AMD has just unveiled the Z1 series, a new family of Ryzen chips that promises very high performance for next-generation Steam Deck-like portable game consoles. And who would be able to animate PCs.
If Asus had spilled the beans with its ROG Ally game console (see our article), we now officially know that AMD will seriously invest in the emerging – and promising – market for portable game consoles, in the wake of the famous Steam Deck that fascinates players so much. The American indeed unveiled his plans on April 25, 2023 by presenting a new family of chips specially designed for this type of device: the Z1. And the least we can say is these new circuits promise very high performance, sending the Switch back to the museum – at least, on a purely technical level, Nintendo having always preferred to bet on other boards in its economic model.
AMD Ryzen Z1: a dual processor for game consoles
AMD is not really a newcomer to the world of gaming. With its famous Ryzen and Radeon, the designer – yes, AMD does not manufacture its chips itself, a task that it entrusts to specialized manufacturers like TSMC – already has in its catalog a fine collection of processors (CPU) and graphics circuits (GPU) for PCs particularly appreciated by gamers. Better still, AMD has chosen Microsoft and Sony to power their latest home game consoles – Xbox One and Xbox Series for the American and PS4 and PS5 for the Japanese. A proof of confidence that has enabled AMD to acquire great experience and a solid reputation in a highly coveted field where technical prowess contributes to the spectacle and the pleasure of playing, gamers being particularly fond of greedy graphic effects of the Ray type. Tracing and high-definition, high-bitrate images – ah, the race for throughput (FPS)!
Nothing illegitimate, therefore, that AMD is very interested in the emerging market of portable game consoles. A market dominated until then by Nintendo with the Switch, the essential family model, but which began to change with the arrival of the Steam Deck, this hybrid device built like a miniature computer with features worthy of a PC of gamer. And for good reason: it is powered by a chip… AMD! Not just a processor, but a more complete circuit embedding a graphics section – an APU according to AMD terminology, a term which designates mixed chips combining CPU and GPU –, as found in most laptops.
AMD Ryzen Z1: a variant of Ryzen 7XXX
And it is this type of “almost everything processor” that AMD intends to develop and impose in next-generation portable game consoles with its Ryzen Z1 range. A range currently made up of two models: the Ryzen Z1 for short and the Ryzen Z Extreme, the version that will be integrated into the famous Asus ROG Ally that everyone has been watching since its surprise announcement on 1er April 2023 (see our article). Technically, as their name suggests, these first two chips are designed on an identical basis, namely an architecture Zen 4 for the CPU part and an architecture RDNA3 for the graphics section, with 5 nm engraving and DDR5 type RAM management, the fastest at the moment. In other words, and more clearly, the same base as the new Ryzen for PC of the 7xxx generation! What very high performance, especially for video games.
In practice, the two models are distinguished by their composition: the Ryzen Z1 must be content with 6 physical cores – and therefore 12 threads or logical cores – for its CPU part and 4 calculation units (UC) for its GPU section with a total of 22MB of L3 cache, while the Ryzen Z1 Extreme has 8 cores and 16 threads respectively, 12 CUs and 24MB of cache giving it a priori more computing power, especially for 3D graphics. If we are to believe AMD’s promises, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme would thus reach 8.6 TFLOPS – or 8.6 trillion floating point operations per second – when its “little brother” would peak at 2, 8 TFLOPS. Impressive firepower in both cases, especially when compared to that of the chip that powers the Nintendo Switch, an Nvidia Tegra X1, which does not exceed 0.4 TFLOPS… In short, the Asus ROG Ally – like other consoles equipped with the Ryzen Z1 Extreme – would be around twenty times more computationally efficient than the venerable Switch. A gigantic difference, which promises overall performance at the height of future games, but which is logically explained by a large difference in age and design, the Nvidia chip dating from 2015 and being originally engraved in 20 nm technology – in 16 nm today. And the Z1s also turn out to be significantly more efficient than the chip that drives the Steam Deck, a model also signed by AMD, but based on older architectures (Zen 2 with 4 cores for the CPU and RDNA 2 with 8 CPUs for the GPU) and delivering a raw power of 1.6 TFLOPS. In comparison, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme does five times better!
AMD Ryzen Z1: performance worthy of gaming PCs
Also according to AMD, with its RDNA 3 GPU, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme could thus ensure a high frame rate in the most popular games of the moment in Full HD definition – 1080p for aficionados –, with rates easily exceeding 100 FPS (frames per second) in most titles, and even reaching 200 FPS in a few cases. Enough to guarantee excellent fluidity, an essential criterion for licensed gamers… Of course, and as always in this kind of announcement, these are only promises that will have to be confronted with the reality of real-life tests carried out by experts are joystick when the Ryzen Z1 Extreme will be integrated into commercial consoles. But, on paper, they already have enough to seduce many players by joining the performance displayed by home consoles and gaming PCs!
Who says portable device, also says autonomy. And therefore electricity consumption. An essential point that AMD has obviously not forgotten. And who benefits here from the ultra fine engraving of the Zen 4 architecture: on its official technical documentation, AMD mentions a TDP – a thermal envelope – of between 15 and 30 W for each of its two chips: very reasonable values when you know that this quantity is directly linked to the amount of energy absorbed by the circuits. And moreover similar to those of the Ryzen 7XXX of the U series, low-power models designed for laptops and of which the Z1 seem to be variations. with a more “sexy” trade name. Of course, the real autonomy of the consoles equipped with Z1 will depend on many other elements, such as the amount of onboard RAM, the capacity of the integrated storage, the size, the definition, the refresh rate and the brightness of the screen, without forgetting the capacity of the battery! So many parameters related to the choices of the manufacturers to distinguish their models, by carrying out various mixes. But the very nature of AMD chips will clearly help to make consoles that are energy efficient, capable of ensuring gaming sessions of several hours without needing to be recharged.
AMD Ryzen Z1: chips still without competition
As we can see, with its Z1 family, AMD intends to position itself at the forefront of this promising market. Especially since, for the moment, neither Intel nor Nvidia nor Qualcomm have come to position themselves in this field, which may seem curious when you know their skills and ambitions in the sector of CPUs, GPUs and other SoCs – the truly all-in-one circuits used in particular in smartphones and tablets. We bet, however, that some of these big names will not fail to appear in this field if the demand is sufficient to amortize the costs of developing suitable chips. Who even knows, if, one day, Apple could not also embark on this adventure with its SoC M both ultra powerful and very energy efficient which equip its Macs and iPads? Because, on closer inspection, these new generation chips would be perfect for portable game consoles, a market in which the Apple firm could create a surprise…
Anyway, and in the absence of declared competitors, the path to success seems clear for AMD. Especially since beyond game consoles, the Ryzen Z1s could run many other types of devices – mobile or fixed – insofar as they are compatible with x86, the processor architecture for Windows. It is also with Microsoft’s operating system that the Asus ROG Ally and its direct competitors will run: a serious asset for publishers and players alike, which will make it possible to run all PC games without requiring develop or purchase new versions. In fact, in theory, nothing prevents us from imagining that Z1s can be used on more or less specialized PCs, like laptop processors which are used in mini PCs.