AMD teases new 'Dragon Range' CPUs for high-end gaming laptops
With the release of its Q1 2022 financial results, AMD also revealed plans for its upcoming Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 series laptop CPUs, as seen in a slide tweeted by former Anandtech editor Dr. Ian Cutress. It's planning to target "extreme gaming laptops" with the new "Dragon Range" series, promising the "highest core, thread and cache ever for a mobile gaming CPU." It also unveiled the Phoenix series for thin and light gaming laptops.
Well there we go, @AMD Dragon Range replaces the HX market, DDR5. Phoenix in the more traditional H market, LPDDR5 only. Process node not mentioned. Graphics not mentioned. $AMDpic.twitter.com/4BCYQSMe1z
— ????????. ???????????? ???????????????????????????? (@IanCutress) May 3, 2022
The Dragon Range features a >55 watt TDP and is designed for laptops thicker than 20mm that are largely designed to be used while plugged in, The Verge reported. They'll feature a PCIe 5 architecture and DDR5 RAM, though some models could work with more efficient but lower performing LPDDR5, AMD told Cutress.
As with the Ryzen 9 4900HS chip, the Dragon Range will use the "HS" suffix. Despite the relatively high 55 watt TDP, they'll be "notably more power efficient than other laptops in that competing timeframe," according to AMD's technical marketing director, Robert Hallock.
Along with the Dragon Range, AMD will launch the Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 "Phoenix" series APUs designed for thin and light laptops under 20mm thick with 35-45 watt TDPs. Those will also use a PCIe 5 architecture, but come primarily with LPDDR5 RAM. As with the Dragon Range, some models could employ DDR5 memory, too.
Ryzen 7000 will launch first on desktop later this year with the the Raphael series, replacing the Ryzen 5000 lineup. Those will be the first Zen 4, AM5 platform chips using TSMC's 5-nanometer process node to come to the mainstream market. AMD didn't reveal other details about the Dragon Range and Phoenix laptop chips, but they're expected to launch sometime in 2023.
On the earnings side, AMD beat market expectations with revenue at $5.89 billion, a 71 percent boost in sales year-over-year. It also said that starting next quarter, it will break out gaming into a separate financial segment showing sales of chips for consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X, etc.) plus Radeon graphics for PCs as part of a single gaming business, separate from Ryzen chips. The company will explain all that in more detail next month.