 5 processors, including Ryzen 9000 CPUs for desktops and Ryzen AI 300 ‘Strix Point' APUs for laptops. Beyond that, AMD has also committed to supporting the AM5 platform beyond 2027. 

We'll start off with the new desktop CPUs. The Ryzen 9000 series is the first to use AMD's new Zen 5 core architecture. Codenamed ‘Granite Ridge', there will be four SKUs to start off with, a 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X, a 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X, an 8-core Ryzen 7 9700X and a 6-core Ryzen 5 9600X. TDPs range from 65W for Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7, up to 120W and 170W respectively for the two top-end Ryzen 9 chips.

These new processors will continue to use the AM5 socket, but a new round of 800-series chipset motherboards will be on the way too. The Ryzen 9000 series uses the same I/O die as the Ryzen 7000 series, but architectural improvements have led to some significant performance gains. AMD claims its Ryzen 9 9950X is up to 23 percent faster in gaming compared to the Intel Core i9-14900K. Additionally, Zen 5 has a 16 percent IPC uplift compared to Zen 4.

The first Ryzen 9000 series processors will be made available in July. The KitGuru team is at Computex this week, so you can expect to hear more on this from Leo in the coming days.

Alongside the Ryzen 9000 announcement, AMD has also introduced the new X870 chipset. These new motherboards will make PCIe Gen 5 graphics and NVMe standard on all motherboards, and they will support higher memory clock speeds. The AM5 socket will continue to be supported through 2027 and likely a bit beyond that too. After all, AMD continues to support AM4 to this day, even introducing new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs in the past year.

On the laptop side, AMD is doubling down on AI with its new Ryzen AI branding. The new Strix Point APUs, which package together Zen 5 CPU cores and RDNA 3.5 graphics cores, is launching under the Ryzen AI branding. The first APUs in this line-up will be the Ryzen AI 9 HZ 370 and the Ryzen AI 9 365. The former offers up 12C/24T, while the latter has a 10C/20T configuration. Both have a configurable TDP of up to 45W, so it will be up to OEMs to adjust this depending on performance/price targets.

The Strix Point APUs pack the XDNA 2 AI accelerator, which AMD says is capable of up to 50 TOPs performance, ahead of the recently launched Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, which performs at up to 45 TOPs.

Of course, as an APU with powerful integrated graphics, gaming is also part of the equation here. AMD wants to secure gaming leadership with its integrated Radeon 880M and 890M GPUs. According to AMD's presentation, the Ryzen AI 300 series chips should beat out the Intel Core Ultra 185H by 36 percent on average. The average score here is taken from benchmarks across six major titles, including Cyberpunk 2077, Borderlands 3, F1 23, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Far Cry 6.

We'll be seeing the first wave of laptops with Ryzen AI 300 series processors unveiled at Computex this week, likely with launch dates later this summer.

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KitGuru Says: What do you all think of AMD's Computex announcements this year? Will you be looking to upgrade to a Ryzen 9000 CPU? 

 

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