AMD Navi Graphics, Zen Cores to Unite in Next Xbox, PlayStation - Report

[Mark-x]

Well-known computer hardware leaker TUM_APISAK in a tweet this week claimed to unmask AMD's upcoming system-on-a-chip (SoC) for gaming consoles. The AMD SoC, allegedly called Gonzalo, reportedly combines the chipmaker's Zen processor architecture with it's future Navi graphics card architecture. The chip also fits the description of an accelerated processing unit (APU), meaning the processor should have integrated graphics.

AMD Gonzalo with the codename 2G16002CE8JA2_32/10/10_13E9 could possibly be the APU that powers the next-generation gaming consoles from Sony and Microsoft. At this time, it's not clear it's based on the Zen+ or Zen 2 architecture. However, Brad Sams, Executive Editor at Thurott, said last month that Microsoft's Xbox Scarlett will come equipped with an AMD Zen 2 octa-core processor built on the 7nm node.

AMD Gonzalo purportedly features eight cores with a 1GHz base clock and a boost clock in the range of 3.2GHz. Sony's current Playstation 4 Pro employs a semi-custom AMD chip that tops out at 2.13GHz, while Microsoft's Xbox One X flaunts a slightly higher clocked part at 2.3GHz. If AMD Gonzalo's reported 3.2GHz boost clock speed is true, the APU will provide a very substantial performance improvement to the current generation of consoles running AMD SoCs based on the Jaguar architecture.

    What's more important with AMD Gonzalo is the potential incorporation of Navi 10 Lite graphics. Information on Navi 10 Lite is almost non-existent; however, reports say the unit utilized in AMD Gonzalo could come clocked at 1GHz.

The latest rumor suggests that AMD will finally launch Navi at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles, California this June. The rumor has some logic behind it as the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Scarlett have expected release dates of 2020.