A few days ago I had the opportunity to attend a special event focused on AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs, a new generation that stands out for using the Zen 3+ architecturefor being manufactured in 6nm process and for being the first of its kind to use the RDNA2 graphical architecture. Only with these keys it is clear that we are facing a very important renewal, and that this generation promises to mark a turning point in terms of performance, but if I only told you this I would hardly be “scratching the surface”and I would leave many things in the “inkpot”.
Before getting into the matter, and unraveling all the technical keys of the new AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs, it is important to make clear what the goal of the Sunnyvale giant is with these APUs, and what we can expect from them. The AMD Ryzen 6000 are part of AMD’s catalog of laptop solutions, and represent a commitment to take the performance and efficiency binomial to another level. To achieve this, AMD has used TSMC’s 6nm node, and has made the leap to Zen 3+ (at the CPU level) and RDNA2 (at the GPU level) architectures. What does all this mean? Let’s find out:
- Zen 3+ architecture improves performance per watt.
- The RDNA2 architecture represents a major jump in performance of the integrated GPUs.
- The 6nm process allows improve performance and efficiency.
To all of the above we must also add the change of platform. Thanks to this new platform, AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs are compatible with the LPDDR5 memoryuse the PCIE Gen4 standard, offer USB 4 connectivity (up to 40 Gbps) and also have Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity.
AMD Ryzen 6000: How all its news benefits the user
The implementation of the Zen 3+ architecture, and the new 6nm node, has allowed AMD to significantly improve performance per watt, which means that new laptops using AMD Ryzen 6000 will offer a high level of performance in both single-thread and multi-thread, but we will not have to give up, therefore, a light and attractive design, nor a good autonomy. If we put all this together, the conclusion is clear, the AMD Ryzen 6000 will allow the creation of new notebooks with a higher degree of mobility, and a high level of performance.
The jump to the RDNA2 architecture also represents a very important evolution compared to previous generations, which were limited to the old Vega (GCN 5.0). However, this jump must go hand in hand with the new LPDDR5 memorysince said memory represents that increase in bandwidth that AMD needed for it to make sense to use its new graphics architecture on integrated GPUs.
As many of our readers will know, an integrated GPU uses RAM as graphics memory, and the bandwidth of this greatly affects performance. The limitations imposed by LPDDR4 (and LPDDR4x) memory made it pointless to introduce more powerful GPUs and more advanced architectures, since these would have a huge bottleneck due to the bandwidth of said memory. Now with the introduction of LPDDR5 memory this has completely changed as it reaches 6,400MHzcompared to 4,266 MHz of the LPDDR4X.
The new integrated GPUs based on the RDNA2 architecture used by the AMD Ryzen 6000 they will democratize, in short, gaming in 1080p, making it accessible to a greater number of users, even those who buy an ultralight laptop. Interesting, right? Well wait, there’s still more, and that is that this architecture is compatible with FSR, which means that we could run even demanding games with an acceptable FPS rate.
A closer look at the Zen 3+ core
In the first image you can see the topology of an AMD Ryzen 6000 APU. The CPU has a monolithic core design with a total of eight cores and sixteen threads, thanks to SMT technology. It adds up to 16 MB of L3 cache shared and accessible by all those cores, and integrates the system interconnection system (part of the right, in turquoise blue).
The memory controller is 128 bit and supports dual-channel configurations with LPDDR5 memory at a maximum of 6,400 MHz. The Zen 3+ CPU connects with the RDNA2 GPU through an Infinity Fabric systemand as we can see this can mount up to 12 computing units, which translates into a maximum of 768 shaders. Just to the right we have the chip Microsoft Pluto, which adds an important layer of security, as well as the AMD PSP (Platform Security Processor), the display controller and the multimedia engines.
In the second image we can see some of the most important innovations in terms of efficiency that AMD has introduced in the Zen 3+ core, including an improvement in the design of power and recovery from sleep, the introduction of communication with the operating system by thread, and not only by core, the delay of the start of the L3 cache during the wake-up process for reduced latency and better management of cache usage. We can say that, in summary, there is now a deeper control of each thread at the level of consumption, and performance, in all its states.
AMD has also introduced Other new features that affect both memory control and processor states, and partitions the power and states to get the best possible result. You can find a more complete breakdown in the attached images, and enlarge them by clicking on them.
The performance improvement per watt is huge, as we can see.
We now jump to the GPU: These are the keys to the Radeon 600M series
The new AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs use integrated Radeon 600M GPUs, and these are based, as we have said, on the RDNA2 architecture. This translates into a noticeable performance improvement, and also in the support of state-of-the-art technologiesas well as the introduction of highly anticipated new functions and features.
The list is also huge, but among the most interesting we can highlight the compatibility with FreeSync technology, the support up to four displaysfull integration of DisplayPort 2 and HDMI 2.1 standards, wide color gamut support, and ray tracing acceleration support.
In the attached image we can see the diagram of a computing unit based on the RDNA2 architecture, with the shaders on the right, the programmers, the shader cache and on the right we have the ray tracing accelerators and texturing units. This architecture not only offers better performance, but is also more efficient, and is completely DirectX 12 Ultimate compatible.
AMD has confirmed that the top-of-the-range version, the Radeon 680M, will be used in the more powerful AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs (series 7 and 9), and that it will have up to 12 compute units (768 shaders) running at a maximum of 2 .4 GHz. Its maximum power will be 3.4 TFLOPs in FP32and thanks to the LPDDR5 memory, the bandwidth increases by 50%, which will allow this GPU to better develop its real potential.
Well, what does this mean for the user? Well, such a big performance improvement that, according to AMD, double the previous generation.
Connecting the dots: Performance and generational advances that mark the AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs
The AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs represent a step in the right direction by AMD, and it is clear that they mark a very important evolution over the Ryzen 5000U APUs. We can synthesize that evolution around five fundamental pillars:
- Double the graphics performance, thanks to the RDNA2 architecture and LPDDR5 memory.
- A highly scalable generation, introducing configurations of up to 28 watts in its “U” series.
- More performance and more efficiency, thanks to the improvements that AMD has introduced at the architecture level.
- The 6nm node represents a notable improvement, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, since it makes possible greater performance and an improvement in terms of autonomy that opens the doors, in theory, to a maximum of 24 hours of autonomy per battery charge. battery.
- A first-rate platform, compatible with all the latest generation standards, and with advanced features, such as active noise cancellation.
In the attached image you can see all the models of AMD Ryzen 6000 APUs that will be available, as well as their different configurations. The «H» series is aimed at the high performance solutions; the «HS» series is aimed at the slim but high performance PCs; and finally we have the “U” series, which focuses on the thin and light laptops.
As far as performance is concerned, the tests carried out by AMD confirm that the Ryzen 6000 APUs have everything to achieve a true turning point in the sector. You can expand the gallery that you will find at the end of these lines to see different tests of performance, and autonomy. Major notebook builders like ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, Razer and AlienWare have already confirmed that they will use these new AMD APUs.
