A new piece of information about AMD Van Gogh ultra-low-power 6-15 W APUs has appeared on the Web. These chips will find use in ultrabooks or other compact technology and should be presented by the end of 2021.
The Van Gogh family will use two key AMD technologies: Zen 2 for the processor and RDNA 2 for graphics. It is believed that the design will be different from all previous APUs but will retain the monolithic construction of the Renoir or Cezanne. The Van Gogh chips will have a BGA FF3 design and will be manufactured using a 7nm process technology.
Van Gogh APUs have four AMD Zen 2 cores. In general, the die area should be as small as possible, which, among other things, will be achieved by reducing L2 and L3 caches. No information has been received regarding dual-core models. But AMD is striving to make the most of the rejected chips expand the product line downward, so their exit is not excluded.
There is no data yet regarding the RDNA 2 graphics unit. The number of computational modules for senior models will not exceed 8-10 CU (up to 512-640 stream processors). Despite the new architecture, you should not expect miracles in iGPU performance, as the low TPP will not allow you to reach high frequencies.
A month ago, there was a rumor about a 256-bit (or four-channel) DDR5 memory controller from Van Gogh. According to Moore’s Law is Dead, this is not true because this decision will increase the cost and complexity of the chip, while AMD, on the contrary, is moving towards simplification and reduction of the area. Van Gogh is more likely to rely on LPDDR5 memory.