Packed with Zen 5 cores, these new APUs are destined for slimmer laptops, yet they might give some of the top budget graphics cards a run for their money—and that's sans a separate GPU.

AMD has yet to officially reveal the specs for Strix Point (STX) and Strix Halo (STX Halo), but the details were spilt by HKEPC and then broadcast by VideoCardz. The leak details the peak specs for each APU series, with Strix Point expected to debut this year and the more potent Strix Halo tipped for a 2025 launch.

STX APUs are touted to peak at 12 Zen 5 cores and 24 threads, plus eight work group processors (WGP), equating to a GPU with 16 compute units (CUs) based on RDNA 3.5 architecture. They boast 12MB of L2 cache and 24MB of L3 cache, along with AMD's XDNA 2 AI accelerator, reportedly capable of up to 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS). This marks a significant AI advancement from its forerunner, which managed 16 TOPS, but the improvements are broad — stepping up from eight Zen 4 cores and eight RDNA 3 CUs.

Strix Point is intriguing, but the Halo series is really stirring excitement, thanks to its alleged graphics prowess. The APU is rumoured to max out at 16 cores and 32 threads, with 16MB of L2 cache, 32MB of L3 cache per core chiplet die (CCD), and an extra 32MB of MALL cache, akin to AMD's Infinity Cache.

The XDNA2 NPU within Strix Halo is set to hit 60 TOPS, a modest bump from Strix Point but a colossal leap from past generations. The integrated GPU in this APU is believed to feature up to 20 WGPs, which means a whopping 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs. By way of comparison, AMD's RX 7600 XT is equipped with just 32 RDNA 3 CUs, so it's not hard to envisage Strix Halo-equipped laptops surpassing mainstream graphics cards.

Thin-and-light laptops aren't usually linked with gaming, but with these specs, they could well be. If AMD could tweak these APUs for gaming handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally, it could revolutionise portable gaming.

Signs of Zen 5 are popping up increasingly, like the recent motherboard updates, signalling that AMD and its associates are gearing up for the launch. While official release dates are still in the air, AMD will likely spill the beans on Zen 5 at this year's Computex in June.