The AMD Ryzen AI Max emerges in a gaming 2-in-1

[Daniel Sims]

In brief: Reports have long indicated that AMD is developing a super-sized spin-off of its upcoming Strix Point APU series. Details have been scarce until recently, but a new leaked benchmark confirms a prior report suggesting that Asus's upcoming gaming 2-in-1 will feature the high-end APU.

A recent Geekbench entry has revealed that the 2025 edition of the Asus ROG Flow Z13 hybrid laptop will include a Ryzen AI Max APU, also known as Strix Halo. AMD is expected to unveil the new flagship laptop processor and other products at CES in January.

The new Asus device features the most powerful configuration from AMD's upcoming Ryzen Max series: the Max+ 395 with a Radeon 8060S integrated GPU. With a clock speed of 3GHz, the 16-core, 32-thread APU posted a 2,894 single-core score and a 20,708 multi-core score, comparing favorably against prior Z13 models featuring high-end Alder Lake and Raptor Lake CPUs.

Meanwhile, the new device's 76,961 OpenCL GPU score closely resembles laptops featuring mobile RTX 4050 and 4060 dedicated GPUs. A Vulkan benchmark from a test model earlier this month posted a similarly impressive result.

Click to enlarge

Ryzen AI Max is a high-end counterpart to AMD's Ryzen AI 300 series, which is set to power a new generation of laptops and handheld gaming consoles. While the Ryzen AI 9 370, expected to serve as the basis for the Z2 Extreme handheld gaming processor, features 12 RDNA 3.5 compute units, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 boosts the number to 40.

The new ROG Flow Z13 initially appeared in a design profile leak in August when a leaker claimed that the CPU would draw up to 30W and the iGPU up to 80W, necessitating an overhaul of the cooling system. AMD is also expected to introduce lower-tier Ryzen AI Max chips such as the Max 385 and Max 380 at CES.

Furthermore, RDNA 4 will likely make its first official appearance at the trade show, competing with Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5000 series and Intel's new Arc Battlemage. RDNA 4 aims to dramatically enhance ray tracing performance over RDNA 3 and mark AMD's first implementation of AI-based upscaling.

Meanwhile, rumors and leaks have indicated that Intel is developing a response to Strix Halo, labeled Arrow Lake Halo. The enthusiast mobile APUs would target high-end laptop workstations.

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The AMD Ryzen AI Max emerges in a gaming 2-in-1

 

[yRaz]

Been excited for this product for awhile. I don't think it'll sell too well in laptops, but I think it'll do fantastic in MiniPCs. I do want to know what is going in tmwith the naming scheme.

 

[Puiu]

Been excited for this product for awhile. I don't think it'll sell too well in laptops, but I think it'll do fantastic in MiniPCs. I do want to know what is going in tmwith the naming scheme.

I'm also looking into MiniPCs, but I just want something cheap that I can use as a NAS and mini local server for simple website development.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I'm excited for the Z13 flow with the Strix halo. I'v ealwys liked the idea but the battery life was always sub par, and optimus is a PITA to deal with. I always wanted one with a 680m or 780m in it instead.


But I'll happily take a strix halo.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I really want to love the idea of a powerful APU, but in practice you end up paying a lot of money for mediocre performance that is easily matched by a CPU+dGPU combo.

It's a lot of R&D as well as silicon for something that really solves predominantly niche issues like battery life (no one does real work on battery, and a socket is almost always nearby nowadays) or ultra thin form factor laptops/mini-PCs.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I really want to love the idea of a powerful APU, but in practice you end up paying a lot of money for mediocre performance that is easily matched by a CPU+dGPU combo.

It's a lot of R&D as well as silicon for something that really solves predominantly niche issues like battery life (no one does real work on battery, and a socket is almost always nearby nowadays) or ultra thin form factor laptops/mini-PCs.

"easily matched", only if you dont count the designs that just dont work with dGPUs, or the dGPUs dramatic increase in cooling needs, or the finicky issues with optimus drivers.

"no one does real work on battery" THIS is why macbooks are successful, outdated notions like this.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Been excited for this product for awhile. I don't think it'll sell too well in laptops, but I think it'll do fantastic in MiniPCs. I do want to know what is going in tmwith the naming scheme.

Yeah, they completely missed an opportunity to call it the Ryzen AI FURY MAXX+ instead of the boring old Ryzen AI Max+.

 

[yRaz]

Yeah, they completely missed an opportunity to call it the Ryzen AI FURY MAXX+ instead of the boring old Ryzen AI Max+.

I was referring specifically to calling the iGPU the 8060s

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

I was referring specifically to calling the iGPU the 8060s

Ah yes, the iGPU should be called the AI FURY RAGE MAXX+ 8060 SUPER AI XTX.

 

[yRaz]

Ah yes, the iGPU should be called the AI FURY RAGE MAXX+ 8060 SUPER AI XTX.

Quite being an ***, the name makes it look like an attempt at mimicking an nVidia part. AMD use xx00 for dGPUs and xx0m for mobile parts. The x0x0S naming scheme makes no sense. Call it an 895M or something

 

[BobHome]

Yeah, keep naming simple.
Like Atari did with the ST computer: the OS was called TOS. The. Operating. System.
'nuff said.

 

[Dimitriid]

I really want to love the idea of a powerful APU, but in practice you end up paying a lot of money for mediocre performance that is easily matched by a CPU+dGPU combo.

It's a lot of R&D as well as silicon for something that really solves predominantly niche issues like battery life (no one does real work on battery, and a socket is almost always nearby nowadays) or ultra thin form factor laptops/mini-PCs.

It's always a very bad match for a CPU and a dedicated GPU (Even the lowest end available on that gen) in terms of raw performance.

In terms of battery life however, powering a separate GPU is very costly in terms of battery life so it's always going to be much better to have a comparatively weaker APU on ulrabooks and specially handheld PCs.

So these would be ideal for power-matters devices, just not something anybody building like a regular-sized laptop (14-15" class and above) should even consider.