AMD Ryzen 6000 specs, performance and everything we know

AMD announced its new AMD Ryzen 6000 Series laptop CPUs during CES 2022. These chips feature the company’s Zen 3 Plus architecture with the latest RDNA 2 graphics. According to AMD, these processors are the fastest yet.

Built using TSMC's 6nn process technology, the Ryzen 6000 CPUs are designed to deliver better graphics performance for 1080p gaming. The chips also have increased battery life and additional features. Based on the specs provided, they could give Intel CPUs a run for their money.

Here’s everything we know about the AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs so far.

AMD Ryzen 6000: Price and release date

There will be 13 different Ryzen 6000 CPUs and over 200 laptops featuring these new AMD processors in 2022, meaning that pricing will differ depending on laptop configuration and retailers.

The first Ryzen 6000-powered laptops began releasing in February of 2022. This includes both productivity and gaming laptops from vendors such as Dell, Razer, Lenovo, Asus, Acer and HP. Recently, laptops featuring the CPU began shipping in India.

AMD Ryzen 6000: Configurations

Here is a list of all 13 AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs announced. Note that the H-Series is a bit beefier than the U-series, as the H-series CPUs are designed for laptops aimed at gamers and creators as opposed to thin-and-light productivity machines.

AMD Ryzen 6000: Performance

AMD Ryzen 6000 processors are built on the updated AMD Zen 3+ core, which is optimized to deliver higher performance-for-watt. The chips have clock speeds of up to 5GHz, 1.3x faster processing speeds, and up to 2.1x faster graphics over the 5000 series.

New adaptive power management features adjust speed quickly. This includes a new deep sleep feature that helps save on power. According to AMD, Ryzen 6000 CPUs can use up to 30% less power for video conferencing. The company says the processors can achieve up to 24 hours of movie playback on a single charge.

The Ryzen 6000 CPUs have up to eight cores, each capable of handling multiple tasks at the same time, and can deliver up to 16 threads of processing power. According to AMD, the CPUs are capable of up to 11% more single single-threaded performance and up to 28% faster multithreaded performance over the 5000 series cards.

AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs are the first mobile processors to feature RDNA 2 architecture-based built-in graphics. AMD claims the Ryzen 6000 chips deliver the world’s first on-chip graphics that can smoothly play the vast majority of PC games in Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels). The CPUs also have a new integrated display engine that allows for higher resolutions and refresh rates. AMD stated that the Ryzen 6000 Series enables up to 70% faster gaming performance compared to competitors. Dynamic HDR displays and AMD FreeSync technology are other features.

The Ryzen 9 6980HX is the company’s beefiest laptop CPU for 2022. It packs eight cores with 16 threads, a base 3.3GHz clock and a boosted max speed of 5GHz. AMD claims that the 6980HX is the "fastest AMD Ryzen processor yet." This is technically correct since the desktop-grade Ryzen 9 5950X has a max clock speed of 4.9GHz. But as we said in our original report on the AMD 6000 Series processors, we would be willing to bet that last year’s top-end Ryzen desktop CPU will outperform this year’s fastest Ryzen laptop CPU. 

AMD Ryzen 6000: Additional features and security 

The Ryzen 6000 graphics cards feature DDR5 memory, support for PCIe 4.0 and USB4, AI noise cancellation and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity.

The new AMD cards will be among the first x86 processors with full support for Windows 11 security features, thanks to their integrated Microsoft Pluton security processor. In addition, the chips will feature advanced DDR5 memory, enhanced support for PCIe 4.0 and USB 4, AI noise cancellation options and more.

AMD Ryzen 6000: Outlook

The AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processors are clearly meant to rival Intel’s new 12th Gen Intel Core Alder Lake CPUs. Based on the charts AMD provided, the chips will deliver big performance boosts to laptops. Most exciting of all is that devices using Ryzen 6000 processors have already been released. That means we’ll soon be able to perform our own benchmarks to see if the chips are capable of everything AMD claims.

If the processors are as performant as we expect, we'll no doubt see updates to our best laptops and best gaming laptops lists as notebooks roll out with the latest AMD chips.

Next: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090’s power could leave AMD in the dust.