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An Interview with Ben Conrad: Ryzen AI Max, Gaming & the Future of AI PCs

CES 2025 featured a plethora of announcements from AMD, including the launch of newer Ryzen Zen 5 desktop and laptop X3D processors with 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache, the Z2 handheld gaming processors, and the all-new Ryzen AI Max series processors featuring XDNA 2 NPUs and up to 128GB of unified memory.

We at Hardware Times had the opportunity to sit down with Ben Conrad, Director of Product Management at AMD, for a candid discussion about the technical aspects of these new processors, the future of AI-enabled PCs, and AMD’s vision for the coming years.


Interview Transcript (Edited for Clarity & Conciseness)

Dipin (Hardware Times): Pleasure to meet you, Ben. I’m Dipin from Hardware Times. This is my first one-on-one interview like this. Can we begin? First I have a few questions from my partner back in Bangalore.

Ryzen AI Max Processors & Target Market

Dipin: What was the motivation behind the Ryzen AI Max processors? Are they targeted at mobility gaming, workstations, or both?

Ben Conrad: Ryzen AI Max is designed to be the best of everything—power-efficient and highly capable. If you’re a hardcore gamer with a 17-inch system, weight isn’t a concern. The 9955HX3D plus a discrete GPU (dGPU) is our top-end gaming option. However, Ryzen AI Max offers a great balance for those who need power on the go, such as engineering students running physics simulations or business school students performing Monte Carlo analysis. It’s compact, but it delivers high performance.

Dipin: Right, I noticed the laptops on display don’t look bulky or flashy.

Ben: Exactly. It provides 16 Zen 5 cores, a 50 TOPS NPU for power-efficient AI, and a high-performance integrated graphics subsystem. Plus, it has 128GB of unified memory, of which up to 96GB can be dedicated to graphics—that’s 12 times the VRAM of an RTX 4070 mobile.

Dipin: That’s huge.

Ben: Yeah, and it eliminates the traditional bottleneck where games and applications have to fetch data through PCIe 4 to an APU and back through LP5 memory. Instead, everything is on one package, communicating at ultra-fast speeds.

Memory & Performance Considerations

Dipin: The 256GB/s memory bandwidth matches the RTX 4070 mobile, but you have far greater memory capacity. Does that give you an edge?

Ben: Exactly. 96GB of available memory is unmatched, even by high-end workstation GPUs. You’d need a server-class product for more capacity.

Dipin: So it’s practically a mini-server on your lap?

Ben: Pretty much! Some of the most impressive demos at CES are running on Strix Halo Ryzen AI Max.

AI Processing & NPUs

Dipin: Is this the first time an NPU has been integrated into a CPU SoC?

Ben: We’ve had NPUs since Phoenix generation (7000 series mobile). Our competitors mostly focus on thin-and-light prosumer laptops, but we integrate AI across gaming and professional laptops with dedicated GPUs and DDR5/LP5 support.

Power Efficiency & Thermal Design

Dipin: How much power does the Ryzen AI Max draw under full load?

Ben: Design points range from 45W to 120W. The laptops at CES are running at 55W, which we think is a sweet spot. Adding a dGPU increases power consumption significantly.

Dipin: And how about thermals? Any throttling concerns?

Ben: Not really. Unlike a system with separate CPU and GPU heat sources, this is a single large package, meaning better cooling efficiency. Small form factor desktops can push up to 120W, matching maximum Ryzen AI Max performance settings.

Graphics Architecture & Power Management

Dipin: Is the GCD on Ryzen AI Max based on RDNA 4, like the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 series?

Ben: No, the Ryzen AI Max GPUs use RDNA 3.5.

Dipin: Will the 40 CU GPU on the AI Max 395 be power-limited in graphics-heavy workloads?

Ben: We use SmartShift to dynamically allocate power between the CPU and GPU at a hardware level for faster optimization. The system senses workload demand and shifts power accordingly, so sometimes the graphics gets almost all of the power, and sometimes the CPU takes priority for intensive workloads like Cinebench.

3D V-Cache Considerations

Dipin: The 9950X3D’s 3D V-Cache size is the same as the 9800X3D. Why wasn’t it increased?

Ben: The 9950X3D has two CCDs, but only one has 3D V-Cache. The extra cache on the second CCD doesn’t provide much additional performance benefit. However, you get more cores and threads, which benefits creator workloads.

AI Adoption & Future Trends

Dipin: How long before AI-powered laptops reach mass adoption?

Ben: CoPilot+ will accelerate adoption because it provides an easy AI interface for mainstream users. Right now, only a small percentage actively use AI daily, but that will change as NPU-powered features become standard.

Dipin: So do you estimate AI laptops crossing 50% of annual sales in 2-3 years?

Ben: That’s what we expect. The install base transition will take longer, but developers will start optimizing for NPUs as adoption grows.

Dipin: Some say NPUs might be a gimmick. What’s your take?

Ben: NPUs excel at low-power AI tasks, like security software, deep fake detection, and background AI processing, which shouldn’t burden CPU cores. Unlike running AI tasks on a high-power GPU, the NPU is efficient and seamless.

Gaming & AI Use Cases

Dipin: Could NPUs be used for AI-driven NPC logic in games?

Ben: Absolutely! Many developers, including AMD partners, are exploring AI-powered gaming applications. As AI adoption increases, more titles will integrate NPU-driven enhancements.

Dipin: Similar to FSR, which was initially met with skepticism but is now widely adopted?

Ben: Exactly. The same pattern will likely happen with AI-powered gaming features.

Final Thoughts & Future Outlook

Dipin: What was your favorite CES announcement?

Ben: As the Ryzen AI 300 series product manager, I’m excited about Ryzen AI Max. One of my colleagues described Strix Halo as the perfect all-rounder—not a 10/10 in any category, but a 9 across the board. It’s powerful, efficient, and versatile, making it the one laptop I’d want to carry around.

Dipin: Sounds like a game-changer. Thank you for your time, Ben. It was a pleasure!

Ben: Likewise! If you need any more info or want to check out the demos, let me know. Have a great day!


We’d like to thank Ben Conrad for his time and AMD for facilitating this interview.

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