AMD Quietly Refreshes Ryzen 8000HX Dragon Range Laptop CPUs With These Specs
AMD is rolling out a new round of mobile processors to fuel presumably cheaper gaming laptops, and the timing couldn't be better with so much uncertainty surrounding the tariffs situation. Unofficially, the new Ryzen 8000HX series processors are being called Dragon Range Refresh. That's because they are an iterative upgrade (or rebadge, really) over the Ryzen 7000HX lineup.
By extension, that also means the new CPUs are based on AMD's previous generation Zen 4 architecture instead of Zen 5 like AMD's Ryzen 9000HX/HX3D Fire Range chips. That's perhaps why the Ryzen 8000HX series is arriving without an confetti or fanfare—there's no press release or blog post that we're aware of, whereas AMD's Fire Range line was part of a chip onslaught unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year.
So, what exactly are we looking at here? There are four models comprising the refresh, including the Ryzen 9 8945HX, Ryzen 9 8940HX, Ryzen 7 8840HX, and Ryzen 7 8745HX. As with the Ryzen 7000HX lineup, the new chips come with up to 16 cores and 32 threads, and lack an onboard neural processing unit (NPU).
Starting at the top, the Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core/32-thread part with a 2.5GHz base clock, up to a 5.4GHz boost clock, and 64MB of L3 cache (80MB total cache). Those specifications are identical to the Ryzen 7 7945HX. If that's the case, then what's the point? AMD confirmed to PCWorld that the new Ryzen 8000HX series is a refresh of the Ryzen 7000HX series with some differences in clocks speed and firmware.
"However, the 8000HX series is intended to be paired with newer, more powerful discrete GPUs, and offers users more options for those looking to get into systems with the latest graphics," the rep said.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like the Ryzen 8000HX series will give gamers more affordable gaming laptop options compared to Ryzen 9000HX/HX3D laptops paired with the newest mobile GPUs.
Moving down the list, the Ryzen 9 8940HX chip is also a 16-core/32-thread CPU with 64MB of L3 cache and 80MB of total cache, but with a 2.4GHz base clock and up to a 5.3GHz boost clock. Compared to the Ryzen 7 7940HX, the 8940HX part has a 100MHz higher boost block, while the other specs are the same.
The Ryzen 7 8840HX, meanwhile, is a 12-core/24-thread processor with a 2.9GHz base clock, up to a 5.1GHz boost clock, 64MB of L3 cache, and 76MB of total cache. It's another chip that is identical in specs to its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 7840HX.
Finally, there's the Ryzen 7 8745HX, which is an 8-core/16-thread processor with a 3.6GHz base clock, up to a 5.1GHz boost clock, 32MB of L3 cache, and 40MB of total cache. And once again, the specs match the non-refresh equivalent, which in this case is the Rzyen 7 8745HX.
Also notable is that all four chips have a default 55W TDP, but can be configured by laptop makers for anywhere from 45W to 75W, depending on the system's cooling capabilities and what kind of performance is being sought after.
