Valve has used the Van Gogh SoC customized by AMD for the Steam Deck handheld. However, it has been reported recently that the company is also actively preparing the next-generation model with Zen 4 CPU + RDNA 3 GPU. Given that AMD is developing the Phoenix Point APU, we speculate that there may be many interesting connections between the two.
Moore’s Law Is Dead revealed in the latest YouTube video that this SoC will replace the Van Gogh APU and is inextricably linked to Phoenix Point. As AMD’s next-generation Zen 4 CPU + RDNA 3 GPU product, the Phoenix APU will hit the laptop market in 2023. The so-called successor of Van Gogh has been passed down as “Little Phoenix” by some people.
The new custom SoC said to be built specifically for the next-generation Steam Deck, is an “ultra-low-power and compact” derivative of the Phoenix Point APU. For comparison, the current Steam Deck uses a transitional SoC configuration based on Zen 2 CPU + RDNA 2 GPU.
The “Little Phoenix” chip, which is expected to be manufactured at the 4nm process node, will bring a huge performance boost to Steam Deck. The core size is between 110-150 mm² – smaller than Van Gogh but slightly larger than Mendocino.
In terms of specifications, it is said that it uses a 4C / 8T CPU design with an acceleration frequency of about 4 GHz and a 25-35% increase in IPC performance. The core display part is 4 sets of WGP / 8 CU / 1024 cores, the frequency is slightly increased, and the effect is remarkable.
In addition, AMD may equip Little Phoenix with a 128-bit memory controller with LPDDR5-6400 or LPDDR5X-8533 memory. It should be pointed out that the Phoenix Point APU has been confirmed to integrate an AI engine. As for whether Little Phoenix can also catch this ride, it remains to be tested.
To sum up, the next-generation Steam Deck handheld may usher in up to 50% of the expected CPU performance improvement, and 60% of the GPU performance improvement. If all goes well, Valve could announce it at some point in late 2023-2024.
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