AMD’s Ryzen Z1 series chips designed for gaming handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally and the Ryzen 7040U chip the company announced earlier this week for ultraportables are much more similar than anyone expected. There is a possibility that
In the table below, we’ve compared the Z1 Extreme with the new top-of-the-line Ryzen 7 7840U with Radeon 780M, while the regular Z1 sits next to the Ryzen 5 7540U with Radeon 740M.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | AMD Ryzen 7 7840U | AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme | AMD Ryzen 5 7540U | AMD Ryzen Z1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD XDNA Architecture | yes | no | no | no |
| core/thread | 8/16 | 8/16 | 6/12 | 6/12 |
| base clock | 3.3GHz | not specified | 3.2GHz | not specified |
| Boost clock (max) | 5.1 GHz | not specified | 4.9GHz | not specified |
| cache | 24MB | 24MB | 22MB | 22MB |
| TDP | 15-30W | 15-30W | 15-30W | 15-30W |
| RDNA 3 computational unit | 12 (Radeon 780M) | 12 | 4 (Radeon 740M) | Four |
AMD doesn’t list the clock speeds for the Z1 and Z1 Extreme (presumably these will be released with ROG Ally, or they could vary depending on the system using them), but at least on paper we can see other are all the same. to what is offered in future ultraportable laptops. They have the same number of cores and threads, the same number of RDNA 3 compute units, the same configurable TDP, and even the same cache.
When we asked AMD about the similarities, the company was quick to say that it did a little extra work with the Z1 model, but didn’t downplay the similarities between the two chipsets.
“The Ryzen Z1 series is built with handheld gaming in mind,” writes Matthew Hurwitz, Client PR Manager at AMD. tom’s hardware“To achieve this, AMD engineers had to validate an entirely new power range and optimize the voltage curve specifically for this use case. This optimization and validation effort would be dwarfed.” It shouldn’t, so the technology building blocks (such as “Zen4” and RDNA 3) are similar between the 7040 and Z1 series, so the resulting model should be very clear, customized to your use case. characteristics. Additionally, AMD Ryzen AI Engine is not available on AMD Ryzen Z1 series processors. ”
When I followed up with AMD to ask if the XDNA AI engine was completely removed or disabled, the company said it was. This means the chips are likely to be identical at the silicon level. Ultimately, there is only one way to truly consider the differences. It’s about benchmarking them when they get to our lab. Admittedly, getting the chip to work in a handheld the size of a Steam Deck (which is actually smaller in the case of the upcoming Asus ROG Ally) takes some work as you just don’t get the space or the amount of cooling. You will need. Things to do on your laptop.
Also, it remains to be seen what the Ryzen AI engine on the XDNA architecture can do. This could give laptops an advantage, but current games are unlikely to take advantage of it, so it should be removed from the Z1 and Z1 Extreme.
Asus ROG Ally has Launch event on May 11th (opens in new tab) It features AMD’s chief architect of gaming solutions and marketing, Frank Azor, so we’ll probably learn more then. , when people actually get their hands on both series of chips, they can tell the difference.
