AMD's APUs have long been neglected and overdue for an upgrade, which could come in the form of their two new Ryzen processors, Rembrandt and Phoenix. Both are set to be released in the near future, and the potential of these chips could be massive.
The Possibility of Adding Rembrandt and Phoenix APUs to the AM5 Socket
According to the story by Tom's Hardware, AMD's Ryzen 7000 (Raphael), processors have become known as some of the best CPUs in the market. While they currently are the sole chips on the AM5 socket, that could change soon with the addition of Rembrandt and Phoenix APUs.
Gigabyte Hack shared a table last year showing that the AM5 socket could host three types of Ryzen processors in the Family 19h lineup, which includes the Zen 3, Zen 3+, and the upcoming Zen 4 chips.
Types of AMD Ryzen Processors and Their Features
The Type 2 processors are the Ryzen 7000, identified by its "A60F12" CPU ID. The Type 1 chip is believed to be the Ryzen 6000 series (Rembrandt). The Type 3 processors are assumed to be the Ryzen 7040 series (Phoenix), which AMD already announced but has yet to appear in public databases, as also noted in HW Cooling.
Rembrandt would feature Zen 3+ cores manufactured by TSMC on the 6nm node. On the other hand, Phoenix would mark the transition over to the newest Zen 4 cores and AMD's RDNA 3 graphics on the 4nm TSMC node.
Support for DDR5 Memory, but Lack of Support for PCIe 5.0 Connectivity
Even more exciting, the Phoenix chips would arrive with the XDNA technology, an FPGA-based AI engine acquired with the purchase of Xilinx. One of the best features of Rembrandt and Phoenix is the support for DDR5 memory, a welcomed upgrade over their predecessors.
Unfortunately, their lack of support for PCIe 5.0 connectivity will mean these two APUs cannot take advantage of PCIe 5.0 SSDs. Expansion and connectivity are also slightly limited with these processors, supplying 20 PCIe lanes instead of the 28 from the Ryzen 7000 line.
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The Upgrade to Zen 4 and RDNA 3 Graphics: A Promising New APU
AMD still hasn't announced when Rembrandt and Phoenix will hit the retail market. However, with their promising specs, one only hopes the release isn't too far away. After all, AMD's last APU, the Ryzen 5000G (Cezanne), was stuck on the Vega graphics engine with the aging 7nm Zen 3 chips. With the upgrade to Zen 4 and RDNA 3 graphics, Phoenix is an APU deserving all the love it can get.
Both Rembrandt and Phoenix could be a welcome addition to the Ryzen family, delivering improved technologies, features, and performance. The lower PCIe lane count is slightly concerning, but it should still provide enough options for most users, and the DDR5 memory support should make it more attractive than AMD's older APUs.
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