On the sidelines of the CES conference, AMD is launching Ryzen 6000 mobile. The laptop chips should deliver a solid performance boost, especially along the graphics side, and efficiency also improves. Finally, AMD is integrating Pluton security.
(Update 05/01 with more details)
AMD is launching its latest generation of laptop chips: Ryzen 6000 Mobile. As usual, the new Ryzen CPUs combine processing power and graphics power. Along the CPU side, AMD opts to upgrade its Zen 3 architecture with Zen 3+. This provides clock speeds up to and including 5 GHz but should be especially efficient when the chip is not running at maximum power.
More economical
To that end, AMD is relying on a new power control framework with new low-power modes. For example, the chips come with additional deep sleep states that reduce standby power consumption. Furthermore, the chip developer is integrating adaptive power management, which relies on information from the operating system and additional sensors to adaptively adjust the speed of the Zen 3+ cores. AMD thus takes a shot at the newly launched Intel Alder Lake laptop chips: “We offer a performance core and an efficiency core in the same core,” it sounds.
Graphic violence
Along the graphics side, AMD integrates the RDNA2 architecture into the APU. That means the integrated graphics support raytracing on a hardware basis. The graphics engine is 50 percent larger than that of the previous generation. AMD claims that on an ultrabook with Ryzen 6000 Mobile, you can play modern games at FHD resolution without an additional graphics card. AMD claims the graphics capability of its chips is “significantly faster” than Intel’s Xe graphics in comparable Tiger Lake chips. A comparison with Intel’s new Alder Lake processors remains out.
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Ryzen 6000 Mobile is further built on with TSMC’s 6 nm process. The chip supports PCIe4, (LP)DDR5 memory, Wifi 6E and the USB 4 standard. The processors are further the first to support Microsoft’s Pluton security. AMD already convinced several major manufacturers to build Ryzen 6000 Mobile-based systems. Lenovo, HP, Asus and Dell, among others, have models ready. The first laptops with the new chips should hit shelves as early as February.
Models
In total, AMD is launching ten new Ryzen 6000 Mobile processors. The range goes from powerful HX processors for gaming laptops and workstations to economical U-chips intended for more classic laptops and thin ultrabooks. The relatively modest and uncluttered offering stands in stark contrast to the salvo from Intel, which is launching its twelfth generation of processors with a whopping 28 new processors.
| CPU | Cores / Threads | GHz (Basic/Turbo) | Cache | TDP |
| AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX | 8 / 16 | 3.3 GHz / 5.0 GHz | 20 MB | 45 W |
| AMD Ryzen 9 6980HS | 8 / 16 | 3.3 GHz / 5.0 GHz | 20 MB | 35 W |
| AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX | 8 / 16 | 3.3 GHz / 4.9 GHz | 20 MB | 45 W |
| AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS | 8 / 16 | 3.3 GHz / 4.9 GHz | 20 MB | 35 W |
| AMD Ryzen 7 6800H | 8 / 16 | 3.2 GHz / 4.7 GHz | 20 MB | 45 W |
| AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS | 8 / 16 | 3.2 GHz / 4.7 GHz | 20 MB | 35 W |
| AMD Ryzen 7 6800U | 8 / 16 | 2.7 GHz / 4.7 GHz | 20 MB | 15 W |
| AMD Ryzen 5 6600H | 6 / 12 | 3.3 GHz / 4.5 GHz | 19 MB | 45 W |
| AMD Ryzen 5 6600HS | 6 / 12 | 3.3 GHz / 4.5 GHz | 19 MB | 35 W |
| AMD Ryzen 5 6600U | 6 / 12 | 2.9 GHz / 4.5 GHz | 19 MB | 15 W |
As you can see, the new Ryzen 6000 Mobile range consists mostly of slightly more powerful chips for now. AMD is only introducing two frugal U-processors for the thinnest laptops and is staying away from Ryzen 3 entry-level chips across the board for now. For that, you still have to look at Ryzen 5000. AMD does freshen up those chips a bit with the introduction of the Ryzen 5 5625U and Ryzen 3 5425U, although it’s unclear exactly what the impact will be.