The artificial intelligence (AI) boom continues to go strong, and AMD is committed to the cause. The company has unveiled its new Ryzen 8040 series processors, leveraging on its proprietary AI engine to bring even more processing efficiency to users.
Building on the AMD-branded XDNA architecture, this latest range of laptop chips is set to take things a step further. It touts up 1.8 times increase in gaming performance as compared to its Intel Core i9-13900H counterparts, as well as faster speeds of up to 1.4 times for content creation – made possible through a neural processing unit (NPU) tile on its die. All primary computer manufacturers now include an NPU, with the Ryzen 7040 series being the first in AMD’s lineup to feature the XDNA NPU architecture.
As with its predecessor, not all models will offer XDNA with built in AI Engines. The bottom two of the stack, the Ryzen 3 8440U and Ryzen 5 8540U, won’t have it. All processors feature the Zen 4 CPU and RDNA 3 GPU architecture, alongside each of these three integrated graphics cards: Radeon 740M, Radeon 760M, and Radeon 780M.
Here’s an overview of the new chips:
| Max Boost (GHz) | Core | Threads | Power class | Integrated graphics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 8945HS | 5.2 | 8 | 16 | 35-54W | Radeon 780M |
| Ryzen 7 8845HS | 5.1 | 8 | 16 | 35-54W | Radeon 780M |
| Ryzen 7 8840HS | 5.1 | 8 | 16 | 20-30W | Radeon 780M |
| Ryzen 7 8840U | 5.1 | 8 | 16 | 15-30W | Radeon 780M |
| Ryzen 5 8645HS | 5 | 6 | 12 | 35-54W | Radeon 760M |
| Ryzen 5 8640HS | 4.9 | 6 | 12 | 20-30W | Radeon 760M |
| Ryzen 5 8640U | 4.9 | 6 | 12 | 15-30W | Radeon 760M |
| Ryzen 5 8540U | 4.9 | 6 | 12 | 15-30W | Radeon 740M |
| Ryzen 3 8440U | 4.7 | 4 | 8 | 15-30W | Radeon 740M |
The AMD Ryzen 8040 series is expected to be available in Q1 2024. Later in the year, the company is also set to roll out the next generation of its NPU architecture, XDNA 2, for its new AMD Ryzen AI processors, which claims three times better performance for generative AI.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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