AMD revealed the Ryzen Pro 8040 family of business laptop CPUs and the Ryzen Pro 8000 line of processors for commercial desktops. Compared to their predecessors, both ranges provide enhanced AI processing capabilities and are intended for the so-called “AI PC”. Beginning in Q2 2024, they will be offered in a variety of devices from top PC manufacturers, such as Lenovo and HP.
These are the first AMD Pro processors with integrated Neural Processing Units (NPUs) for AI workloads, and they are based on the Zen 4 architecture. Moreover, they have integrated RDNA graphics.
According to AMD, the new Pro 8040 chips are the “most advanced x86 processors built for business laptops and mobile workstations,” while the Pro 8000 series desktop processors are “engineered to deliver cutting-edge performance with low power consumption.”
AMD’s XDNA engine powers the NPU in the new CPUs; the company claims 16 TOPS of NPU performance and 39 TOPS of overall system performance. These numbers are greater than those of Intel’s most recent flagship Core Ultra chip, which delivers up to 34 TOPS of total system performance and 11 TOPS of NPU performance. It still doesn’t meet Microsoft’s requirements of 45 TOPS of NPU performance for AI PCs, though Intel’s forthcoming Lunar Lake chips might help with that later this year.
The Ryzen 9 Pro 8945HS, the flagship processor of the Ryzen Pro 8040 series, boasts eight cores, sixteen threads, twenty-four millisecond cache, and integrated Radeon 780M graphics. Its TDP ranges from 35 to 54W and it can run at up to 5.2GHz.
The Ryzen 7 Pro 8845HS, Ryzen 7 Pro 8840HS, Ryzen 5 Pro 8645HS, Ryzen 5 Pro 8640HS, Ryzen 7 Pro 8840U, Ryzen 7 Pro 8640U, and Ryzen 5 Pro 8540U are the other seven SKUs in the portfolio.
Eight SKUs make up the desktop portfolio as well. The Ryzen 7 Pro 8700G, the flagship model, is an eight-core, 16-thread processor with a 45–65W TDP, 24MB of cache, and a 5.1GHz boost speed. The Ryzen 7 Pro 8700GE, Ryzen 5 Pro 8600GE, Ryzen 5 Pro 8500GE, Ryzen 3 Pro 8300GE, and Ryzen 5 Pro 8600G are among the other SKUs in the portfolio.
Microsoft declared that the newly released chips will have the Pluton security chip, which has been a feature of all AMD CPUs since Ryzen 6000. On Windows 11 PCs, this chip is anticipated to protect user passwords, identities, private information, and encryption keys.Redmond further stated that IT administrators will be able to deploy devices up to 41% faster with the new processors, however they did not provide a reference test.