AMD is continuing its efforts to produce powerful APUs according to a new leak. The Strix Halo could result in a big upgrade for laptops and handhelds of the future.
Though the Strix Halo APU has not yet been confirmed officially by AMD, some interesting information has begun to leak out regarding what consumers can expect from the successor to the Strix Point, which is due to launch in July 2024.
According to Videocardz, the leak comes from shipping manifests. It indicates that AMD has started testing a new reference platform for Strix Halo which utilizes the FP11 socket. The FP11 platform supports up to 120W power, and more significantly up to 128GB of memory. Previous tests of Strix Halo have only included 64GB and 32GB versions.
Leaked documents have suggested that Strix Halo will be capable of supporting a 256-bit memory bus and LPDDR5-800 memory. Strix Halo uses AMD’s new Zen 5 architecture. However, the Strix Halo APU configuration does not include the memory in the package, which would mean larger boards would be required.
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This type of configuration has been used previously in laptops, though gaming laptops typically use a separate GPU and CPU. Though Strix Halo would not have the speed advantages of a high-end discrete GPU such as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 or 4090, it would have a smaller footprint and could potentially match the capabilities of the RTX 4070.
This could mean less complex designs for devices such as laptops and handhelds, which can improve reliability. The memory capability could also potentially make a big difference if the Strix Halo APU makes it into handhelds, improving the performance for the next generation of devices such as the Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally.