Skip to main content

AMD Zen 6 chips could be here sooner than you think

AMD's roadmap for Ryzen AI.
AMD

Last month at Computex, AMD announced its Zen 5-based desktop and mobile processors, set for launch later this month. Shortly after this announcement, details about their successor, code-named “Medusa,” have emerged. According to leaks, Medusa will be part of the Zen 6 lineup and is expected to be released in late 2025, contrary to earlier rumors of a 2026 launch.

Sources cited by YouTuber Moore’s Law Is Dead suggest AMD plans to finalize the Zen 6 architecture by Q2 2025, with production possibly beginning later that year. Another source confirmed Medusa as a Zen 6 product, potentially targeting both laptops and the desktop AM5 platform. Additionally, Strix Halo and Medusa Halo, based on Zen 5 and Zen 6 architectures, are expected to use TSMC’s N3E (enhanced 3nm process).

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 with the updated AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX CPU with key highlights at Computex 2024.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

AMD’s product naming conventions include “Ridge” for desktop products, “Point” for mobile parts, and “Halo” for extreme mobile variants. Under the Zen 5 architecture, Granite Ridge is for desktops, and Strix Point is for mobile. The Strix Halo product, however, has not yet officially appeared, likely due to TSMC’s 3nm process challenges.

Recommended Videos

Initially, AMD planned to launch Zen 5 on the 3nm node for both Strix Point and Strix Halo. However, issues with chiplets and TSMC’s delays forced AMD to stick to 4nm for Strix Point. Despite this, Strix Halo is expected to launch later this year with a 3nm design, aiming to compete with Intel’s Lunar Lake, featuring an improved neural processing unit (NPU).

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Given Moore’s Law Is Dead’s track record with accurate leaks, these rumors hold some credibility, but should still be approached with caution.

New notebooks featuring AMD’s Ryzen 300 AI Strix Point processors are anticipated to start shipping later this month from major OEMs. Meanwhile, Ryzen 9000 desktop parts are also expected to hit shelves soon, with a leaked starting price of $310.

Kunal Khullar
Kunal Khullar is a computing writer at Digital Trends who contributes to various topics, including CPUs, GPUs, monitors, and…
I have a theory on how the PS5 Pro could actually outclass PCs
The PS5 Pro suspended in air.

Without a doubt, the PlayStation 5 Pro is the most powerful game console we've ever seen. It's set to launch next week, promising "45% faster rendering" on the back of a beefier graphics card and faster memory. It won't be enough to outclass a proper gaming desktop packing one of the best graphics cards -- not even close. But the PS5 Pro could have an edge over PCs in one area.

I say "could" because we really don't know. AMD pointed me to Sony, and Sony hasn't returned my request for comment about the specifics under the hood of the PS5 Pro. I have some hints, however, and if you'll indulge a little speculation, I have some interesting theories about how the PS5 Pro might have an edge over even powerful gaming PCs.
The PS5 Pro's secret weapon

Read more
AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D is official, and it shakes things up in a big way
Pads on the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

We all knew it was coming. A string of rumors over the past several months has pointed to AMD releasing the Ryzen 7 9800X3D on November 7, but the company itself just confirmed the new CPU. It's looking for a spot among the best processors, packing 3D V-Cache on top of an eight-core Zen 5 CPU in order to improve gaming performance.

True to rumors we've seen this week, AMD is pricing the CPU at $479, which is nearly $30 more expensive than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. AMD claims that the new chip provides an average gaming increase of 8% over the last-gen CPU, and 20% faster gaming performance compared to Intel's recent Core Ultra 9 285K. In addition, AMD says that minimum frame rates are up, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D improving 1% lows in The Last of Us Part One by 31%.

Read more
AMD could swipe some of the best features of Nvidia GPUs
AMD logo on the RX 7800 XT graphics card.

Nvidia overwhelmingly dominates the list of the best graphics cards, and that largely comes down to its feature set that's been enabled through DLSS. AMD isn't sitting idly by, however. The company is researching new ways to leverage neural networks to enable real-time path tracing on AMD graphics cards -- something that, up to this point, has only really been possible on Nvidia GPUs.

AMD addressed the research in a blog post on GPUOpen, saying that the goal is "moving towards real-time path tracing on RDNA GPUs." Nvidia already uses AI accelerators on RTX graphics cards to upscale an image via DLSS, but AMD is focused on a slightly different angle of performance gains -- denoising.

Read more