New AMD Zen 6 "Magnus" APU leaks: Potential PS6 or next-gen Xbox APU features Zen 6 CPU cores and big iGPU

There have been a lot of leaks and rumors concerning the specifications and design of AMD’s next-gen Zen 6 CPUs. Many of these leaks, including information around 12-core CCDs, dual-layer 3D V-Cache, and insane clock speeds, have come to us courtesy of Moore’s Law Is Dead. The leaker has now published a new video containing even more information regarding Zen 6 and an exciting new Zen 6 APU codenamed “Magnus”.

While the whole video is worth checking out (linked at the end), our focus here is the “Magnus” Zen 6 APU. There are chances that this custom-looking Zen 6 APU could show up in next-gen consoles.

According to a diagram shared by MLID in the video, the Zen 6 APU, codenamed “Magnus”, features 3x Zen 6 and 8x Zen 6c cores for an unusual 11 total CPU cores. The SoC containing these Zen 6/Zen 6c CPU cores is reportedly a relatively large 144 mm2, fabbed on the TSMC 3 nm process, and features 12 MB of L3 cache.

The SoC Die is allegedly attached to the Graphics Die using a “Bridge Die”. The Graphics Die is seemingly a humongous 264 mm2. The iGPU on this Zen 6 APU carries a 384-bit wide bus. This is quite an important detail, as memory bandwidth is one of the key bottlenecks of iGPUs meant for gaming. 

So, with a big die size for both the SoC and Graphics chiplets and a memory bus wider than Strix Halo’s 256-bit, it is apparent that the Magnus APU isn’t meant for low-cost systems. MLID speculates that, based on the codename and other references, the Zen 6 Magnus APU could be PS6’s APU. We already know that Sony is building the PS6’s custom APU alongside AMD. So, a custom design with a giant iGPU makes sense.

However, leaker Kepler_L2 contends on X that, since “Magnus” doesn’t match the usual codenames that Sony uses, the APU could be for the next-gen Xbox. The leaker also argues that “the design in general looks too expensive to be the PS6 too. Cerny is a lot more conservative with die area”.

Considering for a second that the next-gen Xbox is going to run on Windows and that Microsoft is developing multiple Xbox consoles, an upper-tier Xbox with the Zen 6 Magnus APU makes sense. Kepler_L2 speculates that, with “>400mm² of N3P (or even N3P+N2P?) plus probably 36GB of GDDR7”, the next-gen Xbox could cost more than $1,500.

No matter which next-gen console uses the Zen 6 Magnus APU, it seems like the hardware isn’t going to be cheap. So, if you were already unhappy about the pricing of current-gen consoles like the PS5 Pro, the PS6/the next Xbox might be even worse.

Buy the Sony PS5 Pro | Xbox Series X on Amazon