AMD Ryzen 8000G Desktop Phoenix APU Models And Specs Break Cover

The latest AMD AGESA firmware—that's the part of AMD's firmware that configures the CPU—includes support for upcoming Socket AM5 "APU" processors, at least according to HKEPC. The self-described #1 Hong Kong DIY PC site tweeted a relatively lengthy description of the CPUs that AMD has purportedly provided to OEMs. There are four chips that have supposedly showed up in the firmware, and HKEPC says that they are likely to be branded with "Ryzen 8000G" series model numbers.


It doesn't take a genius to look at these specifications and realize that AMD is using its laptop "Phoenix" and "Phoenix 2" silicon for these parts. According to HKEPC's sources, the Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G will be based on the standard Phoenix die with eight Zen 4 cores and up to 12 RDNA 3 compute units, while the Ryzen 5 8500G and Ryzen 3 8300G will use "Phoenix 2" silicon with the hybrid configuration of Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores. HKEPC says that the Ryzen 3 8300G will keep one Zen 4 core and three of the die's Zen 4c cores.

The new parts should be a humongous step up over the previous generation thanks to a move to both the latest Zen 4 CPU core as well as the gigantic leap from the aged Vega architecture all the way to the latest RDNA 3. Plus, these parts will benefit from having fast DDR5 memory on tap instead of DDR4. No word on whether they'll have the Phoenix die's XDNA AI accelerator enabled, though.

We probably don't need to explain this, but briefly, previous-generation Ryzen processors generally lacked integrated graphics. If you wanted a GPU in your Socket AM4 CPU, you had to buy one that specifically came with integrated graphics. Those chips used a monolithic die meant for mobile parts that had one-half the L3 cache of the standard Zen 2 and Zen 3-based desktop CPUs, so they were less-desirable for gamers and enthusiasts who were likely to install a discrete GPU.


Indeed, when we tested the ASUS ROG Ally—which is based on the same silicon as the rumored Ryzen 7 8700G—we found that it runs up against its power and thermal limits rather sharply when run plugged-in. If these desktop parts are allowed to draw 65W, we could see some extremely impressive performance out of that 12CU RDNA 3 integrated part. Unfortunately, as HKEPC points out, it's fairly unlikely that we'll see these chips before next year given the Ryzen 8000 nomenclature.