Electronics

AMD “Medusa Point” APU Gets “GFX1171” and “GFX1172” RDNA 4m GPU Targets

AMD "Medusa Point" APU Gets "GFX1171" and "GFX1172" RDNA 4m GPU Targets

AMD’s RDNA 4m graphics might be the company’s most mysterious GPU IP, as they are reportedly rebranding some of their RDNA 3.5 IP to fit INT8 data types and support FSR 4 technology. We previously reported that AMD designated the GFX1170 target for RDNA 4m. However, in the latest merge request for the LLVM compiler, AMD added two new software IDs: GFX1171 and GFX1172 GPUs. These targets are not true RDNA 4 GPUs, which belong to a GFX12 branch, but rather extensions of RDNA 3. What was thought to be RDNA 3.5 has now evolved into RDNA 4m, which will power AMD’s Ryzen 500 “Medusa Point” series of APUs. With RDNA 3.5 / RDNA 4m expected to be used by AMD until 2029, it makes sense for AMD to adapt RDNA 3.5 into RDNA 4m with support for FSR 4 upscaling technology.

In contrast, “Medusa Halo” will utilize AMD’s next-generation RDNA 5 / UDNA GPU microarchitecture. “Medusa Point” will introduce a desktop-exclusive RDNA 4 with the new RDNA 4m variant. Although we initially lack comparisons between the two, some instruction set extensions, such as WMMA and SWMMAC instructions, indicate support in the new “GFX1170” GPU, which should be associated with the GFX11 generation, also known as RDNA 3. Currently, this is believed to be an upgraded RDNA 3 with many RDNA 4 modules, enabling FSR 4 support even on the less powerful “Medusa Point” APU.

Launching an APU in 2026 with integrated graphics not running FSR 4 upscaling would be detrimental to customers, so AMD is actively porting some functionality like INT8 and FP8 data format processing support to ensure that FSR 4 works on the new generation. AMD plans to make its RDNA 3.5 iGPU long-lived until 2029, so most consumers buying laptops in the coming years will experience the same integrated graphics capabilities as those found in today’s Ryzen AI 300 and 400 series processors. This means that the RDNA 4m, with all its cutbacks, will be a welcome addition to the integrated graphics as “Redstone” features like ML-based upscaling and rendering technologies rely on the RDNA 4 IP to function effectively.

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