At the exhibition CES 2025 AMD introduced the Ryzen 8000G series of APUs for the AM5 platform. This line combines the high-performance Zen 4 cores with the first RDNA-based graphics for desktop PCs, replacing its Vega predecessors. A well-known HXL insider suggests that their successor is likely to be called Ryzen 9000G and will debut in the fourth quarter of this year. Since there are still no details about the architecture of the cores, we will have to rely on assumptions for now.
The Ryzen 8000G series APUs were members of the Phoenix series and contained cores based on the Zen 4 architecture, and some of the younger models also had smaller Zen 4c cores. Similar to the mobile Ryzen 7040, AMD equipped these processors with up to 12 RDNA 3-based compute units (CUs), which provided a basic level of 1080p gaming. This was made possible thanks to the support of DDR5 on the AM5 platform, which probably explains AMD’s refusal to port the Rembrandt series to AM4 due to the limitations of DDR4.
Mobile APUs based on Zen 5 are divided into two lines: Strix Point for the high-performance segment and Krackan Point for the mid-range. AMD is expected to use the same silicon for the Ryzen 9000G series, which suggests some characteristics of the new products. Strix Point has up to 12 hybrid cores (4 Zen 5 + 8 Zen 5c) in two CCX modules, as well as a powerful built-in Radeon 890M video chip with 16 RDNA 3.5 compute units.
Krackan Point reduces the number of cores to eight (4 Zen 5 + 4 Zen 5c). According to preliminary information, all 8 cores share a single L3 cache pool of 16 MB, just like the budget Phoenix 2 APUs. On the graphics front, there is a Radeon 860M with 8 RDNA 3.5 compute units.
Both series of APUs will also feature the XDNA 2 NPU with 50 TOPS performance for AI computing. If the speculation proves to be true, AMD could be the first manufacturer to introduce Copilot+ certified desktop solutions based on these chips. As the company plans to release a Strix Point upgrade called Gorgon Point (likely Ryzen AI 400) in 2026, the excess Ryzen AI 300 silicon could be used to produce Ryzen 9000G APUs.
While this is only speculation, the potential performance and specification gains over current Phoenix desktop APUs look significant. However, it’s unlikely that AMD will move Strix Halo on AM5 in the near future due to its size, design features, and high cost. The Ryzen 9000G is likely to be one of the last series on Zen 5, as it is already AMD expects to switch to Zen 6 architecture in 2026.
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Source: tomshardware
