AMD’s Hybrid Phoenix 2 “Little Phoenix” APU With 2+4 Core Configuration Spotted

AMD is working on its own hybrid BIG.little project which is expected to launch as the Phoenix 2 APU lineup for low-power platforms. One such configuration seems to have been spotted within the MilkyWay@Home database.

The latest SKU was spotted by @InstLatX64 within the MilkyWay@Home database. Although the APU has no name or SKU branding mentioned, it is stated that the "A70F80" CPUID belongs to a range of upcoming APUs that will be part of the Phoenix 2 family. The particular SKU features 12 threads and InstLatX64 states that this is a hybrid configuration comprising 2+4 cores. The CPU is equipped with 1 MB of cache and was tested with 16 GB of memory.

As for what AMD's Phoenix 2 project is, the upcoming hybrid design is said to feature 2 standard Zen 4 cores and at least 4 clock/power-optimized Zen 4 cores. The Zen 4 cores are essentially the same architecture but the way power is managed across them is very different. It is not like Intel's hybrid approach where the P-Core and E-Cores utilize vastly different architectures.

But that's not all, since the Phoenix 2 APUs are aimed at low-power and entry-level platforms, they are also said to feature reduced GPU compute units. So while the standard Phoenix chips feature an 8-12 CU configuration, the Phoenix 2 APUs might feature half of that with 4-8 Compute Units. It might seem like a downgrade over the Van Gogh SOC but we should remember that these are 4nm CUs that utilize the RDNA 3 graphics architecture and also run at faster frequencies.

The next Valve Steam Deck is a prime candidate which would utilize AMD's Phoenix 2 APUs among a list of other handheld and portable devices. It will definitely be interesting to see the efficiency numbers that the Phoenix 2 APUs produce. The first AMD Phoenix APUs will make their debut on laptops in March 2023 so we can expect an update later in 2023 on the Phoenix 2 parts.