AMD is expected to launch it’s Ryzen 4000 APU lineup for both gaming laptops as well as the budget desktop space in early 2020. These CPUs dubbed “Renoir” will leverage the 7nm Zen 2 design instead of the 12nm Zen+ cores that the 3000 series Picasso chips feature. As such, you can expect a hefty single-core boost, better gaming performance as well as a more efficient TDP. The graphics side although supposedly will retain the Vega graphics core, it’ll be beefed up with a higher core count. We have some unofficial figures right here. Have a look:
AMD Ryzen 4000U Lineup for Low-power Notebooks
As per the Reddit source, AMD is planning to launch four Consumer APUs and their Pro counterparts:
| Revision | CU count | SKU TDP | Market | From product master leak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C1 | 1636_REV_C1 | 12 or 13 CUs (B12) | 15W | Consumer | RENOIR Ryzen 9 B12 15W FP6 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D1 | 1636_REV_D1 | 12 or 13 CUs (B12B) | 15W | Pro | RENOIR NB RYZEN 9 PRO B12B 15W FP6 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C2 | 1636_REV_C2 | 10 or 11 CUs (B10) | 15W | Consumer | |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D2 | 1636_REV_D2 | 10 or 11 CUs (B10B) | 15W | Pro | RENOIR NB RYZEN 7 PRO B10B 15W FP6 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C3 | 1636_REV_C3 | 8 or 9 CUs (B8) | 15W | Consumer | |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D3 | 1636_REV_D3 | 8 or 9 CUs (B8B) | 15W | Pro | RENOIR NB RYZEN 5 PRO B8B 15W FP6 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C4 | 1636_REV_C4 | 6 CUs (B6) | 15W | Consumer | |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D4 | 1636_REV_D4 | 6 CUs (B6B) | 15W | Pro | RENOIR NB RYZEN 3 PRO B6B 15W FP6 |
AMD Ryzen 4000H APU Lineup for Gaming Laptops
AMD is reportedly working on three consumer APUs and their Pro counterparts:
| Revision | CU count | SKU TDP | Market | From product master leak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C5 | 1636_REV_C5 | 12 or 13 CUs (B12) | 45W | Consumer | RENOIR NB RYZEN 9 B12 45W FP6 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D5 | 1636_REV_D5 | 12 or 13 CUs (B12B) | 45W | Pro | |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C6 | 1636_REV_C6 | 10 or 11 CUs (B10) | 45W | Consumer | RENOIR NB Ryzen 7 B10 45W FP6 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D6 | 1636_REV_D6 | 10 or 11 CUs (B10B) | 45W | Pro | |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C7 | 1636_REV_C7 | 8 or 9 CUs (B8) | 45W | Consumer | RENOIR NB RYZEN 5 B8 45W FP6 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D7 | 1636_REV_D7 | 8 or 9 CUs (B8B) | 45W | Pro |
Looking at the Vega iGPU, it’s clear that AMD is going all-in with its Renoir APUs. As many as 13 Compute units or 832 shaders: Higher than the even the desktop APU, the Ryzen 5 3400G which features only 11 CUs or 704 shaders. Let’s have a look at the desktop lineup:
AMD Ryzen 4000 Desktop APU Series
Traditionally, AMD has launched two APUs per generation. However, this time the company might bump that number to 3. We’re not sure what exactly will the third chip offer: More cores, better graphics or perhaps a combination of both. We also have a 6CU chip this time that’ll probably cost less than $100. These are all 65W SKUs. There is a low-power 35W product stack too, but I left those out as the only difference is with respect to the power and operating clocks.
Surprisingly the mobile parts have a faster GPU compared to the desktop parts. This is most likely because of the new Gen11 and Gen12 iGPUs from Intel that offer stiff resistance to AMD’s existing Ryzen 3000U APUs.
| Revision | CU count | SKU TDP | Market | From product master leak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C8 | 1636_REV_C8 | 10 or 11 CUs (B10) | 65W | Consumer | Desktop Ryzen 7 B10 65W AM4 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D8 | 1636_REV_D8 | 10 or 11 CUs (B10B) | 65W | Pro | Desktop Ryzen 7 PRO B10B 65W AM4 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics C9 | 1636_REV_C9 | 8 or 9 CUs (B8) | 65W | Consumer | Desktop Ryzen 5 B8 65W AM4 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics D9 | 1636_REV_D9 | 8 or 9 CUs (B8B) | 65W | Pro | Desktop Ryzen 5 PRO B8B 65W AM4 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics CA | 1636_REV_CA | 6 CUs (B6) | 65W | Consumer | Desktop Ryzen 3 B6 65W AM4 |
| AMD Radeon(TM) Renoir Graphics DA | 1636_REV_DA | 6 CUs (B6B) | 65W | Pro | Desktop Ryzen 3 PRO B6B 65W AM4 |
Sometimes rumors are close to the mark sometimes they are off like this one because an unforeseen technical development has opened up movement in a counter intuitive direction. Porting Vega CU’s to 7nm and enhancements make for a 56% improvement in performance. (I wonder if this development means there is a Vega future other than IGP- Arcturus still happening perhaps). This brings Vega CU performance close to Navi CU performance and makes 7 new Vega CU’s equivalent in performance to 11 old Vega CU’s. Increasing memory band width and decoupling infinity fabric from memory clock will help ease bottle necks for IGP. Next APU should be just a process port (to +7nm) which makes DDR5 at least two years away. DDR5 doubling memory band width should allow something like a 16 CU Navi (or next gen) Integrated Graphics processor and the 5nm process should allow for the size increase by doubling transistor density keeping die size under 150mm^2, that is of course barring unforeseen technical developments. Better gaming on a laptop with integrated graphics and using system memory but hardly a monster. Low end DGP becomes irrelevant. Power consumption of DDR5 and PCIE 4.0 might be a limiting factor.