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Tag: Ryzen

  • AMD’s Latest Chips Are Betting Big on Gamers

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    Intel and Qualcomm are both coming to CES 2026, beating the drum hard for their next-gen lightweight laptop CPUs. Meanwhile, AMD is slipping into the party through the back door with its usual laid-back swagger, showcasing a range of new CPUs for laptops, desktops, and gaming-specific devices. The first on the list is the AMD Ryzen AI 400 series that you’ll find in a metric ton of laptops at this year’s showcase.

    The AI 400 series, like 2024’s 300 series, is designed to power this generation of Copilot+ PCs. They’re running on Zen 5 CPU microarchitecture and top out with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 475 with a 12-core, 24-thread configuration. The CPU hits a 5.2GHz boost clock, and AMD promised this CPU should be slightly better at multitasking than the previous generation. The new chip’s GPU isn’t packing any of the most recent RDNA 4 GPU architecture (which means no official access to AMD’s Redstone upscaler), but instead includes 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores with a 3.1 GHz boost clock.

    The highest-end CPU also comes with an NPU that hits 60 TOPS, which stands for trillions of operations per second. It’s a derived value that only vaguely approximates AI processing capabilities, so you really shouldn’t spend too much time comparing it to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2’s 80 TOPS NPU. Most chips you’ll see in laptops will max out with the Ryzen AI 7 450, an 8-core CPU with a 5.1GHz clock speed and 24MB cache with only a 50 TOPS NPU.

    Overall, it’s a subdued update to one of AMD’s most prevalent CPUs. AMD promises these latest x86 chips will allow for “multi-day” battery life, though the exact numbers will depend on each laptop spec. We can already guess a majority of these chips will make their way inside this year’s slate of lightweight notebooks. However, the real dark horse of 2026 could be the Ryzen AI+ Max series. There are even more of the company’s high-end APUs (accelerated processing units) that are stressing GPU performance beyond what you normally expect from a single chip.

    AMD’s latest Ryzen AI Max chips are dark horse gaming powerhouses

    Did the best gaming CPU just get better? © AMD

    That includes the new Ryzen AI Max+ 392 and Max+ 388. The lower-end chip is an eight-core, 16-thread chip that also manages to pack in the 40 graphics compute units (AMD’s version of core clusters) found in the top-end Ryzen AI Max+ 395. We’ve had plenty of experience with that APU thanks to the Framework Desktop and other devices like the Asus ROG Flow Z13. The graphics capabilities of that chip proved extra enticing. That’s why I asked AMD if the 388 was engineered for gaming.

    “The 388 is an eight-core chip that’s really targeted for gamers,” AMD’s senior VP of client business Rahul Tikoo told Gizmodo during a virtual briefing. AMD implied there will indeed be more gaming-related products featuring these (hopefully) cheaper Max chips throughout 2026. The APU could be an enticing prospect for handheld gaming PCs or other lightweight designs. We can’t help but imagine some kind of Steam Machine-like device running with these specs for gaming at 1440p and 4K.

    As for high-end gaming desktops, AMD also has an update to what we already called the best CPU of 2025. Just as earlier leaks suggested, AMD is pushing an update to the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with a Ryzen 7 9850X3D. The new chip uses the same layered 3D cache and eight-core Zen 5 CPU architecture, but it also has an upgraded 5.6GHz boost clock compared to 5.2GHz. That may not be such a major upgrade, though either way it will still likely be better than any other Intel- or AMD-made alternative for gaming.

    AMD promises the 9850X3D pushes better performance in games upwards of 32% or 27% in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, respectively. Is that so much better than the 9800X3D? Probably not, but if you’re looking for the best possible CPU for your gaming rig, it’ll probably be this one.

    Gizmodo is on the ground in Las Vegas all week bringing you everything you need to know about the tech unveiled at CES 2026. You can follow our CES live blog here and find all our coverage here.

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    Kyle Barr

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  • AMD Is Convinced Its Latest CPUs Will Crush Qualcomm’s Chips for Copilot+ PCs

    AMD Is Convinced Its Latest CPUs Will Crush Qualcomm’s Chips for Copilot+ PCs

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    Just when you thought you had a moment away from any more AI-focused hardware news, AMD is leaping into the “AI PC” arena with its latest mobile laptop chips. The new Ryzen AI 300 series boasts better performance than either Intel or Qualcomm, plus neural processing capabilities.

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    The chips industry has always been a game of one-upmanship. Now more than ever, chipmakers are trying more than ever to compare their CPUs and GPUs not just on power but on the future promise of ultimate PC performance thanks to the proliferation of AI. AMD doesn’t have to fight against its longtime rival Intel for the consumer-end PC market, but Qualcomm, mainly thanks to the ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus in the latest Copilot+ PCs.

    AMD is mainly focused on hyping up its two new chip series. One is the new version of its Ryzen CPUs with the Ryzen 9000 series, and the other is the Ryzen AI 300 series stuffed with a new NPU in the form of XDNA 2. On laptops, the two chips will be the Ryzen AI 9 365 and the beefier Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. It’s technically the company’s third-gen AI-centric CPU, but this latest series is differentiated by its massive upgrade in neural processing.

    Microsoft says it needs NPUs with at least 40 TOPS to mark them for Copilot+ PCs. Like the recent Snapdragon chips, the HX 370 and the 365 have the same NPU running at 50 TOPS. It’s one of the bigger boasts of AI performance from this past year, but despite the company’s claim it’s there to run more complex AI models, we still have to see if there will be any software worth these new neural components.

    The 370 comes with 12 cores, 24 threads, and a 5.1 GHz max boost speed, while the 365 sits at ten cores, 20 threads, and 5.0 GHz max speed. The chips also have the RDNA 3.5 built-in GPU for some mobile graphics work or gaming. During the Taiwan Computex conference, these chips will appear on new laptops within the next few days.

    What is Zen 5?

    These new chips sport the new centralized architecture from AMD, namely Zen 5, on the CPU end. The chipmaker claimed Zen 5 is a big update compared to Zen 4, which is supposed to handle twice the bandwidth of the last generation. What does this mean for PCs? AMD promises you’ll see up to 19% better benchmark performance in Geekbench 6 or 13% better in 3DMark’s physics tests, but that will depend on your PC’s exact chip and other architecture.

    Zen 5 is different from the XDNA 2 NPU architecture. You can break up the TOPS speed in the NPU into a whole bunch of other categories, but AMD claims XDNA 2 is two times as power efficient and many times the total neural computing capacity of the previous gen’s 10 or 16 TOPS.

    AMD’s New Gaming CPUs Boast Better Performance Thanks to Zen 5 Architecture

    Image: AMD

    For those who could not care less about the productivity machines centering on the AI 300 chips, all you want to know is how the Ryzen 9000 series stacks up compared to the last generation and Intel’s latest. That includes the Ryzen 5 9600X, Ryzen 7 9700X, Ryzen 9 9900X, and at the tippy top end is the Ryzen 9 9950X. Most boast slightly higher clock speeds, but several, like the 9900x and 9700X, are far more power efficient with better TDP.

    To pick on the big boy, that 9950X has 16 cores, 32 threads, and up to 5.7 GHz clock speeds. That’s technically the same specs as the Ryzen 9 7950X3D from the last gen. AMD is trying to hit Intel’s Core i9-14900K by claiming you’ll see marginally better framerates in games like Cyberpunk 2077 or F1 2023 and far better bandwidth for multitasking thanks to the new Zen 5 architecture.

    All those gaming-centric CPUs should be arriving in July this year. There’s good news for anybody with the motherboard supporting the AM5 socket. AMD promises to support AM5 through 2027, so if you’re considering upgrading, you’ll have a chance in the next few years. After over eight years of running, AMD plans to end support for AM4 sometime in or after 2025. Zen 5 will continue to be specific to AM5.

    The chipmaker said pricing is not set for the series 9000 chips, but we should know more closer to release in July.

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    Kyle Barr

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