The AMD Ryzen Z2 will power next-gen gaming handhelds

AMD is following up its impressive Ryzen Z1 chip, which powered the original ASUS ROG Ally, with the Ryzen Z2 at CES 2025. You can pretty much guess what it delivers: More power, and potentially more battery life, but if you plan to wait for Valve to release a Z2-powered Steam Deck, don't get your hopes up. Following AMD's announcement, a Valve employee said "there is and will be no Z2 Steam Deck."  

Leading the charge for the Ryzen Z2 family is the Z2 Extreme, featuring eight cores, a 5GHz max clock speed and 16 RDNA 3 graphics cores. The least powerful model is the Z2 Go with four CPU cores and 12 graphics cores. That could be a useful chip for cheaper handhelds, especially those that tout game streaming capabilities over local play.

AMD Ryzen Z2 family
AMD

AMD didn't have any performance metrics to share, but it likely won't be long until we see the Ryzen Z2 in action. It'll arrive in the first quarter of 2025 in revamped versions of the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. While Valve has said it's trying to avoid a horsepower rat race, constant leaks around a potential Steam Deck 2 indicate some sort of upgrade is on the way soon.

Update 4:00PM ET: Valve has clarified it's not working on a Z2-powered Steam Deck.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-amd-ryzen-z2-will-power-next-gen-gaming-handhelds-including-a-new-steam-deck-194531373.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-amd-ryzen-z2-will-power-next-gen-gaming-handhelds-including-a-new-steam-deck-194531373.html?src=rss
Created 9d | Jan 6, 2025, 9:20:13 PM


Login to add comment

Other posts in this group

SEC lawsuit claims Musk gained over $150 million by delaying Twitter stake disclosure

After a more than two-year investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission

Jan 15, 2025, 2:20:11 AM | Engadget
Sonos' chief product officer is also leaving the company

Sonos is continuing to clean house as the company recovers from the hits it took following a

Jan 15, 2025, 12:10:10 AM | Engadget
How to talk to ChatGPT on your phone

ChatGPT has had support for voice conversations since the end of

Jan 14, 2025, 9:40:13 PM | Engadget
The new Witcher animated film finally has a legit trailer

We’ve been hearing about the latest animated movie based on The Witcher franchise for a while now, but we’ve only ever

Jan 14, 2025, 9:40:12 PM | Engadget
What to expect at the Samsung Galaxy S25 Unpacked 2025 event

Samsung’s big Galaxy S25 launch is right around the corner. The

Jan 14, 2025, 9:40:12 PM | Engadget
Pixelfed, Instagram's decentralized competitor, is now on iOS and Android

Pixelfed is now available as a mobile apps for both iOS and Android. The open source, decentralized platform offers image sharing similar to Instagram. However, Pixelfed has no advertisements and d

Jan 14, 2025, 9:40:11 PM | Engadget
Mark Zuckerberg plans to lay off an additional five percent of Meta's workforce

Meta is preparing for even more layoffs, accordi

Jan 14, 2025, 7:30:04 PM | Engadget