AMD Ryzen 6000 Mobile: Rembrandt brings Zen 3+, RDNA 2, DDR5 and much more

Upgraded Zen 3 cores and, for the first time, up to 5 GHz clock, new RDNA 2 graphics for twice the performance, TSMC’s N6 production and a completely new platform with DDR5 / LPDDR5 support and USB 4, all of this is Rembrandt alias AMD Ryzen 6000 mobiles.

Zen 3 just got better

Zen 3+ is an optimized version of the known core, which is designed for efficiency and is therefore used in the notebook. AMD has a new power management framework in use, over 50 changes and also new instructions take effect in this environment alone, garnished with additional sleep modes for the CPU. The TSMC N6 manufacturing process, which already offers improvements from the outset, also helps to move up the efficiency curve.

The technical rest of the Zen3 + to Zen 3 is identical, there are still a maximum of eight cores for the APUs, and the combined L2 and L3 cache is up to 20 MB in size, as before.

In the end, these optimizations are reflected in the performance, because AMD consistently drives the newcomers with more clock than its predecessor. Eleven percent more performance in the single-core test of the new Ryzen 7 6800U compared to the predecessor Ryzen 7 5800U is primarily based on the fact that the newcomer is allowed to clock 300 MHz higher. In multi-core use, there are performance increases of almost 30 percent – this is where the efficiency increases come into play.

When it comes to saving electricity, the optimizations are even more visible. Light applications such as surfing the Internet, video conferences, but also streaming should consume significantly less energy than with Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne), AMD has determined savings of 15 to 40 percent here in the laboratory. Here AMD fires shots at Intel and explains that a performance core can also be more efficient at the same time – Intel Alder Lake has P and E cores for this.

Vega is finally retiring, takes over

After almost five years of Vega graphics in the notebook, AMD has finally made the leap to the next generation. RDNA is skipped directly, AMD relies on RDNA 2 and thus on the latest technology. But not only that. After AMD had gradually reduced the iGPU at Vega from 11 CUs to 8 CUs at Cezanne since Raven Ridge, there are again 12 CUs at the start with the new Rembrandt APU – “50 percent more CUs” are sold With the newcomer to the marketing embassy, ​​ray tracing support has also recently been better.

RDNA 2 not only means larger execution units, caches and increased memory bandwidth, but also – thanks to TSMC N6 – an even higher clock rate. Up to 2.4 GHz was never available ex works with integrated solutions. What the RDNA-2 solutions lack in the APU is an infinity cache. The new discrete graphics card Radeon RX 6300M ​​for notebooks, which has also been announced, will play in a completely different league thanks to presumably 8 MB Infinity Cache and native GDDR6 memory, despite the same number of shaders on paper.

In the class struggle of the iGPUs, Rembrandt is still clearly moving forward. Thanks to 50 percent more CUs, more clock and new architecture, twice the performance is almost set in many areas. As a result, here and there it can even be enough to endanger the smallest discrete graphics cards, although from the new year on, faster solutions will be built into the entry system and the bar will ultimately be raised overall.

For the first time, the iGPUs in Rembrandt will also be given new names. RDNA-2 variants with 12 CUs run as the Radeon 680M, the variants with 6 CUs as the Radeon 660M.

Significant platform update included

With Ryzen 6000 Mobile, AMD is also taking the platform to a new level. PCI Express 4.0 is not only offered for SSDs but also for graphics cards, USB 4 with up to 40 Gbit / s is also included. With classic DDR5-4800 and even LPDDR5-6400, the memory support offers the maximum currently available on the market without OC. On the multimedia front, too, the new APU does not miss anything that is already known from RDNA graphics cards, including AV1 decoding via hardware. Security has also been considered, Microsoft Pluton is represented as the security processor.

AMD Ryzen 6000 Mobile range of models

The overview of the new solutions from AMD looks chaotic at first glance, but ultimately it resembles the one from a year ago when Ryzen 5000 Mobile was launched.

The overview then also shows that the clock rate was increased by around 300 MHz on average almost everywhere, sometimes it is only 200 MHz, but sometimes also 400 MHz. This does not affect the TDP, it remains unchanged. The flagships are allowed to use 45 watts and more, but in the previous year, depending on the OEM and notebook, more than 100 watts were easily possible in peak loads.

Ryzen 5000 Refresh replaces Lucienne

Rembrandt is not used everywhere, and some updated older solutions find their way into the portfolio. In 2022, however, these will not be raised to the same level as the Ryzen 6000 nomenclature; AMD is commendably taking the only right path here: Only Rembrandt is also called Ryzen 6000 at the start.

The differences between the solutions are small on the CPU side, but more than significant for the rest. Anyone who buys a Ryzen 6000 in a notebook now knows exactly that all the features are included.

AMD expects a huge surge in new notebooks in 2022. Deliveries are expected to begin in the first quarter, and many manufacturers’ announcements suggest that larger quantities will be shipped from March. As in the previous year, the first sentence should arrive from February – then the first tests should also start. The Ryzen 6000 Pro, the offshoot for the business market, will follow only a little later. AMD only hinted at this today; a separate presentation will follow later.

More CES 2022 news from AMD

AMD addressed numerous other topics at the CES, which ComputerBase processed in several reports. If you want to find out more details, you should take a look at the articles.

ComputerBase received the information from AMD in advance under NDA. The only requirement was the earliest possible publication time. The manufacturer did not exert any influence on the reporting, and there was no obligation to publish.