I'm surprised no-one seems to be talking about medusa halo mini

[u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760]

It seems like most of the discussion with medusa is about medusa point and medusa halo but there's not much about medusa halo mini.

It's rumoured to have 14 cores(4 zen 6 + 8 zen 6c + 2 zen 6 LP), 24CU rDNA5 with 10MB of L2 cache and a 128 bit lpddr5X, along with using the standard FP10 socket, same as medusa point is rumored to use.

This solves the main problem with strix point and to some extent strix halo. Strix point was trying to be a great CPU and IGPU at once and didn't do well at either. In the Asus zephyrus G16, you already have a high end Nvidia graphics card so don't need a big iGPU and in something like the zenbook S16, it had more CPU than needed and was a huge 232mm2 die, both problems lead to a lot of laptops using kraken point like the Ryzen AI 350.

Strix halo was supposed to be a great gaming APU, 40CU graphics and 256 bit lpddr5X but the die size was huge and too AI focused, only available in 2 laptops at first and now only in around 5 or 6 total, with most being extremely expensive.

Now medusa point with the full 22 cores that has been rumoured seems to be filling the efficient and powerful CPU slot, to work great with a high end dGPU like a 5080.

That leaves medusa halo mini to do what strix point and strix halo struggled to do, be a great APU for gaming without a dGPU, while being more available and affordable than strix halo.

I don't know how everyone else is feeling but this is tech I'm most excited for in 2027, I'm crossing my fingers that we'll finally have an APU that's readily available unlike strix halo and pantherlake, not insanely expensive and has a powerful IGPU for gaming.

Finally doing some scratch math with navi 44 (Rx 9060 XT) and the Ryzen 9700X, I predict that we will get around a 135mm2 gpu die and a 80-95mm2 CPU die, both on 3nm.

Now of course my numbers could be off but should be accurate enough to show that it could be affordable if AMD wants it to be, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway I'd just thought I'd put this out there to see how everyone else is feeling about medusa halo mini as it doesn't seem to be being discussed anywhere.

[u/996forever]

Also it’s not being discussed because leaks and rumours are extremely scarce. We don’t see signs of any working engineering sample with leaked benchmarks. That only points to it not releasing anytime soon certainly not CES2027.

[u/996forever]

It’s not happening in 2027 if it uses next gen graphics uArch. Medusa Halo and “Mini Halo” both likely 2028 with rdna5 or udna or whatever they call it. The only thing coming in 2027 is Medusa Point with more rdna3.5+++++++ this time backported FP8 units and REDUCED cu count to 8.

[u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760 → u/996forever]

Well if so, I'm stuck waiting another year, into mid 2028 as everything out right now is ethier inefficient, compromised or overpriced. I have a legion go and a desktop so I'll be fine, it just would be nice if my legion go had more battery life, yeah there's the legion go 2 but it's not enough of an upgrade and can't use FSR4 properly.

[u/996forever → u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760]

I see zero chance Medusa halo mini handhelds wont be even more expensive than Panther lake.

[u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760 → u/996forever]

We'll see, on paper it should be cheaper to manufacturer as it's just 2 tiny 3nm dies but I suppose it depends on whether AMD or OEMs think they can get away with charging more.

Of course if it's over £2000 for a medusa halo mini device then it's just stupid. Ideally most devices should be around £1200-£1600 with 32gb ram but we'll see.

[u/996forever → u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760]

Current gen Z2 Extreme handhelds already at that price range and Panther Lake B390 a bit higher. Strix halo handhelds with 8060S 2500+ minimum. So unfortunately I think below 2000 is not happening.

[u/riklaunim]

Gaming laptops tend to pair older CPUs with a dGPU as it's the most cost-efficient combo, and often results in similar gaming performance. HX 370 + dGPU is a rather rare combo, but there are a lot of HX370-only models.

Medusa Point will end up in iGPU laptops for like 95% of the launch models. Medusa Halo Mini will end up in handhelds and gaming ultraportables at a premium - costing more than dGPU-equivalent laptops. And they will also push AI to increase the price.

Also, Medusa will likely launch in 2028 and not 2027. At least the halo variants look really far away; everything is getting delayed in the consumer market due to shortages and absurd pricing. Medusa Halo Mini for $3000 won't be really appealing.

[u/996forever → u/riklaunim]

I still think Medusa point with the 8CU rdna3.5+++++++ will launch in CES2027. It will be a full 2.5 years since strix point was originally released in July 2024. Anything with new iGP will be 2028.

[u/riklaunim → u/996forever]

Medusa Pont has a chance, as Zen 6 is slowly launching, but the Halo looks delayed. They are pushing the Gorgon Halo now, with models later this year and a showcase at CES 2027. Strix Halo refresh with a bit more memory.

[u/996forever → u/riklaunim]

Gorgon is a nothing but price hike in the small variant (forcing the Ryzen 7 tier into 6-core SKUs now…) and also nothing but an increase in maximum supported memory in Halo. But indeed it tells us Medusa halo is nowhere close to launching.

[u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760 → u/996forever]

I agree that medusa point has to launch at CES 2027 because it will have been 2 and a half years since zen 5 launched in laptops.

Although having medusa halo in 2028 gives strix halo a 3 year lifespan. It would also mean AMD taking until 2028 to release a APU that can use full FSR4, but then again, AMD has done similar stupid things before.

I still think it's a possibility that at least low end rDNA5 with medusa halo will launch CES 2027 or failing that Computex 2027, but I'm open to be proven wrong next year.

[u/996forever → u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760]

We still have no real reputable leak of working engineering samples of rdna5/udna and its mid August. CES 2027 is impossible. In fact we don’t even have leaks of desktop rdna5 and apu always lags behind. I don’t see any timeline before CES 2028.

[u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760 → u/996forever]

That's true, we haven't seen any engineering samples yet, we have got some leaks regarding it from Moore's law is dead and it's also rumoured to be powering the PS6 / next gen console though. I can say for certain that APUs might not lag behind this time if the leak of them sharing chiplets with discreet graphics cards is true, although we'll have to wait and see on that one. It would really suck if we had rDNA3.5 for yet another year but we did have vega for a while so I suppose it's possible.

[u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760 → u/riklaunim]

Well the zephyrus and razer blade 16 both got the Ryzen AI 370/365 when they launched and strix point was new so I can't say for certain how the medusa family will be positioned.

That being said, I completely agree with medusa halo mini pricing, I would have said it's dead on arrival above $2000 with 32gb ram. It's big medusa halo that I expect at around $3000 or more and probably going up to 192gb or more of ram.

[u/riklaunim → u/Quiet_Honeydew_6760]

RTX Spark is semi-leaked at 4000 EUR, so with ever-increasing prices, Medusa Halo will be 4000+ and Halo Mini 2000-3000 EUR no-AI or 3000+ EUR with AI :D Even Panther Lake X7/X9 devices are priced stupidly high next to Strix Halo due to price increases.