AMD just announced new Ryzen 6000 CPUs and Radeon graphics for laptops, here’s everything
you need to know about what’s coming this year!
AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 series of mobile processors use their new 6nm Zen 3+ with RDNA 2 for integrated
graphics.
This year, AMD have been able to get clock speeds up to 5GHz for the first time.
Just for quick context, best case last year’s Ryzen 9 5980HX, their top end laptop processor,
had a max boost clock of 4.8GHz.
We’re also looking at 2x gains to iGPU performance which is quite large, more on that soon.
Zen 3+ laptops are still up to 8 cores and 16 threads like last year, so lower core and
thread counts compared to what we’re expecting to see from Intel 12th gen this year, and
based on that alone I’m expecting Intel to have the lead in multi threaded workloads,
but for single threaded tasks and gaming, well it may be a closer battle.
I’ll be comparing them myself soon.
Here’s a list of the new features coming to Ryzen 6000 laptops this year.
We’re looking at DDR5-4800 memory, USB 4, and PCIe Gen 4 with 8 lanes for the discrete
graphics, same as Intel this year.
This means Ryzen finally gets access to faster Gen 4 SSDs.
Here are the actual specs for all of the Ryzen 6000 laptop processors coming in February
this year.
All of the new H series chips are based on the new Zen 3+, while some of the U series
stuff is still older Zen 3, but at least they kept the naming for those parts to 5000 series.
Last year they had some Zen 2 parts with similar names to the Zen 3 parts and it was confusing,
so this is better.
Anyway the H series chips are what we’ll see in the gaming laptops that I focus on.
We’ve still got lower powered HS options for thinner and lighter designs, otherwise
the naming scheme is much the same as last gen, just 6000 now rather than 5000, as core,
thread and cache counts are the same.
The main differences are in the clock speeds and of course the move to 6nm.
AMD have provided some performance details, but of course as usual wait for third party
benchmarks and reviews before making a purchasing decision rather than relying on this information.
In these brief examples, the new 6800U is looking quite a bit better compared to the
5800U.
In terms of Cinebench performance, we’re looking at a 1.3x boost to multi core and
a smaller 1.1x boost to single core scores compared to last gen.
Unfortunately AMD have only provided comparisons using U series rather than H series, so I’m
not sure at all how H series stacks up right now.
I’m going to be comparing AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 processors against Intel’s new 12th
gen as soon as I can, so make sure that you’re subscribed for that!
Alright now let’s talk about what I think is the most interesting part, the integrated
graphics within the processor.
Let me explain why, but don’t worry, we will be covering the more powerful Radeon
discrete graphics after.
Previously Zen 2 and Zen 3 mobile made use of Vega graphics, but now with this year’s
Zen 3+ we’re getting RDNA 2 graphics, just like the latest consoles and desktop graphics
cards.
Interestingly this also means that the integrated graphics are now capable of ray tracing, I
mean I’m not expecting amazing RT performance or anything, but that’s a first.
Now again these benchmarks are provided by AMD, so take them with a grain of salt until
we get these laptops to do our own testing, but basically they’re claiming that the
6800U’s iGPU easily beats Intel 11th gen and Nvidia’s MX450.
Compared to last gen, in a number of games there’s apparently up to a 2x increase,
so fairly big gains to the integrated graphics in just a single year.
Of course some of the gains would be due to CPU improvements rather than the iGPU standalone,
but the point still stands in terms of a gen on gen comparison.
Yeah ok great integrated graphics updates in a gaming laptop, why should I care about
that I hear you say.
Well, this is where it gets interesting!
Well AMD are also introducing SmartShift Eco, which does something I’ve never seen before.
Basically you can tell the laptop to move a graphical workload like a game from the
discrete Radeon graphics over to the more power efficient Ryzen processor’s integrated
graphics when you unplug from wall power.
Once AC is plugged back in, it should shift back to the more powerful GPU.
Don’t worry, it’s user definable so you can choose whether or not this happens.
The goal of this option is to improve battery life while gaming or otherwise when using
the GPU, and considering the iGPU improvements in games noted earlier, it may be capable
of a decent experience.
I’ve never seen this feature in any Intel or Nvidia gaming laptops before, so it’ll
be interesting to test out as it’s only available in AMD Advantage laptops.
So both Ryzen processor and Radeon discrete graphics.
Now while I have absolutely no doubts that this would improve battery life as the integrated
graphics just use less power than discrete graphics, it’s really going to depend on
how well the iGPU can actually run a game off of battery power.
Because just in case you didn’t know, generally when you unplug a laptop from wall power the
performance drops way down, though of course it does depend on the specific machine.
It’s worth mentioning that the iGPU can make use of FSR, so in supported games it’s
possible to gain an even further performance boost by enabling this feature.
Combined with the use of RDNA 2 graphics, we might actually have a decent shot of iGPU
gaming outside of eSports titles with all AMD laptops, which might mean gaming on battery
becoming less terrible.
AMD are making some big claims when it comes to battery life by saying up to 24 hours of
run time is possible with their new processors.
I’ve checked the fine print and this was done with a Ryzen 7 6800U laptop playing back
a 1080p video file with a screen just 150 nits bright, but still not bad at all.
Battery life and performance on battery is an area where my own testing found AMD’s
Ryzen 5000 processors last year to do better than Intel’s 11th gen, so it will be interesting
to see how Ryzen 6000 compares against Intel’s new 12th gen this year.
According to AMD, the Ryzen 7 6800U is much more power efficient compared to the 5800U
last year, using up to 40% less power in tasks like video streaming, which is a pretty big
single generation improvement.
Alright now let’s talk about AMD’s new Radeon graphics for gaming laptops.
So the discrete Radeon graphics that is, not to be confused with the Radeon integrated
graphics as part of the processor.
Kind of wish they had separate names but here we are!
So just to be clear, now we’re talking about the discrete graphics that compete with Nvidia.
Last year we were introduced to the Radeon RX 6800M, 6700M and 6600M laptop GPUs.
From my own testing, the 6800M was close to Nvidia’s RTX 3080, the 6700M was between
the 3070 and 3060, while the 6600M was close to the 3060 but a little behind.
The performance on offer was far better compared to anything AMD had before in terms of laptop
graphics.
This year AMD are announcing S versions of these same GPUs, the 6600S, 6700S and 6800S,
so another new letter to keep track of, but hey at least unlike Nvidia’s desktop and
laptop GPUs we can still tell the difference just from the name.
I’m guessing the S stands for slim or something as these GPUs are targeted towards thinner
gaming laptops at under 20mm thick and under 4.5lb.
Basically the goal is more power efficiency in smaller laptop designs.
Now the specs for these S series GPUs haven’t yet been provided, so I’m not sure if they’re
the same as the M series GPUs but just with lower power limits.
Kind of like what Nvidia did with their Max-Q GPUs a couple of years ago.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Don’t worry though, the M series GPUs are still getting an update.
Like the processors covered earlier, these new GPUs will be based on 6nm.
Apparently this results in up to 14% additional performance with 7% higher clocks than the
M series Radeon GPUs from last year.
This is what else we’re getting this year.
At the top end we’re getting the new RX 6850M XT, which AMD are saying is 7% faster
when compared to the RX 6800M, which was their best offering last year.
We’re also getting the new RX 6650M and 6650M XT, which are apparently 20% faster
compared to the 6600M from last year.
Now this doesn’t actually specify which one is 20% faster, so I’m going to assume
they’re referencing the better 6650M XT.
In addition to that, we’re also getting some new lower end options - the RX 6500M
and RX 6300M GPUs.
Now they’re saying these are 200% faster compared to Nvidia’s MX450, but I don’t
think that’s super useful given how niche the MX series is.
I’d be more interested in knowing how they compare to say RTX 3050 and 3050 Ti.
Now there’s more to this launch than just hardware.
In Q1 this year, so some time before April, AMD plans to launch Radeon Super Resolution,
or RSR.
According to AMD, RSR will allow us to get FSR performance boosts in nearly every game.
While FSR needed individual game support, RSR is enabled in two simple steps.
You just turn it on through the Adrenaline software and then lower the resolution through
the game settings.
RSR takes care of the rest and you should get higher frame rates in most games.
There have of course been ways of making FSR work in games that don’t natively support
it out of the box, but now having this official support from AMD that “just works” in
thousands of games is a great next step.
Now FSR works on both Nvidia and Radeon graphics, but as per the name, I’m guessing RSR probably
only works on Radeon graphics as it needs Radeon drivers to do so.
I guess kind of how DLSS only works on Nvidia.
Even if that’s the case FSR still works with Nvidia so it’s not as closed off as
DLSS.
I mean even Nvidia closes DLSS off to Nvidia because there are current gen GTX graphics
that can’t use it.
But wait, there’s more!
AMD Advantage laptops are getting an upgrade too, with SmartShift Max.
Just as a quick refresher, SmartShift is basically AMD’s equivalent of Nvidia’s dynamic boost,
where power is shared between the CPU and GPU depending on the current running workload
with the goal of providing optimal performance for the situation.
Now the new SmartShift Max works on the same principle, but it now works with more games.
To be honest I wasn’t aware that it was only restricted to certain games previously,
so it would be great to see a game list to know what’s supported if that’s the case.
AMD provided the following example in four different games, comparing the performance
gains between SmartShift and SmartShift Max.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider and The Division 2, it seems like the original SmartShift didn’t
even help out, while SmartShift Max offers improvements.
Then in games like Strange-Brigade and Godfall, the newer SmartShift Max is able to offer
higher gains compared to what was available previously.
SmartShift Eco is another new software feature for AMD Advantage laptops, but I covered that
earlier so let’s move on.
Next up AMD is introducing SmartAccess graphics.
Long story short, this seems to be their equivalent of Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus, as the principle
sounds the same.
Normally the more powerful discrete graphics connects to the screen via the processors
integrated graphics, which increases latency and lowers frame rates.
AMD SmartAccess graphics intelligently switches the display between Ryzen and Radeon GPUs
to optimize battery life and enable maximum graphical performance.
They’re listing an average 15% performance boost here compared to traditional hybrid
designs, which honestly sounds about right just based on my own experience of testing
laptops with and without a MUX switch.
Obviously I support this change with open arms as I’m a fan of the MUX switch and
believe it should be your choice whether or not you want to run your laptop on the integrated
graphics for better battery life or on the discrete graphics for more performance in
games.
But even if you do have a laptop with a MUX switch, honestly it can be a little annoying
rebooting every time you do want to swap, so I think this is a great next step in the
evolution of this technology as now both AMD and Nvidia have similar options.
AMD have listed a couple of laptops using their new hardware.
Alienware are introducing an m17 R5 with Ryzen 6000 processor and up to the top end RX 6850M
XT graphics, and they’re saying this will be the most powerful all AMD gaming laptop
of the year.
I’ll have more info about it in tomorrow’s Alienware video.
ASUS have also refreshed their Zephyrus G14 in an all AMD design, so both AMD Ryzen 6000
HS series processor with up to RX 6800S graphics.
I suppose use of the new S series makes sense, given the Zephyrus lineup is designed to be
a thinner and lighter design.
I’ve already got this one here, again video soon.
AMD are expecting 20 plus Advantage laptop designs throughout 2022, so there should be
plenty more coming.
This is quite a lot more compared to last year, I can only count about 5 or 6 from 2021.
Here are a few more upcoming Ryzen laptops, I’m guessing these aren’t all advantage
designs though as I know this year’s Blade 14 only uses Nvidia graphics.
What I found interesting was the Acer Nitro 5 appears to have a new design, or at least
the lid is different than before.
Anyway availability for Ryzen 6000 laptops is expected in early February this year, though
it wasn’t made clear if the Radeon GPUs would launch at the same time, as Alienware
have said their m17 R5 isn’t coming til Spring.
You can check out more gaming laptops coming out this year in the rest of my CES 2022 coverage,
and of course make sure you’re subscribed for when I get these new laptops in for benchmarking
and review.
I’m really keen to see how these new Ryzen 6000 CPUs compare against Intel’s higher
core and thread counts, and to see how the new Radeon graphics hold up against Nvidia.