After many leaks, AMD has now formally announced their brand new Ryzen Z1 Series, which directly target the handheld gaming space like the Steam Deck.
The chips being announced today are the Zen 4 based Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme that come with RDNA 3 architecture-based graphics. AMD also announced clearly that the ASUS ROG Ally will be the first device launching with them.
From the press release:
“At AMD, we’re continually advancing the next generation of gaming experiences, from consoles to desktops to on-the-go handheld devices,” said Jason Banta, corporate vice president and general manager, Client OEM at AMD. “Ryzen Z1 processors deliver gamers an elite gaming experience and extreme portability in exciting gaming form factors.”
| Model | Cores/Threads | Graphics | Cache |
| AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme |
8/16 | 12 AMD RDNA 3 compute units |
24 MB |
| AMD Ryzen Z1 | 6/12 |
4 AMD RDNA 3 compute units |
22 MB |
The processors support USB4 and the latest LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X memory standards.
AMD also said in their press release that more info on the ROG Ally will be announced on May 11th.
“Having a great gaming experience doesn’t mean you have to be tied to a chair or a charger,” said Shawn Yen, product management director of Gaming Business Unit, Asus. “With the new Ryzen Z1 Series processors, we’re working with AMD to deliver the power, visuals and efficiency needed to enable a superior portable gaming experience — whether you’re traveling, commuting for work or simply want to game untethered.”
On the official AMD page for the new processors, AMD give more details and yet they're showing a Nintendo Switch and a Steam Deck in pictures before the Ally:
The question is why are they showing two devices not using these chips? An error left in, or are we just supposed to assume it's to showcase power from low to high without naming them directly? Curious. Or even upcoming new versions of both with these new chips (not likely).
Update 20:12 UTC: AMD removed the Switch and Steam Deck so it's now just the Ally:
So at least now we know what processor the ROG Ally will use but can it really compete with the Steam Deck? Until we know pricing, nothing is clear on that. With more power comes more battery drain too, there's so many unknowns about it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
erik-reider Apr 25, 2023
With more power comes more battery drainI think that's Iron Man's version of the Spiderman mantra . . .
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 25 April 2023 at 2:59 pm UTC
So the APU in the Ally isn't so "custom" after all
It probably was, until AMD just had the realization they should standardize it :D
iirc AMD's custom cpu division has been spearheading several improvements that not much later end up in their normal CPUs at least since its creation when they poached the PS4 and Xbox Series consoles (eg: direct storage data loading to the gpu eliminating trip through ram/cpu)So the APU in the Ally isn't so "custom" after all
It probably was, until AMD just had the realization they should standardize it :D
With more power comes more battery drain too
Not necessarily; there's two generations of improvements for the cpu, and one for gpu in there compared to the deck, and from the desktop zen4 parts we know that the new gen is easily tweaked to have lower power consumption than zen3 whilst still handily beating the older gen in performance.
Last edited by emphy on 26 April 2023 at 12:10 am UTC
TheRiddick Apr 26, 2023
preludelinux Apr 26, 2023
Mohandevir Apr 26, 2023
On top of that, from comments I read on forums, many users value the Steam validation tool, because it gives an easy way to know if the game is a good fit for a handheld (button mapping, text and UI scale and all these things that do not link to games that don't run on a Linux OS). This and the awesome community support that the Steam Deck as gained.
Thank you, but no thank you. I'll wait for the Steam Deck 2 that will blow the Asus Ally out of the water, like every new device that comes to the market, at a much lower price.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 26 April 2023 at 12:57 pm UTC
fenglengshun Apr 27, 2023
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