AMD Announces Ryzen 9 9950X3D & Ryzen AI Max, Previews AMD RDNA 4 Graphics

For next-gen handheld game consoles, AMD announced the Ryzen Z2 series processors as their successor to the Ryzen Z1 that is found in the likes of the ASUS ROG Ally. With the Ryzen Z2 series headlined by the Ryzen Z2 Extreme there are eight Zen 5 cores clocking up to 5.0GHz, 24MB cache, 15 to 35 Watt cTDP, and 16 graphics cores. The Ryzen Z2 and Ryzen Z2 Go SKUs also exist with fewer graphics cores and in the Z2 Go is just a 4-core / 8-thread part with a 4.3GHz boost frequency. The new AMD Ryzen Z2 series hardware should begin appearing in Q1.

AMD also used CES 2025 for announcing the newest Ryzen AI 300 series parts for laptops with the Ryzen AI 5 340 and Ryzen AI 7 350. Coming next quarter will also be Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 and Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 SoCs for commercial/enterprise laptops.

Next up, AMD is using CES for announcing the Ryzen AI Max and AI Max Pro series processors for AI PCs. These AMD "Strix Halo" parts feature up to 16 Zen 5 cores, up to 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, up to 50 TOPs with the XDNA 2 NPU, and up to 256GB/s memory bandwidth. The top-end AI Max is the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with 16 cores, 40 graphics cores, 80MB cache, and a 45 to 120 Watt cTDP.

The new Ryzen AI Max / Ryzen AI Max PRO processors will become available in systems over the first half of the year.

Lastly, AMD also announced the Ryzen / Ryzen Pro 200 series Krackan Point SoCs too for more budget-minded laptops. The Ryzen 200 series is for mainstream consumer/commercial options and will be found in new systems beginning in Q2.

AMD went heavy on the announcements for CES 2025 and making us excited for all the new hardware coming over the next quarter. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D / 9950X3D should be super exciting for Linux developers and creators. It will be fun to learn much more about AMD RDNA4 and seeing how the open-source Linux graphics support is. Likewise how well the Ryzen AI Max laptops perform under Linux and what new Linux-friendly gaming handhelds may come based on the Ryzen Z2 series. That's the summary of all the AMD announcements for today and stay tuned for Linux benchmarks and hardware reviews as these products become available in the retail space over the coming months.