AMD has announced a mobile version of its Ryzen architecture. Formally known on roadmaps under the codename “Raven Ridge”, these new chips contain CPU cores based on AMD's Zen architecture and a GPU based on the recently-launched Vega architecture.
These new mobile chips will be branded under the name Ryzen, just like their desktop counterparts. However, these models are being targeted at mobile, and specifically ultrathin laptops, an area that AMD has struggled to compete in the past. Both the Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U feature four Ryzen cores, each of which is capable of processing two threads simultaneously. The higher-end model will have a base clock of 2.2GHz and a boost clock of up to 3.8GHz. Like their desktop brethren, these chips feature a form of AMD’s Extended Frequency Range (XFR), which allows the processor to dynamically alter its clocks based on temperature, even past the nominal clock speeds if available. On the graphics front, the Ryzen 7 will have 10 Vega Compute Units at 1300MHz, and the Ryzen 5 will have 8 Vega Compute Units at 1100Mhz. Both chips have a nominal thermal design power (TDP) of 15W. AMD claims double the battery life of its previous Excavator-based processors.
Unlike desktop Ryzen chips, Raven Ridge has all four cores together in one group. Desktop models utilize what AMD calls a core complex (CCX), two groups of four cores. Desktop processors ran into trouble in some tasks where performance suffered due to the latency of data going between one CCX to another, which is slower than sharing data between cores on the same CCX.
AMD claims that the onboard Vega graphics “delivers smooth and playable framerates at 1080p in popular eSports titles such as League of Legends, Overwatch, CS:GO and DOTA 2, in an ultrathin form factor”. The onboard graphics also support resolutions up to 4K, Freesync, and up to 4K 10-Bit HDR playback of both HEVC/H.265 and VP9. AMD says that there will be systems from Acer, HP, and Lenovo “in the coming weeks”, and systems from Dell and other OEM’s in early 2018.
