Recently, a smaller Phoenix variant by AMD was pointed out. Dubbed the “Little” Phoenix or Phoenix2, the APU is physically smaller in die size as compared to the standard Phoenix APUs.
This was leaked by Twitter user @xinoassasin, who spotted that the Phoenix2 has a die size of 133 sq mm and operates at a lower power. This is smaller than the usual Ryzen 7840U and proves the existence of the two Phoenix variants.
Recently, reputed leaker Golden Pig Upgrade shared at Bilibili the first picture of the Phoenix2 APU. The image compared the Phoenix2 APU to the standard Phoenix APU. However, both dies are placed atop the same FP7 package.
It must be remembered that the same leaker, back in May, also said that Phoenix dies could be coming in slightly larger packages known as FP8.
Golden Pig Upgrade pack explained that the standard Phoenix, with a die size of 178 sq mm, comes packed with eight cores and 16 threads. The integrated GPU comes with 12 Compute Units.
However, the Phoenix 2, with just a 133 sq mm die size, packs six cores and 12 threads. However, the integrated GPU compute units see a heavy reduction to just 4 CUs.
Currently, there’s been no news of any changes to the AI cores from Phoenix to Phoenix 2. The reduction of the Compute Units reduces not only the die size but also the power requirements.
The interesting part is the CPU architecture. As explained by u/dotjzzz on Reddit, the Phoenix 2 will feature two frequency planes. The higher-frequency plane will have Zen4 and Zen4c for the low-frequency plane.
The cut-down die size makes even more sense, given that the Zen4c was meant for cloud servers that do not require much cache memory. Hence, Zen4c’s 2MB L2 cache won’t make much difference under load compared to Zen 4’s 4MB.
In the image, the two APUs seen next to each other could hint that AMD has started shipping smaller APUs to the OEMs.
It is expected that AMD Phoenix 2 APU-powered devices will launch in Q4 of 2023. The possible use cases are handheld gaming consoles like the ROG Ally or Steamdeck and light gaming laptops.
About Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
AMD develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. AMD’s main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations, personal computers and embedded system applications.
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