AMD Ryzen Z1 TDP Confirmed To Be as Little as 9W
Both the Ryzen Z1 and the Ryzen 7040U use silicon (Phoenix) designed in accordance with Zen4 and RDNA3 architecture. But AMD has made the Z1 unique such that it may be used for its intended purpose—portable gaming—to its full potential.
| Cores/Threads | Base/Boost Clock | GPU Clock | GPU | cTDP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 7940H(S) | 8C/16T | 4.0/5.2 GHz | 2.8 GHz | R780M (12CU) | 35-54W |
| Ryzen 7 7840H(S) | 8C/16T | 3.8/5.1 GHz | 2.7 GHz | R780M (12CU) | 35-54W |
| Ryzen 5 7640H(S) | 6C/12T | 4.3/5.0 GHz | 2.6 GHz | R760M (8CU) | 35-54W |
| Ryzen 7 7840U | 8C/16T | 3.3/5.1 GHz | 2.7 GHz | R780M (12CU) | 15-30W |
| Ryzen 5 7640U | 6C/12T | 3.5/4.9 GHz | 2.6 GHz | R760M (8CU) | 15-30W |
| Ryzen 5 7540U | 6C/12T | 3.2/4.9 GHz | 2.5 GHz | R740M (4CU) | 15-30W |
| Ryzen 3 7440U | 4C/8T | 3.2/4.7 GHz | 2.5 GHz | R740M (4CU) | 15-30W |
| Ryzen Z1 Extreme | 8C/16T | 3.3/5.1 GHz | TBC | 12CU RDNA3 | 9-30W |
| Ryzen Z1 | 6C/12T | (?)/5.0 GHz | TBC | 4CU RDNA3 | 9-30W |
In an official statement from AMD PR’s Matthew Hurwitz, Tom’s Hardware got their take on the subject and found that there are variations in power ranges and voltage curves. The die itself was not mentioned.
“The Ryzen Z1 series are purpose-built with handheld gaming in mind. To accomplish this, AMD engineers had to validate entirely new power ranges and optimize the voltage curves specifically for this use case – this optimization and validation work should not be trivialized. So while the technology building blocks (like ‘Zen4’ and RDNA 3) are similar between the 7040 and Z1 series, the resulting models have very distinct characteristics customized for their use cases. In addition, the AMD Ryzen AI engine is not available on AMD Ryzen Z1 series processors.”
Matthew Hurwitz, Client PR at AMD
9W TDP for Z1
A representative from AMD later confirmed that the cTDP may be set as low as 9W, which is even lower than the 15W claimed for the Ryzen 7040U series. Though the company’s website has been changed to reflect the new information, it should be noted that the Z1 series’ exact clock speeds are still unknown.
Since TDP is distinct from power consumption, this in no way implies that the Ryzen 7040U cannot function at lower power as well. In the instance of the 7040U series, the TDP merely establishes a 15W-optimized target for the CPU voltage/frequency curve. In order to distinguish the Z1 series under a new designation, extra validation of the 9W TDP variant was necessary.
On May 11th, we should expect to hear about the debut of Ryzen Z1-based hardware. So far, only the ASUS ROG Ally handheld console has been confirmed to use this CPU, with other console manufacturers opting instead for the 7040U family.
Source: Tom’s Hardware
