More information related to the recently leaked AMD Magnus APU has now surfaced thanks to Moore’s Law Is Dead. The leaker has now published updated specs of the APU, including Compute Unit count, bus width, and the graphics architecture that the graphics die is expected to be based on.
Prolific leaker Moore’s Law Is Dead leaked the AMD “Magnus” APU a few days ago. The APU reportedly carries a Zen 6/Zen 6c CPU with a novel CPU core count and a huge graphics die. At the time, MLID alleged that the Magnus Zen 6 APU could show up in next-gen consoles like the PS6, while leaker Kepler_L2 countered that the AMD Magnus APU makes more sense for the next-gen Xbox.
MLID has now revealed updated specs for the Magnus APU, including the possible GPU Compute Unit count.
AMD Magnus APU to combine a Zen 6 CPU and an RDNA 5 iGPU
MLID now alleges that the graphics die of the Magnus APU is based on the next-gen RDNA 5 graphics architecture and features up 70 Compute Units (68 usable). Contrary to the last leak, the latest claim from MLID is that AMD Magnus will have a 192-bit wide memory bus rather than an 384-bit bus previously rumored. This is now even lower than the AMD Strix Halo APUs that have a 256-bit memory bus.
But, AMD could be banking on much faster memory to offset the negative impact of a narrower bus on the total memory bandwidth, as the Magnus APU reportedly utilizes GDDR7 memory.
So, how fast is the AMD Magnus APU than the Strix Halo APUs or the PS5 Pro?
MLID speculates that the AMD Magnus, with its 68 RDNA 5 CUs, could be twice as fast as the 60 CU APU inside the PS5 Pro if AMD clocks the iGPU quite high. Otherwise, MLID thinks that the Magnus APU might only bring a 40-50% raster performance increase over the PS5 Pro (Available on Amazon).
AMD Magnus APU could power next Xbox or a Valve console
The rumored platforms powered by the AMD Magnus APU could include the next-gen Xbox and, possibly, the next console from Valve. MLID contends that, although one of his AMD sources maintains that Magnus could power the Sony PlayStation 6, it makes more sense for the APU to show up in the next-gen Xbox or the next system from Valve.
The reason for this assertion has to do with Sony’s timeline for the PS6 and the improbability that Sony will agree to share a GPU tile with the discrete RDNA 5 cards. MLID claims that AMD plans to combine the graphics die of the Magnus APU with a media tile and use it inside the RDNA 5 dGPUs. While this might make sense for AMD, as it will streamline supply lines and production, we think Sony might not agree to this due to possible supply issues that could arise.
Whatever the case ends up being, we are excited to see if the Magnus APU is actually real and, if it is, which machine has the APU under the hood.
Fawad Murtaza – Senior Tech Writer – 1288 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2021
I am Fawad, a fellow tech nerd. As a tech junkie, my relationship with technology goes back to my childhood years. Getting my first Intel Pentium 4 PC was the start of journey that would eventually bring me to Notebookcheck. Finally, I have been writing for tech media since 2018. From small no-name projects to industry leaders, I have worked with a number of tech publications.