AMD Launches the Ryzen AI Max 400 Series Processors: “Strix Halo” Gets a Memory Upgrade

In addition to the Ryzen AI Halo, AMD today debuted the Ryzen AI Max 400 series of processors for AI development platforms. This is a refresh to the Ryzen AI Max 300 series “Strix Halo” processor. The chip combines up to 16 full-size “Zen 5” CPU cores with a large SoC die that has a powerful iGPU with 40 compute units powered by the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture; a 50 TOPS-class NPU, and a 4-channel (256-bit wide) LPDDR5X unified memory interface. The series consists of three processor models, all three of these get AMD PRO features that rival Intel’s vPro. There are consumer versions also planned for later this year.

Memory is the focus of this refresh. AMD updated the memory controllers on the “Strix Halo” SoC die to now support up to 192 GB of LPDDR5X memory. The previous Ryzen AI Max 300 series tops out at 128 GB. Here, users have the flexibility to manually partition the memory between the system and the iGPU, giving the latter up to 160 GB of video memory. AMD also took the opportunity to give the GPU a maximum boost frequency increase to 3.00 GHz, up from 2.90 GHz on the Ryzen AI Max 300 series; while the “Zen 5” CPU cores now boost up to 5.20 GHz, up from 5.10 GHz on the previous generation. The integrated NPU gets a 10% performance boost, now being capable of 55 TOPS.

There are three processor models in the series, the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495, the Ryzen AI Max PRO 490, and the Ryzen AI Max PRO 485.

The Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 tops the series, with a 16-core/32-thread “Zen 5” CPU that boosts up to 5.20 GHz. It maxes out the iGPU, with all 40 CU being enabled. The NPU offers 55 TOPS. The Ryzen AI Max PRO 490 comes with a 12-core/24-thread CPU that boosts up to 5.00 GHz, and comes with an iGPU that has 32 CU. The NPU runs at up to 50 TOPS. Lastly, there’s the Ryzen AI Max PRO 485, featuring an 8-core/16-thread CPU boosting up to 5.00 GHz, the same iGPU as the 490 with 32 CU, and the same 50 TOPS NPU.

AMD is planning an updated Ryzen AI Halo machine based on the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 and 192 GB of memory some time later.

The biggest advantage of supporting up to 192 GB of memory is that the processor now supports 300B+ parameter LLMs.