The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Review: Unleashing Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5 Into Notebooks
During the opening keynote delivered by AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su at Computex 2024, AMD finally lifted the lid on their highly-anticipated Zen 5 microarchitecture. The backbone for the next couple of years of everything CPU at AMD, the company unveiled their plans to bring Zen 5 in the consumer market, announcing both their next-generation mobile and desktop products at the same time. With a tight schedule that will see both platforms launch within weeks of each other, today AMD is taking their first step with the launch of the Ryzen AI 300 series – codenamed Strix Point – their new Zen 5-powered mobile SoC.
The latest and greatest from AMD, the Strix Point brings significant architectural improvements across AMD's entire IP portfolio. Headlining the chip, of course, is the company's new Zen 5 CPU microarchitecture, which is taking multiple steps to improve on CPU performance without the benefits of big clockspeed gains. And reflecting the industry's current heavy emphasis on AI performance, Strix Point also includes the latest XDNA 2-based NPU, which boasts up to 50 TOPS of performance. Other improvements include an upgraded integrated graphics processor, with AMD moving to the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture.
The architectural updates in Strix Point are also seeing AMD opt for a heterogenous CPU design from the very start, incorporating both performance and efficiency cores as a means of offering better overall performance in power-constrained devices. AMD first introduced their compact Zen cores in the middle of the Zen 4 generation, and while they made it into products such as AMD's small-die Phoenix 2 platform, this is the first time AMD's flagship mobile silicon has included them as well. And while this change is going to be transparent from a user perspective, under the hood it represents an important improvement in CPU design. As a result, all Ryzen AI 300 chips are going to include a mix of not only AMD's (mostly) full-fat Zen 5 CPU cores, but also their compact Zen 5c cores, boosting the chips' total CPU core counts and performance in multi-threaded situations.
For today's launch, the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series will consist of just three SKUs: the flagship Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, with 12 CPU cores, as well as the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Ryzen 9 365, with 12 and 10 cores respectively. All three SoCs combine both the regular Zen 5 core with the more compact Zen 5c cores to make up the CPU cluster, and are paired with a powerful Raden 890M/880M GPU, and a XDNA 2-based NPU.
As the successor to the Zen 4-based Phoenix/Hawk Point, the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series is targeting a diverse and active notebook market that has become the largest segment of the PC industry overall. And it is telling that, for the first time in the Zen era, AMD is launching their mobile chips first – if only by days – rather than their typical desktop-first launch. It's both a reflection on how the PC industry has changed over the years, and how AMD has continued to iterate and improve upon its mobile chips; this is as close to mobile-first as the company has ever been.
Getting down to business, for our review of the Ryzen AI 300 series, we are taking a look at ASUS's Zenbook S 16 (2024), a 16-inch laptop that's equipped with AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. The sightly more modest Ryzen features four Zen 5 CPU cores and 8 Zen 5c CPU cores, as well as AMD's latest RDNA 3.5 Radeon 890M integrated graphics. Overall, the HX 370 has a configurable TDP of between 15 and 54 W, depending on the desired notebook configuration.
Fleshing out the rest of the Zenbook S 16, ASUS has equipped the laptop with a bevy of features and technologies fitting for a flagship Ryzen notebook. The centerpiece of the laptop is a Lumina OLED 16-inch display, with a resolution of up to 2880 x 1800 and a variable 120 Hz refresh rate. Meanwhile, inside the Zenbook S 16 is 32 GB of LPDDR5 memory and a 1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. And while this is a 16-inch class notebook, ASUS has still designed it with an emphasis on portability, leading to the Zenbook S 16 coming in at 1.1 cm thick, and weighting 1.5 kg. That petite design also means ASUS has configured the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip inside rather conservatively: out of the box, the chip runs at a TDP of just 17 Watts.
CPUs
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Best CPUs for Gaming: July 2024 As the second quarter of 2024 is soon set to unfold, there are many things to be excited about, especially as Computex 2024 has been and gone. We now know that AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors using the new Zen 5 cores will be hitting shelves at the end of the month (31st July), and on top of this, AMD also recently slashed pricing on their Zen 4 (Ryzen 8000) processors. Intel still needs to follow suit with their 14th or 13th Gen Core series processors, but right now from a cost standpoint, AMD is in a much better position.
Since the publication of our last guide, the only notable CPU to be launched was Intel's special binned Core i9-14900KS, which not only pushes clock speeds up to 6.2 GHz but is the last processor to feature Intel's iconic Core I series nomenclature. The other big news in the CPU world was from Intel, with a statement issued about pushing users to use the Intel Default Specification on Intel's 14th and 13th Gen processors, which ultimately limits the performance compared to published data. We're still in the process of
While the CPU market has been relatively quiet so far this year, and things are set to pick up once AMD's Zen 5 and Intel's Arrow Lake desktop chips are all launched onto the market, it means today we are working for the same hymn sheet as our previous guide. With AMD's price drops on Ryzen 7000 series processors, much of the guide reflects this as AMD and Intel's performance is neck and neck in many use cases, but cost certainly plays a big factor in selecting a new CPU. As we move into the rest of 2024, the CPU market looks set to see the rise of the 'AI PC,' which is looking set to be something that many companies will focus on by the end of 2024, both on mobile and desktop platforms.
Guides
Best CPUs for Gaming: July 2024 As the second quarter of 2024 is soon set to unfold, there are many things to be excited about, especially as Computex 2024 has been and gone. We now know that AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors using the new Zen 5 cores will be hitting shelves at the end of the month (31st July), and on top of this, AMD also recently slashed pricing on their Zen 4 (Ryzen 8000) processors. Intel still needs to follow suit with their 14th or 13th Gen Core series processors, but right now from a cost standpoint, AMD is in a much better position.
Since the publication of our last guide, the only notable CPU to be launched was Intel's special binned Core i9-14900KS, which not only pushes clock speeds up to 6.2 GHz but is the last processor to feature Intel's iconic Core I series nomenclature. The other big news in the CPU world was from Intel, with a statement issued about pushing users to use the Intel Default Specification on Intel's 14th and 13th Gen processors, which ultimately limits the performance compared to published data. We're still in the process of
While the CPU market has been relatively quiet so far this year, and things are set to pick up once AMD's Zen 5 and Intel's Arrow Lake desktop chips are all launched onto the market, it means today we are working for the same hymn sheet as our previous guide. With AMD's price drops on Ryzen 7000 series processors, much of the guide reflects this as AMD and Intel's performance is neck and neck in many use cases, but cost certainly plays a big factor in selecting a new CPU. As we move into the rest of 2024, the CPU market looks set to see the rise of the 'AI PC,' which is looking set to be something that many companies will focus on by the end of 2024, both on mobile and desktop platforms.
Guides
![TSMC to Expand Specialty Capacity by 50%, Introduce 4nm N4e Low-Power Node <p align="center"><a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/21397/tsmc-to-expand-specialty-capacity-by-50-introduce-4nm-lowpower-node"><img src="https://images.anandtech.com/doci/21397/tsmc-semiconductor-fab-wafer-1-678_575px.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p><p>With all the new fabs being built in Germany and Japan, as well as the expansion of production capacity in China, TSMC is planning to extend its production capacity for specialty technologies by 50% by 2027. As disclosed by the company during its European Technology Symposium this week, TSMC expects to need to not only convert existing capacity to meet demands for specialty processes, but even build new (greenfield) fab space just for this purpose. One of the big drivers for this demand, in turn, will be TSMC's next specialty node: N4e, a 4nm-class ultra-low-power production node.</p>
<p>"In the past, we always did the review phase [for upcoming fabs], but for the first time in a long time at TSMC, we started building greenfield fab that will address the future specialty technology requirements," said Dr. Kevin Zhang, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Overseas Operations Office, at the event. "In the next four to five years, we actually going to grow our specialty capacity by up to 1.5x. In doing so we actually expanding the footprint of our manufacturing network to improve the resiliency of the overall fab supply chain."</p>
<p>On top of its well-known major logic nodes like N5 and N3E, TSMC also offers a suite of specialty nodes for applications such as power semiconductors, mixed analog I/O, and ultra-low-power applications (e.g. IoT). These are typically based on the company's trailing manufacturing processes, but regardless of the underlying technology, the capacity demand for these nodes is growing right alongside the demand for TSMC's major logic nodes. All of which has required TSMC to reevaluate how they go about planning for capacity on their specialty nodes.</p>
<p>TSMC's expansion strategy in the recent years has pursued several goals. One of them has been to build new fabs outside of Taiwan; another has been to generally expand production capacity to meet future demand for all types of process technologies – which is why the company is building up capacity for specialty nodes.</p>
<p>At present, TSMC's most advanced specialty node is N6e, an N7/N6 variant that supports operating voltages between 0.4V and 0.9V. With N4e, TSMC is looking at voltages below 0.4V. Though for now, TSMC is not disclosing much in the way of technical details for the planned node; given the company's history here, we expect they'll have more to talk about next year once the new process is ready.</p>
</p> Semiconductors](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ucBRcvVDsYaELCPKRWiDbilBHTOftkqHMla8aUgvA-KDajxW8hAz8zy4fqNkSxqYU09x0H8DgyY5WsFKY72vhFMs5V32nRKRmw75QaFD3Fm1KDP00eVuVx0FPDXK9Wg74LdmPDhSf28Qm-v2ssHgXp4sWzu3TeUA=w72-h72-p-k-no-nu)
The Endorfy Fortis 5 Dual Fan CPU Cooler Review: Towering Value Standard CPU coolers, while adequate for managing basic thermal loads, often fall short in terms of noise reduction and superior cooling efficiency. This limitation drives advanced users and system builders to seek aftermarket solutions tailored to their specific needs. The high-end aftermarket cooler market is highly competitive, with manufacturers striving to offer products with exceptional performance.
Endorfy, previously known as SilentiumPC, is a Polish manufacturer that has undergone a significant transformation to expand its presence in global markets. The brand is known for delivering high-performance cooling solutions with a strong focus on balancing efficiency and affordability. By rebranding as Endorfy, the company aims to enter premium market segments while continuing to offer reliable, high-quality cooling products.
SilentiumPC became very popular in the value/mainstream segments of the PC market with their products, the spearhead of which probably was the Fera 5 cooler that we reviewed a little over two years ago and had a remarkable value for money. Today’s review places Endorfy’s largest CPU cooler, the Fortis 5 Dual Fan, on our laboratory test bench. The Fortis 5 is the largest CPU air cooler the company currently offers and is significantly more expensive than the Fera 5, yet it still is a single-tower cooler that strives to strike a balance between value, compatibility, and performance.
Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Best CPUs for Gaming: July 2024 As the second quarter of 2024 is soon set to unfold, there are many things to be excited about, especially as Computex 2024 has been and gone. We now know that AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors using the new Zen 5 cores will be hitting shelves at the end of the month (31st July), and on top of this, AMD also recently slashed pricing on their Zen 4 (Ryzen 8000) processors. Intel still needs to follow suit with their 14th or 13th Gen Core series processors, but right now from a cost standpoint, AMD is in a much better position.
Since the publication of our last guide, the only notable CPU to be launched was Intel's special binned Core i9-14900KS, which not only pushes clock speeds up to 6.2 GHz but is the last processor to feature Intel's iconic Core I series nomenclature. The other big news in the CPU world was from Intel, with a statement issued about pushing users to use the Intel Default Specification on Intel's 14th and 13th Gen processors, which ultimately limits the performance compared to published data. We're still in the process of
While the CPU market has been relatively quiet so far this year, and things are set to pick up once AMD's Zen 5 and Intel's Arrow Lake desktop chips are all launched onto the market, it means today we are working for the same hymn sheet as our previous guide. With AMD's price drops on Ryzen 7000 series processors, much of the guide reflects this as AMD and Intel's performance is neck and neck in many use cases, but cost certainly plays a big factor in selecting a new CPU. As we move into the rest of 2024, the CPU market looks set to see the rise of the 'AI PC,' which is looking set to be something that many companies will focus on by the end of 2024, both on mobile and desktop platforms.
Guides
Silicon Motion Demonstrates Flexible Data Placement on MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform 
At FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP).
FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is completely backwards-compatible, with non-FDP hosts working just as before with FDP-enabled SSDs, and vice-versa.
Silicon Motion's MonTitan Gen 5 Enterprise SSD Platform was announced back in 2022. Since then, Silicon Motion has been touting the flexibility of the platform, allowing its customers to incorporate their own features as part of the customization process. This approach is common in the enterprise space, as we have seen with Marvell's Bravera SC5 SSD controller in the DapuStor SSDs and Microchip's Flashtec controllers in the Longsys FORESEE enterprise SSDs.
At FMS 2024, the company was demonstrating the advantages of flexible data placement by allowing a single QLC SSD based on their MonTitan platform to take part in different stages of the AI data pipeline while maintaining the required quality of service (minimum bandwidth) for each process. The company even has a trademarked name (PerformaShape) for the firmware feature in the controller that allows the isolation of different concurrent SSD accesses (from different stages in the AI data pipeline) to guarantee this QoS. Silicon Motion claims that this scheme will enable its customers to get the maximum write performance possible from QLC SSDs without negatively impacting the performance of other types of accesses.
Silicon Motion and Phison have market leadership in the client SSD controller market with similar approaches. However, their enterprise SSD controller marketing couldn't be more different. While Phison has gone in for a turnkey solution with their Gen 5 SSD platform (to the extent of not adopting the white label route for this generation, and instead opting to get the SSDs qualified with different cloud service providers themselves), Silicon Motion is opting for a different approach. The flexibility and customization possibilities can make platforms like the MonTitan appeal to flash array vendors.
Storage
Report: MediaTek Working on Arm-Based Processor for Windows PCs 
As Qualcomm's exclusivity for Arm-powered processors for Windows PCs is reportedly coming to its end, other chipmakers are getting ready to offer their Arm-based system-on-chips for Windows computers. And, according to a new report from Reuters, MediaTek will be among the companies jumping into the Windows-on-Arm field, with plans to launch their first PC processor late next year.
MediaTek's system-on-chip for Windows PCs will rely on Arm's 'ready-made designs,' according to Reuters. Which in turn hints that MediaTek would be using Arm's compute sub-system (CSS) for client PCs, a building block designed to significantly speed up development of SoCs.
With the vauge nature of the Reuters report, however, which version of Arm's IP MediaTek might be using remains unclear, and the answer to that will largely hinge on timing. Arm refreshes its client cores and IP offerings yearly – typically announcing them to the public in May – with finished chips rolling out as early as later in the year. So depending on just how late in the year MediaTek is planning to launch their chip, the company has a large enough window to potentially use either the current 2024 client designs, or next year's 2025 designs.
For reference, Arm's 2024 CSS for client systems is quite powerful on its own. It includes two ultra-high-performance Arm Cortex-X925 cores (each with up to 3MB L2 cache and clock speeds over 3.60 GHz, supporting SVE and SVE2), four high-performance Cortex-A725 cores, two energy-efficient Cortex-A520 cores, and an Immortalis-G925 graphics processor. And, of course, MediaTek has the expertise to skip Arm's CSS and build their own bespoke designs as well, if that's what they'd prefer.
Overall, the latest client designs from Arm can accommodate up to 14 CPU cores – Arm intentionally leaves headroom for designs to be scaled-up for laptops – which would make for quite a formidable chip. But the PC SoC market has no shortage of capable contenders with their own designs; besides Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processors, MediaTek would also be going up against the latest designs from Intel and AMD. All of whom are planning to make big plays for the mobile PC market in the next several months. So MediaTek will need to make a serious effort if their effort to jump into the PC SoC market are to succeed.
Since 2016, Microsoft has partnered with Qualcomm to bring Arm's processor architecture, which is widely used in smartphones, to Windows PCs. Qualcomm has an exclusive agreement to supply these chips for the next several months (the exact timing remains unclear), after which other designers like MediaTek can enter the market. Qualcomm, for its part, has benefited greatly from collaborating with Microsoft, so it will be interesting to see if Microsoft extends a similar hand out to other Arm chip makers.
Ultimately, the market for Arm PC SoCs has the potential to get crowded quickly. According to previous reports from Reuters, both AMD and NVIDIA are also developing Arm-based chips for Windows. So if all of those projects come to fruition, there could potentially be several Arm SoCs available to PC manufacturers around the same time. All of which would be a massive change from the past 20 years of the PC, where Intel and AMD have been the entire market.
Both MediaTek and Microsoft have declined to comment on the ongoing developments, the news agency states.
CPUs
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