AMD’s U models follow the HS processors. The Ryzen 7040U is satisfied with 15 to 30 watts and is said to be faster than Apple’s M2 and Intel’s Core i-1300P.
AMD is introducing four Ryzen 7040U series notebook processors: the Ryzen 7 7840U, Ryzen 5 7640U, Ryzen 5 7540U, and Ryzen 3 7440U. They consume 15 to 30 watts of electrical power and are therefore suitable for slim and light notebooks. The processors differ more in their range of functions than in previous generations.
The top model Ryzen 7 7840U uses eight Zen 4 cores with 16 threads, an integrated RDNA 3 graphics unit with 12 compute units (768 shaders), and a new AI co-processor (Ryzen AI), which the acquired company Xilinx for design contributes. Operating systems and applications can outsource tasks to the Ryzen AI block, for example, to enhance images or blur effects in video conferences.
The CPU cores in the Ryzen 7 7840U achieve clock frequencies of up to 5.1 GHz. The Radeon 780M GPU clocks up to 2.7 GHz and thus a 3D performance of up to 4.3 FP32 TFlops. In combination with the soldered LPDDR5X-7500 RAM, the GPU should be able to best exploit its raw performance.
AMD benchmarks against Apple and Intel
In its own benchmarks, AMD sees the Ryzen 7 7840U ahead of Apple’s M2 and Intel’s Core i7-1360P in both CPU and GPU performance. It was tested with a thermal design power (TDP) of 28 watts. Intel also offers a Core i7-1370P with 14 instead of 12 CPU cores, which almost no notebooks have.
AMD is particularly self-confident with the Radeon graphics unit. It should be enough for playing in Full HD resolution if you reduce the graphic details. However, as always, manufacturer benchmarks should be treated with caution. Image 1 of 3
AMD benchmarks for the Ryzen 7 7840U
Image: AMD
Some severe circumcisions
With the Radeon 760M GPU of the Ryzen 5 7640U, not only four compute units are deactivated this time (512 shaders active), but also two of the four render backends (RB+). This potentially limits the 3D performance more than the inactive shader cores. On the CPU side, there are six cores.
The Ryzen 5 7540U remains a six-core processor but has to be content with a further reduction of the GPU to just four compute units (256 shaders). The Ryzen 3 7440U uses the same GPU, but only four CPU cores and a Level 3 cache halved to 8 MB. Both models lack the AI co-processor.
Block diagram of the RDNA 3 GPU in the Ryzen 7040 processors. AMD disables CUs and parts of the backend on the slower models. (Image: AMD)
That means: With the Ryzen 3 7440U, AMD cuts out more than half the die. So the company can still sell the particularly bad chips from TSMC’s 4-nanometer production.
| AMD processor family Ryzen 7040U | ||||||
| processor | cores / threads | Base Clock / Max Boost | graphic | CUs / max clock | L3 cache | TDP |
| Ryzen 7 7840U | 8/16 | 3.3/5.1GHz | Radeon 780M | 12/2.7GHz | 16 MB | 15-30W |
| Ryzen 5 7640U | 6/12 | 3.5/4.9GHz | Radeon 760M | 8 / 2.6GHz | 16 MB | 15-30W |
| Ryzen 5 7540U | 6/12 | 3.2/4.9GHz | Radeon 740M | 4 / 2.5GHz | 16 MB | 15-30W |
| Ryzen 3 7440U | 4/8 | 3.0/4.7GHz | Radeon 740M | 4 / 2.5GHz | 8 MB | 15-30W |
waiting period
Unfortunately, the Ryzen 7040U announcement does not mean that many notebooks with processors will be available in the near future. Framework, for example, is one of the release partners, but can only deliver current pre-orders for its AMD laptops in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Notebooks with the Ryzen 7040HS announced in January 2023 are only just beginning to go on sale – there are currently 14 available models from Asus and Lenovo.
TechAint 