AMD launches Ryzen Pro 4000-series ‘Renoir’ APUs for desktops: 8 cores and Radeon Vega
The AMD Ryzen Pro 4000-series mobile ‘Renoir’ APUs as well as their non-Pro counterparts impressed both OEMs and end-users with their performance and feature set earlier this year, so the arrival of AMD’s Ryzen 4000G and Ryzen Pro 4000-series processors for desktops was eagerly anticipated for months.
Today, AMD finally introduced its new Ryzen 4000G APUs for consumer desktops as well as Ryzen Pro 4000 APUs for business and commercial desktops.
The new APUs feature up to eight cores based on AMD’s latest Zen 2 microarchitecture as well as integrated Radeon Vega graphics. Traditionally, AMD’s Pro APUs are available only to system integrators and OEMs since PC manufacturers can actually make their capabilities work as designed, but eventually non-pro Ryzen 4000G-series will also make their way to the channel.
The family of AMD Ryzen Pro 4000-series processors with Radeon Vega graphics includes six APUs: three SKUs with a 65W TDP aimed at mainstream desktops as well as three models with a 35W TPD designed for small-form-factor machines.
The top-of-the-line Ryzen 7 4750G and Ryzen 7 4750GE processors feature eight Zen 2 cores running at 4.4 GHz or 4.3 GHz, 12 MB of cache, and a Radeon GPU with eight compute units (512 stream processors). Other SKUs — the Ryzen 5 4650G/4650GE and the Ryzen 3 4350G/4350GE — feature four or six cores as well as an integrated Radeon GPU with six or seven CUs.
Renoir for commercial desktops
Based on many reviews, AMD’s Ryzen 4000 mobile APUs have proven to be competitive against Intel’s latest 10th Generation Core (Comet Lake) processors for laptops for the first time in years. In the commercial and mainstream desktop spaces, the new APUs promise to significantly strengthen AMD’s positions as they feature up to eight cores (a first for AMD’s APUs with integrated graphics) as well as more or less modern Radeon Vega GPU.
The new AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 ‘Renoir’ processors bring in such capabilities as an integrated TrustZone security processor, Transparent Secure Memory Encryption (TSME), Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, per-Application security for select applications, content protection, and DASH manageability.
All AMD’s ‘Renoir’ APUs with Zen 2 CPU architecture and Radeon Vega graphics use the AM4 socket, yet their support depends on actual motherboard and its BIOS version. To that end, it is unclear whether PC makers can install the new APUs into their existing designs, or will have to use new motherboards. In any case, AMD, SIs, and OEMs promise a 18-months software stability and at least a 24-months availability for new chips and platforms.
AMD announces its new Ryzen 4000G-series as well as Ryzen Pro 4000-series processors for desktops just in time for back-to-school (BTS) season. Various system integrators are expected to start offering Ryzen Pro 4000-based systems immediately with larg
e OEMs following later this fall.
