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AMD unveils new Ryzen 8040HX laptop CPUs with up to 16 cores at 5.4GHz

The MSI Vector A18 HX is one of the first laptops powered by AMD's new Ryzen chipsets (Image source: MSI, edited)
The MSI Vector A18 HX is one of the first laptops powered by AMD's new Ryzen chipsets (Image source: MSI, edited)
AMD has officially announced new processors with up to 16 performance cores and boost clock speeds of up to 5.4GHz, which makes them suitable for gaming laptops as well as mobile workstations. However, the underlying architecture is anything but new.

AMD's latest Ryzen 8040HX laptop processors succeed the Ryzen 7045HX, also known as "Dragon Range." Although a year and a half have passed since the latter was released, there are hardly any changes. Just like the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX, the Ryzen 9 8945HX has 16 performance cores based on the Zen 4 architecture, a 80MB cache and adjustable TDP between 55 and 75 watts.

The integrated Radeon 610M iGPU also remains unchanged. This graphics chip isn't powerful enough to smoothly render current games, but AMD's HX chips are typically paired with a dedicated graphics chip anyway. Even the clock speeds remain unchanged. AMD advertises a base clock of 2.5GHz and a boost clock up to 5.4GHz. AMD's latest processor lineup for laptops includes the following four chipsets:

CPUCores / ThreadsBase clockBoost clockCacheiGPUTDP
AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX16 / 322.5GHz5.4GHz80MBRadeon 610M55W – 75W
AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX16 / 322.4GHz5.3GHz80MBRadeon 610M55W – 75W
AMD Ryzen 7 8840HX12 / 242.9GHz5.1GHz76MBRadeon 610M45W – 75W
AMD Ryzen 7 8745HX8 / 163.6GHz5.1GHz40MBRadeon 610M45W – 75W

The Ryzen 9 8940HX is basically a rebadged Ryzen 9 7940HX, but with 100MHz higher boost clock speeds that have already been revealed by a listing for the upcoming Asus ROG Strix G16. The Ryzen 7 8840HX is practically identical to the Ryzen 9 7845HX, and the Ryzen 7 8745HX corresponds to the Ryzen 7 7745HX.

All mentioned AMD processors support up to 64GB DDR5-5200 memory and 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes. Consequently, this release doesn't offer any noteworthy innovations apart from new model numbers, as the performance should remain mostly unchanged.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2025 04 > AMD unveils new Ryzen 8040HX laptop CPUs with up to 16 cores at 5.4GHz
Hannes Brecher, 2025-04-10 (Update: 2025-04-11)