Kunal Khullar Social Links Navigation News Contributor Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.
ezst036 Now that Epic has surrendered to the idea of Fortnite coming to Linux and Easy Anti Cheat systems are going to go mainstream on Linux, the time is ripe for a Deck2. Reply
usertests ezst036 said: Now that Epic has surrendered to the idea of Fortnite coming to Linux and Easy Anti Cheat systems are going to go mainstream on Linux, the time is ripe for a Deck2. One of the rumors is that this is using 12 CUs of RDNA4m (RDNA3.5 derivative with full FSR4 support). I'd prefer for it to come out even later with something like Zen 7 LP cores and RDNA5, and dodging the peak of memory prices. The Gainsborough codename is highly suggestive of it being for a Steam Deck 2, but not a guarantee. Reply
robbro9 So the 4 6gb memory chips, is there any chance this is like the Ryzen 390/395 and has quad channel memory instead of just dual? That could be huge for gaming in this space, especially if they up the RDNA cores to use that bandwidth… Reply
usertests robbro9 said: So the 4 6gb memory chips, is there any chance this is like the Ryzen 390/395 and has quad channel memory instead of just dual? That could be huge for gaming in this space, especially if they up the RDNA cores to use that bandwidth… No chance. It's in line with the previous Steam Deck which has 4x 4GB chips: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Steam+Deck+Chip+ID/147811 Every 256-bit Strix Halo product has used 8x LPDDR5X memory chips. Because of rampant confusion over channel counts, which might get even worse as LPDDR6 appears, it's best to specify the bus width instead of talking about dual/quad/etc. Reply
DS426 usertests said: One of the rumors is that this is using 12 CUs of RDNA4m (RDNA3.5 derivative with full FSR4 support). I'd prefer for it to come out even later with something like Zen 7 LP cores and RDNA5, and dodging the peak of memory prices. The Gainsborough codename is highly suggestive of it being for a Steam Deck 2, but not a guarantee. Fair point on mem prices but Zen 2 -> 6 is already a big jump, especially when you factor in 50% more cores. 2x Z6 + 4x Z6d would about be the most ideal setup IMO for a handheld except for the die-to-die latency penalty and added cost of using two dies, even if they are recycled semi-defective ones (some cores weak or dead, etc.). Reply
usertests DS426 said: Fair point on mem prices but Zen 2 -> 6 is already a big jump, especially when you factor in 50% more cores. 2x Z6 + 4x Z6d would about be the most ideal setup IMO for a handheld except for the die-to-die latency penalty and added cost of using two dies, even if they are recycled semi-defective ones (some cores weak or dead, etc.). I'm not worried about the CPU performance which would be great with that setup (I suppose even all/mostly LP cores would be fine, which is why I mentioned them). Rather, Zen 7 cores could be delivering an additional large power efficiency increase over Zen 6 at low power draw (source is MLID): https://www.igorslab.de/en/zen-7-aka-grimlock-at-a-glance-big-gaps-at-amd/ The energy efficiency is particularly impressive: at just 3 watts per core, performance increases by 30 to 36% compared to Medusa (Zen 6). Ideally, the CPU in a handheld rarely needs a lot of power, and extra power is diverted to the GPU in a higher wattage scenario. But more importantly, RDNA5 or later should blow away what is an RDNA3.5 derivative. I understand that 12 CUs RDNA4m would be a decent improvement over the original, but I'm not sure it's transformative enough to meet Valve's past statements about the Steam Deck 2. Having full fat FP8 FSR4 may not even make much of a difference now that a lightweight version of FSR4.1 is officially being made available to "Z2-series", which presumably includes the "Z2 A" which is the Steam Deck 1 SoC. 24 GB is the minimum viable memory for a Steam Deck 2, and should be fine for many games. 32 GB would be better, and I wonder if they would be willing to bifurcate the lineup and offer more RAM in the top model(s). I don't think die-to-die latency is a problem. The Zen 6 family will include smaller monolithic APUs, and Gainsborough seems like it would be one of them. The products that do use chiplets should be using the "sea of wires" InFO-oS interconnect like Strix Halo, which would eliminate latency. Future APUs will be more expensive as wafer costs keep going up for new nodes, which is an argument against Just Wait-ing for Zen 7, etc., but a tiny SoC's silicon cost doesn't matter compared to memory/storage, at least at this moment. Reply
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/mysterious-amd-zen-6-apu-with-24gb-of-lpddr5-memory-appears-in-benchmarks-chip-may-be-for-next-gen-steam-deck-or-gaming-handhelds#main
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