AMD Intros Zen 4C Powered Ryzen 7040 APU: Smaller Cores Open Room For Future Core Count Increases

wccftech.com:

AMD has finally introduced its brand new Ryzen 7040 APUs based on the Zen 4C cores which pave the way for future core count increases.

As we have seen with Threadripper 7000 options, AMD is now investing in the use of smaller cores for a diverse range of Ryzen APUs for the client segment. While the Ryzen 7040 APUs initially used the Zen 4 cores, the company has now introduced brand new options that adopt the Zen 4C cores for a more scalable design.

The AMD Zen 4C CCD which is codenamed "Dinoysus" has an overall -35.4% lower core area and almost every aspect of the CCD has been reduced by -35% to -45%.

So coming to the major changes between Zen 4 and Zen 4C on an architectural level, only the L3 cache per core has been reduced from 4 MB per core to 2 MB per core. The rest of the specs are entirely the same and that's a huge deal considering Zen 4C isn't a full-on different architecture from Intel's E-Core and P-Core variations.

The company has already stated that, unlike Intel's approach, the Zen 4 and Zen 4C cores use the same ISA and have the same IPC. Also unlike Intel's E-core implementation, the Zen 4C cores still come with SMT support and retain the same level of performance in gaming which ends up being a major issue with Intel's E-Cores since they lack the same IPC or clock speed advantage that the P-cores have. Another size-saving tactic is the dropout of the Ryzen AI unit (NPU) which isn't featured on the Phoenix 2 SKUs though future premium chips will retain the AI prowess of the NPU. It's the specific nature of the Ryzen 7040U and its target market (entry-level) that doesn't warranty the use of Ryzen AI.

Now coming to the SKUs, the AMD Zen 4C & Zen 4 hybrid chips, codenamed Phoenix 2, include the Ryzen 5 7545U and