AMD's future 'Medusa Halo' APUs could use LPDDR6 RAM — new leak suggests Ryzen AI MAX 500 series could have 80% more memory bandwidth
Source: Tom’s Hardware
Image credit: AMD
Overview
Following its well‑received family of Strix Halo APUs, AMD plans to refresh its high‑end gaming APU lineup with Gorgon Halo, aligning it with the recently announced Gorgon Point (aka Ryzen AI Max 400) series. The next major upgrade is expected to arrive as “Medusa Halo” sometime in 2027‑28. This high‑end APU could feature Zen 6 CPU cores, RDNA 5 graphics, and, according to a leak from reputed leaker Olrak29_, support LPDDR6 memory.
Memory Bandwidth
- Strix Halo: 256‑bit LPDDR5X controller, 8,000 MT/s → 256 GB/s bandwidth.
- Gorgon Halo (refresh): 8,533 MT/s → 273.1 GB/s bandwidth.
- Medusa Halo (LPDDR6, 256‑bit bus, 14,400 MT/s): up to 460.8 GB/s, roughly 80 % higher than current‑gen Strix Halo.
Prior rumors suggested a wider 384‑bit bus for Medusa Halo, which would push bandwidth to 691.2 GB/s.
Higher memory bandwidth is increasingly important for APUs targeting both gaming and AI workloads. Large language model (LLM) inference, for example, relies heavily on memory throughput, making the shared memory bandwidth a critical metric.
Competitor Landscape
- Intel: Panther Lake currently offers the fastest x86 memory controller with LPDDR5X‑9600 support, though Intel has not announced an integrated graphics solution comparable to Strix Halo.
- Apple: The M‑series SoCs reach up to 819 GB/s on the M3 Ultra, thanks to a 1,024‑bit memory interface.
Roadmap and Caveats
AMD has not confirmed a Gorgon Halo refresh, let alone Medusa Halo, so these figures should be taken with a grain of salt. The company recently unveiled two new Strix Halo SKUs at CES, indicating that the Strix Halo line is still evolving. Roadmap leaks suggest AMD will retain RDNA 3.5 graphics across most of its lineup through 2027‑28, though Medusa Halo could be an exception.