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AMD might miss the big upgrade for next-gen gaming laptops

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The AMD Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU stickers on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 laptop.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

AMD’s upcoming Zen 5-based Fire Range CPUs have finally broken cover, and we learned an interesting detail about the upcoming CPUs designed for gaming laptops. The CPUs are said to use the same FL1 packaging as Ryzen 7040HX CPUs, known as Dragon Range, according to a reputable leaker on the Weibo forums.

Pin-to-pin compatibility has been a big deal for AMD, not only for wider adoption in desktops, but also for easier upgrades in laptops. Although this is just a rumor, it certainly fits within AMD’s strategy for gaming laptops. The problem is that AMD can ship these CPUs too quickly, and potentially miss out on the big GPU upgrade we expect to see in gaming laptops next year with RTX 50-series GPUs.

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Don’t get Fire Range CPUs confused with the crop of Ryzen AI 300 CPUs that are launching in a matter of days. Although both use the Zen 5 architecture, Fire Range are higher-powered chips specifically targeting gaming laptops. Generally, we expect to see these follow a few months after the initial batch of CPUs from AMD. However, AMD has certainly played with its release cadence for laptops in the past, so it’s not a done deal that we’ll see Fire Range before the end of the year.

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The timeline is less critical for AMD and more critical for laptop makers. If Fire Range is pin-to-pin compatible, laptop builders will be able to drop in a new Fire Range CPU without any changes to the internal design. Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs likely won’t be a drop-in replacement, forcing laptop builders to redesign the internals of their machines.

It’s a bit of awkward timing, but that’s not to say we won’t eventually see Fire Range CPUs inside gaming laptops packing an RTX 50-series GPU. We probably will once these laptops roll out. The first Fire Range machines, however, will likely still use RTX 40-series GPUs — and that’s especially true if we see them before the end of the year.

Right now, it’s unclear if Nvidia will launch its RTX 50-series GPUs at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. We know they’re on the way, however. Desktop always arrives first for Nvidia, so unless it’s massively changing its launch strategy, we don’t suspect mobile RTX 50-series GPUs to show up until a few months after the first desktop cards are here.

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Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
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