Rumour has it that Samsung and AMD may be parting ways after the next Exynos 2500 processor. The duo have been co-developing the GPU technology being used in the Exynos processors for a while now. Samsung, in particular, hasn’t had the best run when it comes to Exynos processors either. The processors have garnered a rather lacklustre reputation for being slow and prone to overheating. However, with the recent release of the Exynos 2400 in the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+, the processors have garnered quite the furore thanks to it outperforming the competition.
So, why are Samsung and AMD reportedly parting ways? Well, rumours are stating that Samsung isn’t too happy with the partnership. While details are stark on why Big Blue is wary, it also seems like the company has begun development of its own GPU for future processors. This doesn’t include the upcoming Exynos 2500 which is apparently well underway and will use Samsung’s updated 3nm process.
The Xclipse GPU first debuted with the Exynos 2200 and was a huge turning point when it came to performance. The RDNA-based GPU was geared to improve the graphical performance of Exynos touting phones while laying the gauntlet for Qualcomm’s Adreno GPUs. It brought along features like ray-tracing to up the ante when it came to mobile gaming. More recently, the Xclipse GPU has made it to the midrange processors. Samsung’s new Exynos 1480 featured on the Galaxy A55 5G also features an Xclipse 530 GPU.
It’s not just about the partnership. Samsung seems to be gearing up to retire the Exynos branding altogether. Perhaps, big blue is looking to adopt Apple’s approach of designing and manufacturing the processors and SoCs used on their devices. There is no word yet on whether the rumours are true but they do come from reliable sources in the community.
Samsung announced its brand new Galaxy A series only weeks ago. One of the biggest upgrades when it comes to the Galaxy A55 is its system on a chip (SoC)- the Exynos 1480. However, there wasn’t much known about the SoC until now. The new Exynos 1480 is Samsung’s Foundry’s new midrange hero when it comes to processors.
The new processor is built using Samsung’s new 4nm process. This has resulted in the processor being more power efficient and also more power than the Exynos 1380 before it. The new 1480 is an octacore comes with a new configuration of four Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.75GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. This setup of four performance cores (Cortex-A78) and four efficiency cores (Cortex-A55) allows the processor to deliver better performance at lower power drains and also keep base power drains at lower level than before. This lends itself to better battery life and better overall performance.
The Exynos 1480 is Samsung’s first midrange Exynos chip to come with the Xclipse graphics system. The Xclipse 530 GPU on the SoC uses AMD’s RDNA architecture. Although, it’s not clear if it’s using RDNA2 or RDNA3 as the website only states that its using the “latest mobile RDNA architecture”. The new Xclipse 530 GOU boasts a 53% performance improvement over the previous generation. It also supports ray tracing (variable rate shading) and supersampling (super resolution). This promises better gaming and graphical performance in devices using the Exynos 1480.
On device AI is becoming increasingly more important for devices regardless of whether they are flagships, midrange or entry-level. To that end, the Exynos 1480 is coming with an improved AI Engine that runs on an enhanced NPU. This combination is responsible for a near 4x improvement of NPU performance over its predecessor. This feature also helps reinforce the security of your data on your device as it reduces the need for data to leave the device to be processed. It also results in smoother, more fluid AI functions.
The new processor also comes with a 5G modem that supports both mmWave and sub-6GHz bandwidths. It boasts a download theorectical maximum download speed of up to 5.1Gbps which is twice the speed as the previous generation. It also supports WiFi 6E (ax), Bluetooth 5.3 LE and GNSS positioning.
When it comes to image processing, the Exynos 1480 comes has a pretty capable ISP (image singal processor). It supports up to 200-megapixel in single camera mode, a single 64-megapixel at camera with 4K video record at 30fps or dual camera setup with dual 32-megapixel sensors that support 4K recording at 60fps. Display-wise, it supports a Full HD+ display with a max refresh rate of 144 Hz. It also supports high speed RAM with the LPDDR4x and LPDDR5.
So far, only the Samsung Galaxy A55 is using the smartphone. It won’t be surprising to see the processor make it to more devices as the year progresses.
If you pay attention to the Steam’s charts and survey, you will find that Full HD resolution is still the most common and popular gaming resolution available. While there are plenty of 4K resolution displays on offer, Full HD and 1440p gaming still offer the best value for the gaming community. While the biggest chunk of gamers; more than 60% of Steam users in fact, games at 1080p Full HD resolution, there are also more players moving on to the 1440p platform due to the decreasing costs of high-resolution monitors. We also think that 1440p resolution is quite perfect for PC gaming.
The thing is for you to game at 1440p resolution smoothly, you cannot rely on one of those entry-level GPU. Before you go off buying the highest end GPU for your PC though, you also want to take note that 1440p does not require you to spend that kind of fortune either. You can do more than enough with mid-range GPUs these days. That is the whole purpose of AMD’s latest Radeon RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT anyway.
The new AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT are made to replace the aging AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT and RX 6800 XT with their own sets of improvements. While the older Radeon RX 6000 GPUs are proven to be capable mid-range to high-end GPUs for immersive 1440p gaming, they are based on old RDNA 2 technology announced in 2020. It is 2023, it is time to modernize.
AMD’s Radeon RX 7000 series GPU is not exactly new, but it was limited to the highest end GPU they have so far, the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX GPUs. These new RDNA 3 GPUs are made mostly for 4K resolution gaming, a little overkill for 1440p gaming. The new RDNA 3 GPU series GPUs do come with some practical benefits to gamers for the modern age though. HDMI 2.1 for example for high resolution and speedy displays. They also include AV1 transcoding capabilities for more multifaceted functions like high-speed, low-latency streaming.
Those technologies now trickle down to AMD’s mid-range GPUs in the RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT. Of course, the new GPUs also come with other improvements to make 1440p gaming better than ever before.
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Other than AMD’s RDNA 3 technology, and the HDMI 2.1 ports, and AV1 transcoding capabilities, the RX 7800 XT comes strangely with less compute cores than before at 60 compared to 72 units from the RX 6800 XT before. There are also 60 ray tracing accelerators on the new GPU compared to the 72 from its predecessor. There is now 120 AI cores on the GPU for even better upscaling performance with AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 (FSR 3 for short). With FSR 3, you can technically use the RX 7800 XT for 4K gaming too at up to 120 fps if you have a capable resolution.
Despite the lower core count, the Radeon RX 7800 XT’s 60 compute cores are capable of higher clocks. The GPU clocks at a minimum of 2,124 MHz over the 2,015 MHz of the older GPU. At boost, the RX 7800 XT clocks at 2,430 MHz over the 2,250 MHz of its predecessor. You get the same 16GB GDDR6 memory as before though, which means you will not get the benefit of a faster GDDR6X memory. Still, the faster clock speed from the GPU also means that it performs better than before at least according to AMD’s own tests.
Less compute scores also means that the Radeon RX 7800 XT consumes less power than its predecessor though. Instead of the 300W before, the new GPU consumes 263W, at least 10% less than before, meaning you can save a little bit on your monthly electricity bills. While DisplayPort 1.4a was a good and capable port, AMD also replaced it with DisplayPort 2.1 interface for future-proofing.
AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT
The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT gets all the technologies that the RX 7800 XT. You get the HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1, RDNA 3, and AV1 transcoding capability as the more premium GPU. The Radeon RX 7700 XT is a cheaper GPU though, so there are some trade-offs to settle with.
There are less compute units at 54 units instead of 60. It is more than the 40 units from the previous GPU though. There are more RT accelerators than before too at 54 compared to 40 of the RX 6700 XT. While that means a much more capable GPU over the older Radeon RX 6700 XT, the new RX 7700 XT picks up more power than before at 245W power consumption over the 230W from before.
There is still the same 12GB of GDDR6 RAM than you see on the previous RX 6700 XT, which is not entirely surprising. The slightly odd thing is that the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT’s RDNA 3 compute units are clocked slightly slower than before at 2,171 MHz at base and up to 2,544 MHz at boost. Still, the extra cores should help the GPU trundle things along nicely.
Availability
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
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Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
Source: AMD
AMD did not mention the exact pricing of the newly announced GPUs. They also did not mention anything about producing reference cards on their own. They mentioned that the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT GPUs will be available from board partners like ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, Gigabyte, PowerColor, Sapphire, Vastarmor, XFX, and Yeston from the 6th of September 2023 onward. More information the new GPUs can be found on AMD’s website.
A few days ago, NVIDIA released their GeForce RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti to cater to gamers who are playing games on Full HD 1080p resolution. At US$ 299 (MYR 1,381*), they are still rather expensive to upgrade to. There are of course the benefits that come with an NVIDIA GPU like Ray Tracing engine, DLSS, and a myriad of support from NVIDIA. But what if US$ 299 is still a little rich for you? What if you want to spend a little bit less on your GPUs to get more bang out of the buck for your Full HD gaming rig? We offer you the AMD Radeon RX 7600.
Yes, this is the official replacement for the AMD Radeon RX 6600. Being a Radeon RX 7000 class GPU, the RX 7600 comes with RDNA 3 architecture as standard. That not only means improved GPU performance, but also improved ray tracing and upscaling (FidelityFX Super Resolution) engines. There is also an AI core in there somewhere that is not being utilized as of now, but that may come handy later. The new GPU also comes with AMD’s clever second-generation Infinity Cache technology that should prove useful in gaming and content creation situations.
It is designed to play games at Full HD, and better at that than the older GPU (obviously). At that, AMD claims a 29% performance bump over the Radeon RX 6600 on average. They also claim that the RX 7600 performs about 34% better than the older NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB on average. With the new RDNA 3 architecture, they also claim that the GPU can push past 100fps in esports titles on Full HD resolution. You also have the advantage of AV1 support for better streaming experiences and DisplayPort 2.1 support for higher resolution displays. Then again, you might want to stick with Full HD resolution for this one.
At the heart of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 are 32 compute units with RDNA 3 technology. That is 4 compute units more than the older RX 6600 with RDNA 2. It still only comes with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, which they claim is enough for high-fidelity Full HD gaming and even upscaling to 1440p. The compute units are also clocked higher at 2.25GHz compared to the 2.04GHz from before. While that guarantees the bump in performance, it also means that the GPU draws more power than before at 165W TGP.
Price and Availability
The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is said to be available from AMD and their board partners today onward. AMD suggests a retail price of US$ 269 (MYR 1,243*) onward, but the prices will vary across manufacturers. Of course, you can expect manufacturers like ASUS and ASRock to come up with their “overclocked” versions of the GPU soon after. There are no indications on a 16GB variant anytime soon too, so if you are holding out for a 16GB AMD entry-level GPU, you might want to hold out a little bit longer for either their RX 7700 or RX 7800 to come out. More on AMD’s Radeon RX 7600 GPU can be found on their website.
*Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.62 as of 25/05/2023 on xe.com
NVIDIA has been leading the trail when it comes to GPU technology. To be fair, they are still the leaders in consumer level GPU with the very powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU leading the charge. In the professional workspace though, the story is a little different.
In the professional space, GPU requirements are a little different. The GPUs are not rendering polygons for a gaming environment. They need a lot more from the GPU than just loading maps and characters. In the professional environment, they need the GPUs for 3D world creations in game development, fluid dynamics in auto and aerospace industries, and even more. Users in this space need specific things from their GPU, and they will pick the best GPU for their specific needs.
In many cases, plenty of professionals rely on the AMD Radeon PRO GPUs. Previously they had the AMD Radeon PRO W6000 series professional GPUs. With those, the movie Terminator: Dark Fate was made. There is a new one though, a much more powerful one compared to the GPUs that made Terminator: Dark Fate. They call it the AMD Radeon PRO W7000 series.
Within the series, they introduced two GPUs, the Radeon PRO W7900 and Radeon PRO W7800. In their own rights, these are AMD’s most powerful GPUs to date. For the professionals, these could be the most powerful GPUs they have got their hands on so far.
AMD Radeon PRO W7800
Source: AMD
For starters, the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 brings with it the technology packed in the AMD Radeon 7000 series GPUs – RDNA 3 architecture. RDNA 3 architecture was proven to be plenty more powerful and efficient than the previous RDNA 2 technology. Of course, it is also a beefier GPU than before for even more performance in professional workloads. The Radeon PRO W7800 packs 70 compute units, 10 more than the Radeon PRO W6800 it replaces. The compute units are based on TSMC’s 5nm technology too, making the GPU more efficient than before at 260W TBP.
The GDDR6 RAM remains the same as the previous GPU at 32GB. At 64MB of cache though, the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 packs less cache than before. Still, at least the RAM is faster at 576 GB/s transfer speeds over the 512GB/s of the W6800 GPU for even better real-world performances.
The GPU is fitted with the latest DisplayPort 2.1 technology to take advantage of the most advanced displays you can find in the industry. The Radeon PRO W7800 also finally comes with AV1 encoding and decoding capabilities for an even better video and audio editing workflows. But it is not just the DisplayPort 2.1 and AV1 that makes the Radeon PRO W7000 series GPU process work faster than before. It also packs a new AI engine that is supposed to be twice as powerful as before. It also packs AMD’s second-generation raytracing engine that is more powerful than before. While raytracing is still NVIDIA’s forte, you can be sure that AMD is not just sitting still behind.
The new Radeon PRO W7000 series is also designed to work with AMD’s latest and greatest Threadripper processors. With Infinity Cache technology, the GPU and CPU can share cache to ensure that there is less in the way of bottlenecks. At the same time, with then new AMD Software: PRO Edition, AMD ensures that the Radeon PRO GPUs are more reliable than ever.
AMD Radeon PRO W7900
Source: AMD
If the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 does not cut it, there is an even more powerful workstation GPU now. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900, as they call it, packs even more punch than the already powerful Radeon PRO W7800. It has 26 more RDNA 3 compute cores at 96 compared to the W7800’s 70. It is even more powerful with capabilities to perform 61 TFOPS precision calculations compared to 45 TFLOPS. It has 48GB of GDDR6 RAM with even more bandwidth at 864GB/s. Of course, with all this increase in power, the power consumption tends to be higher too at 295W TBP.
They say that the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 workstation GPU is so powerful that you can publish or render your work in the background while accessing other work at the same time without ever slowing down either. With more power as well, the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 works much faster than the W7800 in all sorts of workflows, in theory at least. If you wish to also, both the AMD Radeon PRO W7800 and Radeon PRO W7900 are AMD Remote Workstation capable, meaning you can work off any laptops anywhere in the world using the power of the Radeon PRO GPUs remotely.
Price and Availability
Where the AMD Radeon GPUs might be a clever choice for professionals is the price. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 and Radeon PRO W7800 are available for US$ 3,999 (MYR *) and US$ 2,499 (MYR *) respectively. It will be available to users in the coming months of 2023. For more information on the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 and Radeon PRO 7800, you can visit their website.
Technically, this is not the first we heard of Samsung partnering with AMD to bring Radeon graphics into the mobile space. AMD technically licensed their RDNA architecture to Samsung in 2019. That partnership gave birth to something called the Samsung Xclipse, a mobile GPU with AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture built into it. It was the first of the world’s mobile GPU with ray-tracing and variable rate shading capabilities. It was also rumoured to match the performances of modern gaming consoles.
Samsung Xclipse did not see the light of day in our everyday products though. While we expected Samsung to integrate the product in to their Samsung Galaxy S flagship smartphones and Galaxy Tab S tablets, it never really happened. Instead, the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy Tab S line-up today features a third-party Qualcomm Snapdragon system on a chip (SoC). You will not be able to opt for Samsung’s in-house Exynos chips with the flagship devices too globally, because that high-end Exynos chip does not exist as of yet.
That might change in the coming iterations of Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab S device though. As per the title, Samsung has just signed a new licensing agreement with AMD. This agreement is not a renewal, but rather an expansion of the original agreement with AMD. The expansion now allows Samsung to integrate AMD’s Radeon RDNA architecture into an expanded portfolio, that includes more Exynos chips. This is where it could get interesting.
The expansion could allow Samsung to integrate the RDNA 2, or even RDNA 3 technology into their latest Exynos chips. While Samsung has yet to reveal a high-end world beater SoC, they are putting their Exynos chips into mid-range smartphones. You could potentially get a Samsung Galaxy A series smartphone with RDNA 2 or even RDNA 3 built into their Exynos platform. That also means that Samsung could boast console level gaming experience on their more accessible mid-range smartphone series. In that case, their mid-range smartphones could be a lot more appealing than flagship smartphone if all you are looking for in your smartphone is raw processing power.
The expansion could also mean that Samsung has been holding back on high-end Exynos chips because they have been working with AMD behind closed doors to offer that fabled Exynos SoC with RDNA 2 or even RDNA 3 graphics architecture in tow. In which case, they might have bragging rights in introducing the world’s first flagship smartphone that is capable of hardware ray-tracing and variable rate shading. You will also get console level gaming experience out of the device, obviously.
The thing is, we are not expecting to see the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold series with Samsung’s Exynos with AMD Radeon graphics in tow anytime soon. The soonest we can expect to see the AMD Radeon name gracing a Samsung Galaxy device is probably in 2024, with the Samsung Galaxy S24. Even that is a far-fetched speculation we think and a very early one at that. All we can do currently is wait.
AMD’s CES keynote was quite a big one. No, they did not make p15 product announcements. More like they launched just one line-up of small chips to go into small and portable products, and one huge chip meant to go into huge servers you never want to see the inside of the next 10 years. They launched the AMD Ryzen 7000 series for mobile computing devices. Yes, they did launch new Epyc server class processors, but we think that it is worth a story of its own.
Welcome to the latest AMD mobile processor experience. This time AMD launched a few series of Ryzen 7000 processors. You have the AMD Ryzen 7045HX, Ryzen 7040HS, Ryzen 7035, and Ryzen 7030 series processors. There are also AMD Ryzen PRO 7030 series processors designed for the corporate world too.
The AMD Ryzen 7030 Series
Meant to find their way to the budget options, the AMD Ryzen 7030 series processors are really meant to be entry-level powerhouses. You get to opt for up to the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U with up to eight cores and 16 threads. All eight cores are finished with AMD’s 7nm Zen 3 architecture. The Zen 3 architecture may be a previous generation technology, but it is still a highly popular architecture that has proven itself over time.
With constrained budget, most entry-level laptops will not feature their own discrete GPU. That is why the AMD Ryzen 7030 packs its own Radeon graphics that will prove to be useful in both gaming and productivity situations. Then there are the AMD Ryzen PRO 7030 series.
The PRO processors have always been made for corporate laptops. They are more like the older Ryzen PRO 5000 series processor than the newer generation Zen 4 processors. Like the regular AMD Ryzen 7030, they pack 7nm Zen 3 architecture instead of the new Zen 4. While they will perform the same as the regular Ryzen 7030, their added security layer buikt into the chip itself should set itself apart from other AMD Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors.
The AMD Ryzen 7035 Series
Coming up the ladder is AMD’s 6nm processors with up to eight cores and 16 threads on the Ryzen 7035HS. It is the Zen 3+ technology that took the Zen 3 architecture and improved its power efficiency and general processing speed despite similar general architectures. It is designed for productivity machines that are meant to go everywhere. The first of many will be HP’s Dragonfly PRO coming soon. While not at the lowest end of AMD’s latest processors for the mobile computer, the AMD Ryzen 7035 series still aims to impress at a great value.
The AMD Ryzen 7040HS Series
Coming to the more performance focused space is the AMD Ryzen 7040HS processors starting from the Ryzen 5 7640HS processor with six cores and 12 threads. You can opt for a higher end Ryzen 9 7940HS processor with eight cores and 16 threads too.
The Ryzen 7040HS series comes with AMD’s latest Zen 4 architecture for best-in-class performance in modern thin-and-light laptops. The Zen 4 processor also comes built-in with RDNA 3 Radeon graphics too so that you can game even without a discrete GPU.
The AMD Ryzen 7045HX Series
If you want the best of the best, you want AMD’s latest Ryzen 7045HX series processors. Of course, it comes with AMD’s latest 5nm Zen 4 technology. The range-topping AMD Ryzen 9 7945Hz also comes with up 16 cores alongside 32 threads. They clock up to to 5.4GHz on boost and this class of mobile processors will be the closest thing to desktop computing experience you can get on laptops. That said, this could also be the most powerful laptop processors you can find when you get your hands on one.
Because you are going to want to carry your powerhouse of a laptop, the processor must be power efficient too. The most powerful processors in the range consumes up to 75W. In that case, you might see some laptops with AMD’s Ryzen 7045HX processors that can be charged with 100W USB type-C chargers. Of course, you will not be able to use the laptop with its discrete GPU, if it comes with one.
Availability
AMD’s latest Ryzen 7000 series processors for mobile devices will be coming through 2023 from AMD’s manufacturing partners like Lenovo, HP, ASUS, and maybe even Razer. Alongside the new mobile processors, AMD also launched the new AMD Ryzen 9 7800X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and AMD Ryzen 7950X3D processors as a sort of 3D V-Cache technology upgrade to AMD’s existing line up of desktop processors. You can find more information on AMD’s latest Ryzen processors on their website.
