A (temporary) hands-on with RDNA 3 cell

Final week, AMD introduced its upcoming Ryzen 7000 mobile CPUs and RDNA 3 laptop GPUs, and we bought some very temporary hands-on time with them. Nicely, okay — hands-on time is a stretch. I used to be capable of play one particular title on one particular all-AMD system within the firm’s demo space at CES 2023 final week. However that does a minimum of verify that these chips are actual and purposeful on this yr’s gaming laptops.

The corporate had numerous upcoming laptops from companions on show on the present, together with among the most anticipated fashions from Asus and Alienware that we lined over the course of final week. Most of them had been operating movies that confirmed off the laptops’ shows however didn’t clue us in about how the chips inside may carry out.

However there was one — precisely one — laptop computer operating a recreation you could possibly really play. That was the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition, considered one of not-too-many 2023 gaming laptops which have been confirmed to be AMD-only (that’s, operating each an AMD CPU and an AMD GPU). This method is predicted to be out there in Q1.

The TUF on show was, in accordance with AMD’s signage, rocking a Ryzen 9 7940HS processor and a Radeon RX 7700S graphics card. The 7940HS has eight cores and 16 threads and is constructed on AMD’s Zen 4 structure. It’s not to be confused with the Ryzen 9 7945HX (additionally Zen 4), the monstrous 16-core chip that leads the Ryzen 7000 line. (I requested AMD if I may strive that one, however they didn’t have any of its techniques readily available.) The 7700S is tailor-made for skinny and lightweight units (the M-series is what you’ll discover in beefier fare this yr), providing 32 teraflops of efficiency with 8GB of GDDR6 reminiscence.

The one and solely recreation operating on this method in AMD’s demo space was Sackboy. I don’t actually know easy methods to play this recreation, but it surely appears to contain plenty of gathering cash and operating away from (very cute) monsters who’re attempting to destroy you.

In fact, what AMD had on show was a preproduction pattern, so there weren’t framerates displayed (and if there had been, I wouldn’t be capable of share them). The one statement I can take away from my temporary enjoying time was: Sackboy was operating. It seemed to be operating nicely. Jumps and turns had been clean, and Sackboy responded to my faucets of the PS5 controller as rapidly as I might’ve anticipated. I loved enjoying the sport and wasn’t anxious about technological limitations.

Now, Sackboy (whereas it does have ray tracing) shouldn’t be a title we’d anticipate to be notably difficult for the {hardware} on this laptop computer. (“Is that this a CPU-heavy or GPU-heavy title?” I requested the AMD representatives who had been on web site. “It isn’t a heavy title,” they replied.) It was operating at 1920 x 1200 decision. This laptop computer can have a QHD 240Hz possibility as nicely, and I’d anticipate that system to be the true check of AMD’s prime {hardware} this season. This explicit system is much from a complete take a look at both of those AMD chips and their limitations.

If you happen to’d wish to know extra details about the TUF Gaming A16, Asus described it as “a modern gaming laptop computer constructed to demolish the competitors.” It helps AMD’s Good Entry Graphics, which permits Radeon GPUs to manage a system’s show immediately, and has a MUX swap. It’s set to be out there in Q1 of 2023.

AMD has promised that the 7700S can run Cyberpunk 2077 at 87fps, Tomb Raider at 142fps, and Demise Stranding at 147fps with most settings. Considerably unhelpfully, these assessments had been all carried out in 1080p, whereas most of the companion laptops the corporate featured in its keynote will provide QHD screens. We’ll have to see for ourselves simply how nicely these chips can benefit from these shows.

All these caveats apart, attending to check out these chips — even on such a lightweight elevate — bought me excited. I’m very a lot wanting ahead to seeing them in a laptop computer that’s able to hit cabinets and see if the claims AMD’s making about CPU and GPU efficiency pan out. AMD merely supposed for this demonstration to be a pleasant teaser of what’s to come back, and my time with the A16 Benefit Version definitely completed that. These are actual chips that may run an actual recreation, and that’s all we’re going to get for now.

Images by Monica Chin / The Verge