AMD Next-Gen Kraken Point APUs To Target Mainstream Laptops, Feature 8 Cores Based on Zen 5 & Zen 5C

25.01.2024 - 23:30 / wccftech.com / Hassan Mujtaba

AMD's next-gen Kraken Point APUs are reportedly going to feature a combination of Zen 5 and Zen 5C cores alongside the RDNA 3.5 GPU core.

AMD Kraken Point APUs To Target Mainstream Arrow Lake CPUs: Hybrid Zen 5 & Zen 5C CPU Cores & RDNA 3.5 GPU Cores

AMD's 2024 laptop lineup is going to be very extensive with Hawk Point hitting retail in February and Strix Point hitting retail in the second half of 2024. Meanwhile, AMD also has its more premium chips for 2025 which come in the form of Strix Point Halo, Fire Range, and Kraken Point. This broad portfolio of APUs will be tackling Intel's Arrow Lake, Lunar Lake, and future Panther Lake chips that will be offered in the same mobility segment.

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For Kraken Point, it is expected to enter the laptop market in the more mainstream segment. While Strix Point Halo would feature up to 16 cores and Strix Point standard would feature up to 12 cores, Kraken Point will be offered in 8 core configuration but utilize the same hybrid Zen 5 and Zen 5C cores for the CPU and an RDNA 3.5 GPU for integrated graphics.

The cores will be split into 4 Zen 5 and 4 Zen 5C configurations with the Zen 5 cores operating at higher clock speeds while the Zen 5C cores offer the same ISA but slightly lower clocks to maintain their higher efficiency. Based on previous information, we know that Zen 5 is codenamed Nirvana while Zen 5C is codenamed Prometheus.

As for the GPU, the RDNA 3.5 integrated graphics will likely bring with it some nice efficiency & clock speed improvement. The good thing about Kraken Point is that laptop manufacturers won't have to do a lot of homework to make these chips compatible with existing platforms since Strix Point and Kraken Point will mostly be the same design besides some minor changes. These chips will also get the latest XDNA 2 "Ryzen AI" engine with almost 50 TOPs of AI NPU performance which will be best for the AI PC ecosystem.

Besides Kraken Point, previous information has also suggested that AMD will be releasing a refresh of its Hawk Point APUs known as Escher which will serve the $500-$800 US segment. Both chips are targeting a 2025 launch so we won't hear much about them till the next CES but that's also when Intel is expected to officially take the lid off its Arrow Lake CPUs so stay tuned.

AMD Ryzen Mobility CPUs: