AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D – the best processor for gamers and creators – is among many new chips to come

Advanced Micro Devices has unveiled a new set of processors and graphics processing units (GPUs) at a CES 2025 news event. The major chip design company showed off processors for desktops, laptops and gaming handhelds as well as new graphics chips.

Jack Huynh, senior vice president of the computing and graphics group at AMD, said that AMD technology is changing industries from fish farming to nuclear power, with AI processing large amounts of data.

“Whether you know it or not, you probably interact with AMD technology every day,” said Huynh. “And we're just getting started” across games, PCs AI and enterprise.

He said at a press event at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas that the company is launching its AMD Ryzen 9000 series, including “the best processor in the world for gamers and creators,” the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D. AMD said it is “touching the lives of billions” every day thanks to its AI and gaming chips.

The chip has 16 Zen 5 CPU cores, or the fifth generation of the cores that helped AMD leapfrog Intel in x86 chip performance. It has a maximum boost frequency of 5.7 GHz, and a total cache of 144 MB with AMD V-Cache technology of the second generation.

Microsoft Xbox chief executive Matt Booty said in a guest address at the event that AMD has been driving innovation across all levels of gaming, from the latest PC hardware to Xbox game consoles.

The chip can run games 8% faster on average over 40 tested games, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth Wukong compared to its predecessor AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D.

And the company said it's 20% faster based on 40 games tested compared to an Intel Core i9 285K processor. The chip is also 13% faster on average at content creation on a 20 app test compared to the AMD Ryzen 9 790X3D. And it's 10% faster than an Intel chip.

AMD said it has two versions available, one with 16 cores and 32 threads and another with 12 cores and 24 threads. They will be available in the first quarter of 2025.

AMD mobile processors

AMD also introduced the Fire Range HX3D, which the company called the best mobile gaming and content creation processor. That chip is coming in the first half of 2025.

The HXD family ranges from 12 cores and 24 threads to 16 cores and 32 threads, with a maximum boost frequency ranging from 5.2 GHz to 5.4 GHz. The cache memory is between 76MB and 144MB, and the TDP (measured power) is 54 watts.

AMD Graphics with RDNA 4

Meanwhile, AMD also showcased its RDNA 4 architecture for graphics and AI chips. It is based on optimized computing units, supercharged AI computing, improved raytracing per CU and better media encoding quality.

AMD said that the RDNA 4 architecture will be used in the second generation AI accelerators and will be built with a 4nm process. It will also be used in third generation raytracing accelerators and the second generation AMD Radiance Display Engine.

AMD also said that its AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 technology with ML power enhancement will enable high-quality, high-performance 4K upscaling with FSR+FG and low latency with AMD Anti-Lag 2.

For gaming graphics, AMD includes the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and the AMD Radeon RX 9070. The chips will be available in Q1 2025 from Acer, Asus, Sapphire, XFX, ASRock, Gigabyte, PowerColor and Yeston.

Gaming handheld processors

AMD also announced its AMD Ryzen Z2 Series processors aimed at handheld PC gaming devices. It features “console-class” gaming in a handheld device and lets you stay unplugged for hours to game wherever you're on the move.

These Z2 processors will be part of the Lenovo Legion Go, Asus ROG Ally and the Valve Steam Deck. The SKUs include the original AMD Ryzen Z2 with eight cores and 16 threads, the AMD Ryzen Z2 with eight cores and 16 threads, and the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go with four cores and eight threads. They will be available in the first quarter of 2024.

AI processors

AMD also introduced the AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series processors. It has the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 series processor, with other processors including the AMD Ryzen AI 7 and the AMD Ryzen AI 5.

AMD said that the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 has the fastest multitasking performance in its class ahead of Qualcomm X Plus X1P-42-100 and the Intel Core Ultra 7 285V. They said that AMD Ryzen AI 7 has the world's best performance in next generation AI PCs in running Windows NPU in Procyon AI.

It also has a multi-day battery life for mobile applications. The family is available in the first half of 2025.

AMD also unveiled the Halo series, with the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ and the AMD Ryzen AI Max processors. They have up to 16 Zen 5 performance cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 computing units, 50 TOPs with XDNA 2 NPU, and 256GB/s bandwidth in a new memory interface.

The company said that the performance of the Ryzen AI Max Series will be up to 402% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V. And graphics performance will be as much as 251% better. They also said that its 3D rendering performance will be better than the Apple Mac M4 Pro.

It is the first Copilot + PC processor in the world to run 70B LLM with 2.2 times better performance than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 24GB and 87% lower TDP. The AI ​​Max + and the AI ​​Max Pro will be available in the first half. Among the devices he will use will be the HP ZBook Ultra G1a, the HP Z2 Mini G1a and the Asus ROG Flow Z13.

Su said that more than 150 Ryzen AI designs will be launched in AI PCs in 2025, including devices from Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, Mechrev, MSI, NEC and Razer .

AMD also unveiled the AMD Ryzen 200 series for consumer and commercial core options. These chips will debut in Q2 2025.

AMD said that more than 100 enterprise platforms will use Ryzen Pro technology in 2025.