- AMD has come out with three new series of mobile processors.
- Ryzen AI Max features a powerful integrated GPU with 16 Zen 5 cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units.
- Fire Range Processors offer improved performance with dedicated graphics cards there's also new Z2 Extreme processors for higher TDP.
AMD has already established its dominance over the desktop PC industry and its fans have been asking for similarly high performance on the laptop front. The rumors that the company is working on a new series of mobile processors have been around for a while, and we finally got to see what they have been cooking. AMD has announced three new series of chips, including the Ryzen AI Max and the Fire Range processors.
The Ryzen AI Max and the Ryzen AI Max Plus are the two new chips in the series. These capable CPUs inherit the most powerful integrated GPU. It features 16 Zen 5 cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, and 256 GB/second memory bandwidth. During the announcement, AMD claimed that their top-end AI Max Plus 395 could outperform Intel Core 9 288V in terms of graphics and 3D rendering performance.
This mighty performance will cost 120 watts of power consumption to operate. So you can expect to have your devices plugged in most of the time to utilize the complete performance of what they can output. These Ryzen AI Max chipsets will be available starting Q1 to Q2 of 2025. HP’s Z2 Mini G1a desktop and a ZBook Ultra G1a laptop along with Asus’ ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet will be among the first devices to debut with these CPUs.
AMD also showed off the new AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, 9955HX, and 9850HX codenamed Fire Range. They don’t come with integrated GPU and will only come in laptops with dedicated graphics cards. However, these include the popular 3D-V cache which will help with higher frame rates with the top-end model including a 144MB of cache pool.
We also saw some good news for handheld PC consoles. AMD’s Z2 Extreme chips will offer better gaming performance on these portable machines with a Z2 Extreme using RDNA 3.5 GPU, Z2 using RDNA 3 and the Z2 Go coming with RDNA 2.0. It is also worth noting that it will have a higher TDP of 15W instead of 9W. They’ll also come out in Q1 2025.
Next, they unveiled their flagship Ryzen 9 9950X3D desktop CPU, with the second generation 3D-V cache technology we talked about above. It’ll include 16 Zen 5 cores and 32 threads with 144MB of cache and a higher 170W TDP. AMD is referring to it as “the world’s best processor for gamers and creators.” We also saw the unveiling of the Radeon RX 9070 series GPUs at CES 2025.
These new CPUs from the company will surely change the course of desktop, laptop, and handheld gaming in 2025. We should see devices coming out with these new CPUs at the end of the first half of this year with more devices coming over in the second half. If the numbers prove to be true as the company claims, then they will become the defacto choice for gamers this year.
