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Mystery AMD APU w/ Ray-Tracing Support Spotted in Linux Patch

A mystery APU has been spotted in the latest Linux Coreboot patch from AMD which supports ray-tracing in a first. The unidentified APU with the GPU ID: gfx1013 in LLVM is based on the 1st Gen RDNA architecture (Navi 10), but can process RDNA 2 instructions (GFX 10.3), including those for ray-tracing such as:

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What’s certain is that the device is an APU with support for RDNA 2 and ray-tracing instructions (as stated by the author). What’s not certain is which APU family does it belong to and why it’s being grouped with the lower-end (RDNA 1) Radeon RX 5000 series GPUs. (Update: It’s Navi 10 based), thanks to Coelacanth).

Although the APUs powering the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles also support ray-tracing, but they’re based on the newer RDNA 2 design and are a special semi-custom design. It’s possible that we’re looking at the upcoming Rembrandt APUs which are going to leverage 6nm Zen 3+ cores along with an integrated RDNA 2 graphics. It’s possible that the GPU featured on these APUs is a hybrid between RDNA 1 and 2 which wouldn’t be surprising as they won’t support all the features of the discrete Navi 2x lineup.

Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have been writing about computer hardware for over seven years with more than 5000 published articles. Started off during engineering college and haven't stopped since. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity, Torment, Baldur's Gate and so much more... Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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