AMD Introduces Ryzen 6000 Laptop Processors With RDNA2 GPUs
AMD has announced its 6nm Ryzen 6000 APUs for laptops. The processors have Zen 3+ cores and RDNA2 GPUs. It is the first Ryzen generation where AMD will apply Microsoft Pluton chip integration.
AMD’s mobile Ryzen 6000 line consists of an H-series with TDPs of 45 and 35W, and a more economical U-series for thin and light laptops, with TDP of 15 to 28W. Eight processors appear in the Ryzen 6000 H line. These are APUs with eight or six Zen 3+ cores. These cores are optimized versions of the Zen 3 cores of the Ryzen 5000 series. AMD has the new generation chips produced at 6nm, while the Ryzen 5000 is made at 7nm. The smaller production process allows AMD to increase performance while remaining economical.
The GPU is based on the RDNA2 architecture and AMD integrates 12 and 6 graphics Compute Units in the chips. The presence of the GPU means that hardware support for ray tracing is present. The most powerful processor of the new generation is the Ryzen 9 6980HX. This octacore has a clock speed of 3.3GHz with a maximum boost speed of 5GHz, and has 20MB L2 and L3 cache memory. The GPU is the Radeon 680M with 12 CUs at 2.4GHz.
The most powerful frugal processor in the Ryzen 6000 line is the Ryzen 7 6800U. It combines eight Zen 3+ cores clocked at 2.7GHz with a boost clock at 4.7GHz. The presence of the RDNA2 GPU with 12 CUs at 2.2GHz means that the average 1080p gaming performance has doubled compared to the Ryzen 7 5800U, claims AMD. That predecessor has a Radeon RX Vega 8 GPU with 8 CUs at a maximum of 2GHz. The Cinebench R2 scores in the multithreaded test would be 28 percent higher than the 5800U.
AMD also claims that laptops with the chips will offer up to 24 hours of battery life, without substantiating these claims with details for the time being. Among other things, an improved adaptive power control management framework should enable longer battery life. This framework works in conjunction with the operating system and on-die sensors, and the power management system adapts to usage. The power modes for deep sleep are also said to have been improved, according to the company.
Microsoft Pluton Integration
The Ryzen 6000 processors are the first chips from AMD to integrate the Pluton chip from Microsoft. That chip works in combination with Windows and can be seen as an alternative to the Trusted Platform Module. The chip provides hardware security for password storage, encryption keys, and biometric credentials as used by Windows Hello. Intel and Qualcomm will also integrate Pluton chips.
Laptops with the processors will appear from February. Those laptops have DDR5 or Lpddr5, USB 4, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. AMD also mentions the combination with HDMI 2.1 and the laptops would be ‘DisplayPort 2 Ready’. According to AMD, there are more than two hundred laptop models with Ryzen 6000 chips on the way.
| Ryzen 9 6980HX | Radeon 680M | 8 | 16 | 3.3GHz | 5GHz | 12 | 45W |
| Ryzen 9 6980HS | Radeon 680M | 8 | 16 | 3.3GHz | 5GHz | 12 | 35W |
| Ryzen 9 6900HX | Radeon 680M | 8 | 16 | 3.3GHz | 4.9GHz | 12 | 45W |
| Ryzen 9 6900HS | Radeon 680M | 8 | 16 | 3.3GHz | 4.9GHz | 12 | 35W |
| Ryzen 7 6800H | Radeon 680M | 8 | 16 | 3.2GHz | 4.7GHz | 12 | 45W |
| Ryzen 7 6800HS | Radeon 680M | 8 | 16 | 3.2GHz | 4.7GHz | 12 | 35W |
| Ryzen 5 6600H | Radeon 660M | 6 | 12 | 3.3GHz | 4.5GHz | 6 | 45W |
| Ryzen 5 6600HS | Radeon 660M | 6 | 12 | 3.3GHz | 4.5GHz | 6 | 35W |
| Ryzen 7 6800U | Radeon 680M | 8 | 16 | 2.7GHz | 4.7GHz | 12 | 15-28W |
| Ryzen 5 6600U | Radeon 660M | 6 | 12 | 2.9GHz | 4.55GHz | 6 | 15-28W |