AMD Strix Halo (Sarlak) Die Shot Reveals 2x Zen5 & Zen5C Chiplets With an RDNA 3.5 GCD+IOD
Hardware leaker Olrak has shared a die shot of AMD’s upcoming Strix Halo APU. Strix Halo has been the talk of the town, being a buffed-up variant of Strix, the successor to Phoenix. The specifications have been disclosed previously by the same leaker, pointing out 16x cores and up to 40 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units.
Strix Halo Deep Dive
The die shot reveals two CCDs boasting 8x Zen5 and 8x Zen5C cores. Above that lies a single GCD, which also serves as the I/O Die. AMD has opted for a monolithic configuration, similar to Navi33. It is pertinent to mention that Navi33 goes to a maximum of 16 WGPs or 32 CUs. Based on this, Sarlak may also feature the same CU count since RDNA 3.5 is not an entirely new architecture.
Kopite claims that Sarlak looks similar to a Zen5 desktop CPU apart from the I/O Die. This is true since this time the I/O Die hosts a literal (up-to) 40 CU iGPU. Sarlak may also not be included in the Ryzen 8040 family, given that it will most probably require a new socket.
When put up against a typical Zen4 CPU, the I/O Die on Sarlak looks significantly larger. Of course, we are comparing a 2 CU (RDNA2) configuration against a near 40 CU APU, but that’s beside the point.
- 8x Zen5 + 8x Zen5C Cores
- 4nm Lithography
- RDNA 3.5 (Up to 40 CUs)
- 2 CCDs and 1 GCD + IOD
- MCM Design
- 96MB Total Cache
- 40 TOPS AI Engine
Collecting all the bits and pieces
Now if we compare this leak against what MLID leaked, we see a lot of correspondence between the two. The total cache sums up to 96MB, with 32MB of Infinity Cache, exclusive to Sarlak. The AI Engine also sees an uplift from 20 TOPS to 40 TOPS, critical to AMD’s response against Intel’s upcoming VPU strategy.
Effectively, inside a single chiplet AMD had added the I/O and the GPU solution making Sarlak a viable Apple M-series competitor. The price will be higher than the base Strix series, although it will be worth every penny if you prefer efficiency.
Release Date
Strix Halo is tipped to make use of 3D V-Cache down the line for enhanced gaming performance. The scheduled (rumored) release date of Sarlak is sometime in mid-2024. On the other hand, Intel is expected to reveal Arrow Lake during the same time frame.
