“Strix Point”: AMD allegedly follows Intel’s idea of hybrid processors

AMD is said to combine two different core types for the first time in the Ryzen 8000 processor series. Intel has been demonstrating the principle since the Core i-12000.

AMD is currently said to be designing its own first hybrid processors under the codename Strix Point, which use two different core types. Accordingly, four Zen 5 cores serve as performance cores, while up to eight smaller Zen 5c cores can take over background tasks, for example.

Strix Point is expected to appear for notebooks in 2024 – AMD already confirmed that much in the summer of 2022. The company named the combination of Zen-5 cores, RDNA-3+ graphics unit and AI coprocessor (Ryzen AI) on an official roadmap. Strix Point is expected to come as Ryzen 8000U and Ryzen 8000H.

Former Twitter/X member “Greymon55” already brought a hybrid build at Strix Point into play at the end of 2021 (all posts deleted in the meantime). “Everest” now specifically talks about the four Zen 5 and eight Zen 5c cores. Fittingly, “BenchLeaks” has found an unreleased AMD processor with 24 threads in MilkyWay@home’s database.

Cache and clock give way to more cores

AMD has already designed slimmed-down Zen-4c cores in the current generation, but they are exclusively used in the server processors from the Bergamo family. A Zen 4c core is about half the size of a normal Zen 4. In return, AMD has reduced the caches and designed for lower clock frequencies. Both steps save transistors.

Unlike Intel, AMD’s efficiency cores are not a completely separate development line. Zen 4 and Zen 4c both handle simultaneous multithreading (SMT) and the same instructions.

For high-end notebooks, AMD allegedly brings the Dragon Range successor Strix Halo as Ryzen 8000HX. According to information from “kopite7kimi”, the company wants to use the Zen 5 chiplets of the desktop processors, but this time with an I/O chip specifically designed for notebooks. The latter allegedly integrates a souped-up graphics unit that is supposed to be significantly faster than in the desktop CPUs, combined with up to 16 Zen 5 cores.