AMD Downgrades Ryzen 7040 “Phoenix” Laptop CPUs Ahead of Launch: Lower GPU Clocks, Cut-Down Features

AMD’s Ryzen 7 4000 ‘Phoenix’ series laptop CPUs have gone through a bit of a downgrade, unfortunately, shortly before their launch. The laptop CPUs will feature lower GPU clocks, cut-down features and a few other downgrades that have got AMD fans concerned.

The Ryzen 7 4000 “Phoenix” series laptop CPUs feature the Zen 2 core and are the first integrated processors to feature AMD’s Ryzen 4000 laptop range. The series features chips like the Ryzen 7 4800U, the Ryzen 7 4600U and the Ryzen 5 4500U, which are all based off of the 7nm “Renoir” platform.

Before their launch, however, the Ryzen 7 7040 “Phoenix” laptop CPUs have gone through some downgrades. The Ryzen 7 4800U, for example, has had its GPU clock downgraded from 1.45 ghz to 1.35 ghz. And the Ryzen 7 4600U and the Ryzen 5 4500U have had their GPU clock downgraded from 1.6 ghz to 1.5 ghz.

These downgrades come on top of already reduced features that the Ryzen 7 4000 laptops have gone through. The Ryzen 7 4800U will now have a reduced L3 cache of 8 Mbps, instead of 12 Mbps, and the Ryzen 7 4600U and the Ryzen 5 4500U will have only 6 Mbps of L3 cache, instead of the originally advertised 8 Mbps. This means that consumers will get slightly less performance from their Ryzen 7 4000 laptops than was initially expected.

AMD has yet to comment on the downgrades, so it’s hard to tell if this is a deliberate decision on their part, or whether these downgrades were simply the result of last-minute changes. Regardless, though, it’s sure to disappoint many who were eagerly anticipating the launch of the Ryzen 7 4000 “Phoenix” laptop CPUs.

It’s worth noting that the downgrades will likely result in lower prices for the Ryzen 7 4000 laptops, so it may not be all bad news. But with less features and lower GPU clocks, many people who were ready to take the plunge and buy these laptops may now be waiting for further updates before making their decision.

Whether AMD will provide an explanation or an apology for the downgrades remains to be seen. For now, though, the Ryzen 7 4000 “Phoenix” laptops have suffered a bit of a setback just before their launch. Let’s hope that things start to look up for them soon.