There’s already been a lot of hype around the upcoming launch of AMD’s Strix Halo laptop CPUs, with the specs suggesting the chip’s integrated Radeon GPU will be faster than the one in the PS5. Now a new scalp has been claimed, as AMD is suggesting the integrated graphics on this AMD Ryzen gaming laptop CPU is fast enough to outrun a laptop-grade Nvidia RTX 4070.
Strix Halo is the internal codename for a new design of AMD chip that has now been announced as the Ryzen AI Max class of laptop CPUs. Destined to be used in some of the best gaming laptop designs in the future, as well as mobile workstations, the new Ryzen AI Max chips stand apart from most gaming laptop designs, as instead of using a normal CPU and a separate gaming GPU chip, Strix Halo incorporates a powerful GPU into the same package as the CPU. This should make for much more compact and power-efficient gaming laptops, while also having enough speed to outdo an RTX 4070.
The new performance claim comes directly from AMD, with the company revealing slides regarding the new chip via the r/AMD subreddit, of all places. The slides are available on AMD’s website here and show that the range-topping Ryzen AI Max 395+ with integrated Radeon 8060S graphics can outpace a laptop configured with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU and Nvidia RTX 4070 laptop GPU.
As we’ve seen in the likes of our Alienware M16 R2 review, the laptop RTX 4070 is no slouch, able to average 93fps in Total War Warhammer 3 at 1080p with ultra settings. However, according to AMD’s numbers, the Ryzen AI Max 395+ comfortably outpaces the Nvidia GPU across 17 titles, ranging from Cyberpunk 2077, through Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, to Counter-Strike 2.
The average difference across all 17 titles is a 23% advantage to the Ryzen AI Max 395+. The chip’s Radeon 8060S GPU was apparently able to deliver between 77fps and 197fps at 1080p at up to high detail settings, depending on the game.
AMD is also bullish about the new chip’s CPU performance, though here it compares its silicon to the newer Intel Core Ultra 9 288V CPU, rather than the Core i9 13900HX used for the gaming benchmarks. The Ryzen AI Max 395+ packs in 16 of the company’s latest Zen 5 architecture CPU cores, which compares to the Core Ultra 9 288V having just four speed-optimized P-Cores and four efficiency-optimized E-Cores, for a total core count of eight cores.
Nonetheless, in its charts, AMD claims its CPU is faster to the tune of 302% in a test using the 3D rendering software, Blender. Meanwhile, in the Cinebench R24 benchmark, the Ryzen AI Max 395+ is 240% faster, in Corona 3D rendering software it’s 259% faster, and in V-Ray it’s 257% faster. That’s what you might call a comprehensive victory, at least for those cherry-picked tests.
AMD also compares its new mobile chip to Apple’s M4 Pro 12C chip and Qualcomm’s X Elite chip, though it points out the latter only has slightly lower AI processing power. The Ryzen AI Max 395+ has 50 TOPs of AI grunt whereas both the Apple and Qualcomm chips hit 45 TOPs.
Even though these are AMD’s own claims, there’s enough here to make us thoroughly excited about the availability of these new CPUs. A lot will depend on how much power they consume and thus how hot the laptops end up performing, and how long they last on battery power. However, signs are good that we could have a whole new class of small and light yet powerful gaming laptops.
As to why you might want to opt for a gaming laptop at all, we’ve stacked up the pros and cons of owning a gaming PC or a gaming laptop in our gaming laptop vs gaming PC guide, so check that out for a full rundown.