By Ben Abrams x The Big Magazine
AMD announced three different families of chips “Strix Halo” and “Fire Range” for high-end gaming laptops, including one with 3D V-cache.
The new Ryzen AI Max Series processors revolutionize what’s possible for next-gen AI PCs, offering incredible, workstation-level power and performance, all in ultra-portable form factors for optimum mobility.
Although AMD wasn't entirely shielded from CES leaks, one of its flagship products successfully avoided exposure by even the most frequent leakers until the last moment. AMD's Zen 5-based Fire Range CPUs have returned, now featuring an HX tag. The previous year's Ryzen 8000 Hawk Point CPUs didn't have any, and this time, only three have been revealed, unlike Dragon Range, which included a total of seven SKUs.
We now have another 3D V-cache laptop chip, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, which has a somewhat perplexing name. Its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, was only used in one laptop and one mini-PC. There's hope that this new version will see broader adoption by OEMs. Theoretically, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D should offer noticeable performance improvements from one generation to the next due to the new Zen 5 cores and additional L3 cache, but actual performance will ultimately depend on power availability.
The Ryzen 9 9955HX and Ryzen 9 9850HX, which are the non-HX versions, are nearly identical chips, differing only slightly in boost clock speed and total cache. Regrettably, AMD has only shared limited details about Fire Range. The absence of "AI" in the name suggests there is no dedicated NPU. Furthermore, there is potential for Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 SKUs to be introduced later on.
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