Raphael GPU on AMD Ryzen 7000 would get 128 RDNA2 shader cores

If the chatter is real, the GPU of the new Ryzen 7000 processors will get 128 shaders cores and is codenamed "Coral Bandfish." If so, Raphael CPUs are only fitting for uncomplicated graphics applications.

AMD plans to deliver a new CPU generation with the Ryzen 7000 processors, codenamed Raphael, by the end of the year. As revealed at Computex, the new CPUs will be the first to utilize the new AM5 socket, Zen 4 architecture, and TSMC's 5 nm fabrication. In response, AMD intends to provide significantly higher computational power and a redesigned platform that supports DDR5 RAM and PCI Express 5.0 for the first time.

There should be advances beyond the processor and platform with Ryzen 7000. Instead, AMD revealed at the fair that a GPU at default would be included in the new generation for the first time, catching up to Intel in this regard. In the successors of the current APUs, the GPU should continue to reside on a single chip alongside the CPU. The new GPU should be installed for Raphael, where typically two CPU chiplets are put on the additional IO chip.

AMD has not yet disclosed any relevant performance-related information. It is only known that the GPU is an RDNA2 and that the entire device is made using a 6 nm process. Consequently, the integrated graphics unit should utilize the codename "Coral Bandfish". With RDNA2, a unit of this type comprises two compute units, resulting in Ryzen 7000 having 128 shaders.

If so, the Raphael GPU would be much slower than the current generation of APUs: On desktops, the Ryzen 5 5600G has 448 shaders, and even on laptops, no APUs with fewer than 384 shaders are available. The IGP of Ryzen 7000 CPUs will therefore likely only be appropriate for extremely simple graphics programs and the playback of codecs supported by the hardware. On the other hand, the subsequent generation of APUs, in which AMD will most likely install much more shaders, will likely offer superior graphics performance.