AMD launches Radeon RX 6000M GPUs for gaming laptops

Advanced Micro Devices introduced the new AMD Radeon RX 6000M Series Mobile Graphics chips for gaming laptops today.

The company made the announcement at the virtual Computex 2021 event in Taiwan, where AMD CEO Lisa Su delivered a keynote speech.

AMD also introduced the AMD Advantage Design Framework, the result of a multiyear collaboration between AMD and its global PC partners to deliver premium, high-performance gaming laptops. Combining AMD Radeon RX 6000M Series Mobile Graphics, AMD Radeon Software, and AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Mobile Processors with exclusive AMD smart technologies and other advanced system design characteristics, AMD Advantage systems are designed to deliver high-end gaming experiences.

The first AMD Advantage laptops are expected to be available from big computer makers beginning this month. In her keynote speech, Su also showed off AMD’s new 3D chiplet technology — a breakthrough in packaging technology that combines AMD’s innovative chiplet architecture with 3D stacking using an industry-leading approach to deliver significant processor performance gains.

AMD demonstrated the first application of its 3D chiplet technology with AMD 3D V-Cache for its leadership AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processors. On top of that, Su said that the latest Tesla Model X and Model S electric vehicles’ infotainment systems are powered by an AMD Ryzen embedded processor and an AMD RDNA 2-based GPU.

And Su said custom AMD RDNA 2 graphics will bring ray-tracing and variable rate shading capabilities to Samsung’s next-generation flagship SoC for mobile devices. AMD also showed the first public competitive demonstration of 3rd Gen AMD Epyc processors compared to the latest Intel Xeon Scalable processors, showing 3rd Gen EPYC outpacing the competition in a common e-commerce application.

“At Computex, we highlighted the growing adoption of our high-performance computing and graphics technologies as AMD continues setting the pace of innovation for the industry,” said Su in her speech. “With the launches of our new Ryzen and Radeon processors and the first wave of AMD Advantage notebooks, we continue expanding the ecosystem of leadership AMD products and technologies for gamers and enthusiasts. The next frontier of innovation in our industry is taking chip design into the third dimension. Our first application of 3D chiplet technology at Computex demonstrates our commitment to continue pushing the envelope in high-performance computing to significantly enhance user experiences. We are proud of the deep partnerships we have cultivated across the ecosystem to power the products and services that are essential to our daily lives.”

In addition, AMD unveiled AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), a spatial upscaling technology designed to boost framerates up to 2.5 times in select games and deliver a high-quality, high-resolution gaming experience. More than 10 game developers plan to integrate FSR into their top titles and game engines in 2021, with the first games supporting FSR expected to be available later this month.

Gaming laptops saw 27% growth in units sold during 2020, as the pandemic inspired people to play more games while sheltering in place. Overall, Su has said that AMD is gaining market share, and the company’s Computing and Graphics segment reported last quarter that revenue increased 46% year-over-year and 7% quarter-over-quarter, primarily driven by Ryzen processor and Radeon graphics product sales growth, with revenue share doubling over the last two years.

“It’s been an exciting year and we are bringing that excitement to Computex,” said Sasa Marinkovic, the global gaming marketing director at AMD, in a press briefing. “When we introduced the RDNA 2 architecture, we said that it was highly scalable. And we are bringing that scalability into the laptops. It is very power efficient, which makes it very suitable for gaming laptops. This is where the RDNA 2 architecture is truly going to shine.”

AMD Radeon RX 6000M Series Mobile Graphics

Above: AMD Radeon RX 6800M

Image Credit: AMD

The AMD Radeon RX 6000M Series mobile graphics processing units (GPUs) are built on the AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture. They deliver up to 1.5 times higher performance or up to 43% lower power at the same performance level compared to AMD RDNA architecture GPUs. They also bring advanced technologies such as AMD Infinity Cache and DirectX Raytracing (DXR) to next-gen laptops.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800M GPU supports 1440p/120 FPS performance with a blend of raytracing, compute, and traditional effects for visuals. The AMD Radeon RX 6700M GPU offers 1440p/100FPS gaming performance, next-level visuals, and efficiency designed for the new generation of advanced gaming and content creation laptops. The AMD Radeon RX 6600M GPU is designed to deliver high refresh rate 1080p/100FPS gaming for lightweight laptops.

The AMD Infinity Cache has up to 96MB of last-level data cache integrated on the GPU die, which reduces latency and power consumption to deliver higher gaming performance than traditional architectural designs. The AMD Smart Access Memory unlocks higher performance for select AMD-powered laptops by providing AMD Ryzen processors with access to the entire high-speed AMD Radeon GDDR6 graphics memory.

The AMD SmartShift Technology dynamically shifts laptop power between AMD Ryzen Mobile Processors and AMD Radeon Graphics, providing an additional increase in gaming performance. The AMD Radeon Chill is a power-saving feature that helps save battery by regulating frame rates based on in-game movements. And AMD FidelityFX, supported by more than 45 titles, is an open-source toolkit of visual enhancement effects for game developers available through AMD GPUOpen. It includes a collection of rasterized lighting, shadow and reflection effects, as well as the new AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution technology, that can be integrated into the latest games with minimal performance overhead.

The 6800M has 12GB of memory, operates at 2,300MHz, and runs on 145 watts for 1440p gaming. The 6700 has 10GB of memory, runs at 2300MHz, and runs on 135 watts. The 6600M has 8GB of memory, operates at 2177MHz, and consumes 100 watts. The latter focuses on 1080pm gaming.

AMD Advantage

Above: Asus ROG Strix G15 laptop

Image Credit: AMD

AMD Advantage laptops are optimized to deliver over 100FPS gaming in today’s most visually demanding titles, all-day battery-powered video playback (10-plus hours) 144Hz-plus high-refresh rates, vividly bright (300+ nits) displays, and custom-tuned thermals for cool operation during continuous gameplay.

Several AMD Advantage gaming laptops are expected to be available in 2021. The ROG Strix G15/17 AMD Advantage Edition gaming laptops are expected to be available beginning in early June at Best Buy and other leading retailers. The HP Omen 16 laptop, featuring AMD Radeon RX 6600M GPUs, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX Mobile Processors, and AMD smart technologies, are expected to be available soon at JD.com. AMD Advantage laptops from Lenovo and MSI are expected to be available later this year. The HP Omen 16 features 16 hours of battery life for playing videos.

“We want to make sure that the kind of laptops that they are purchasing that have all AMD processors inside deliver great gaming experience,” Marinkovic said. “When [computer makers] are choosing the CPU and GPU, that is an incredibly important decision. However, there’s so much more that they need to take into consideration. And that is how the CPUs and GPUs are going to be powered, cooled, what battery size they’re going to be supporting on that laptop, what display they’re going to be using in terms of the screen size, resolution, the refresh rate, color gamut and so on.”

This feels like a page from Intel’s book, with its Intel Inside marketing program. If a laptop doesn’t meet all of the design framework guidelines, it won’t carry the AMD Advantage brand. But it will work with other competing chips so long as it meets the guidelines, Marinkovic said.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) offers broad support on more than 100 AMD processors and GPUs as well as competitor GPUs. FSR offers four quality settings allowing gamers to adjust the balance between image quality and performance based on their preferences with features including raytracing. FSR offers up to 2.5 times higher performance in “performance” mode than native resolution gaming in select titles.

FSR is an open-source solution based on industry standards, making it easy for developers to integrate the technology into new and existing titles.

“FSR is built around the state-of-the-art spatial upscaling algorithms, and delivers that great gaming experience in super-high-quality edges and distinctive pixel detail,” said Marinkovic.

The quality modes include ultra quality, quality, balanced, and performance.

“So that the gamers can really choose between performance and image quality and what matters the most in the particular game,” Marinkovic said. “When you look at the FSR, it not only works in our hardware, but it also works across a wide variety of our competitors’ hardware, including their most widely used GPU. In quality mode settings, you’re getting 41% increase with FSR. And that is truly amazing.”

Meanwhile, AMD is also introducing new AMD Ryzen Pro 5000 desktop processors for business computers. They have up to eight computing cores and run on 65 watts (three models) or 35 watts (three models), said Robert Hallock, director of product marketing at AMD, in a press briefing.