It’s impossible to go shopping for a new Windows laptop today and not see terms like “AI PC” or “Copilot” being shoved in your face. Whether you like it or not, all future laptops will come with dedicated hardware for processing AI workloads, often referred to as the Neural Processing Unit or NPU for short. The purpose of an NPU is to offload matrix multiplication tasks from the GPU or CPU, simply because it’s way more efficient at doing it and uses a lot less power. This keeps the CPU and GPU free for doing regular Windows workloads or handling other apps, without having your PC come to a standstill. This is similar to encoding a video using the GPU instead of the CPU, which finishes the task much quicker and you can actually use your PC while the process is happening.
In the world of x86-based silicon, Intel and AMD have brand new CPUs popping up in laptops in 2024 that boast of powerful NPUs and advanced AI capabilities. Today, we’ll be taking a closer look at AMD’s AI solution which it has termed as ‘Ryzen AI’. So what exactly is it, and why should you care? We cover all your burning questions.
Also read: Best use cases for an NPU in your Windows 11 laptop
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What is Ryzen AI?
Ryzen AI is AMD’s official branding for an NPU in its hardware, which in this case, are processors. There’s also Ryzen AI software, which is a development platform aimed at developers looking to build AI apps or services. The platform lets you run inferences to AI models like PyTorch locally and leverages the NPU in AMD’s hardware for more efficient, on-device processing. For this article though, we’ll be focusing more on the hardware side of things.
Which AMD CPUs support Ryzen AI?
AMD was the first x86 CPU maker to introduce an NPU in its CPU way back in Jan 2023, with the launch of the Ryzen 7040 series CPUs. This was followed by the Ryzen 8000 series, and most recently the Ryzen AI 300 series. Here are all the AMD CPUs that have an NPU onboard:
7040 series: Ryzen 9 7940HS, Ryzen 7 7840U, Ryzen 7 7840HS, Ryzen 5 7640U, Ryzen 5 7640HS
8040 series: Ryzen 9 8945HS, Ryzen 7 8845HS, Ryzen 7 8840U, Ryzen 7 8840HS, Ryzen 5 8645HS, Ryzen 5 8640U, Ryzen 5 8640HS.
Ryzen AI 300 series: Ryzen AI 9 HX 375/ 370, Ryzen AI 9 365
All the above CPUs have a dedicated NPU in them, which should allow you to use exclusive Windows 11 AI features like Studio Effects. The performance of these NPUs vary by generation. The Ryzen AI in the 7040 series is capable of up to 10 TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second). The 8040 series gets a beefier NPU with 16 TOPS, while the Ryzen AI 300 series can do 50 TOPS. This is just the power of the NPU alone, but if an app needs it, it can offload some AI tasks to the CPU and GPU too, thereby boosting the AI performance even further.
Also read: How to choose the right AMD CPU for your next laptop
What applications take advantage of an NPU right now?
Not many, at the moment. Unlike AI features and apps on smartphones, on-device AI processing on Windows is still in its infancy. Even on a Ryzen AI laptop today, all Copilot processing is still handled in the cloud. However, there are some tasks that can be handled locally if you have a Ryzen AI laptop.
AMD’s Adrenalin GPU driver recently got the AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 or AFMF 2 update, which AMD claims boosts performance in select games like Cyberpunk 2077. This performance boost due to AI frame generation applies to laptops with a ryzen AI 300 series chips. Other titles like Far Cry 6, Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvel’s Guardian of the Galaxy are also said to receive a good boost in performance using this setting.
If you’re looking for an on-device AI chatbot, you can try LM Studio for Ryzen AI which offers an AI assistant that runs completely offline, to help you with simple tasks. This works with all Ryzen AI laptops, including the older 7040 series.
GenAI apps like Amuse 2.0 (Beta) has been optimised to run locally on Ryzen AI laptops. You’ll need a good helping of RAM to be able to run this well, but you can give it a go if you have a compatible Ryzen AI laptop for the job.
Also read: Windows 11 essential tips and tricks: Become a Pro user in minutes
If you use Adobe Premiere Pro, then certain editing workflows like Scene Edit Detection, Auto Reframe Sequence, and Text-based Editing should see a performance boost on a Ryzen AI PC.
These are just some of the apps which have been optimised to work with Ryzen AI laptops, and I’m sure many more will be coming soon that will be able to take advantage of the NPU.
Do all Ryzen AI laptops qualify as Copilot+ PCs?
No, only the laptops and PCs with a Ryzen AI 300 series CPU will qualify as a Copilot+ PC. Microsoft mandates that a PC have an NPU with a minimum of 40 TOPS, which is why older Ryzen 7040 and 8040 series chips won’t be getting that badge of honour. Microsoft will be issuing a Windows update in November, which will bring more Windows AI features to Copilot+ PCs.
Should I buy a laptop with an NPU today?
While the use case for an NPU on Windows machines is scarce at the moment, that should hopefully change by next year. As more applications integrate AI features, it makes good sense to take advantage of dedicated AI hardware to drive these new experiences. You’ll probably still be able to use these features on a non-NPU PC, but the performance might be inferior to one that has it. Laptops with an NPU aren’t cheap (yet), so if you have the budget, you should ideally look for a laptop with an NPU in it.
