(Image credit: AMD)

We're seeing traces of AMD's more affordable Strix Halo options, with the octa-core Ryzen AI Max 385 marking its debut on Geekbench. Powering the HP ZBook Ultra G1a, Strix Halo appears poised to expand into the mainstream segment with eight and six-core variations. Performance indicators in Geekbench aren't as impressive as we expected, though we shouldn't consider them as definitive due to this being a leak, typical run-to-run variations, and laptop power settings.

CES marked the debut of AMD's flagship APU family this generation, Strix Halo, under the Ryzen AI 300 Max line, for AI/ML developers and gamers. AMD launched four different variants, ranging from 6-16 CPU cores and 16-40 GPU cores, catering to a wide range of consumers. Most of the first and second quarters have been occupied by the premier Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and 390, with mini-PCs costing up to $2,000. Meanwhile, laptops, limited to the HP Zbook Ultra G1a and Asus ROG Flow Z13, exceed the $5,000 price point, fully decked out with 128GB of LPDDR5x RAM.

The Ryzen AI Max 385 sports eight cores and sixteen threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, alongside a 32 Compute Unit equipped integrated GPU (Radeon 8050S) based on RDNA 3.5 and a 50 TOPS capable NPU. The CPU is advertised to reach 5 GHz, only 100 MHz below the flagship model. This suggests similar single-core performance, but the actual results indicate otherwise.

(Image credit: Geekbench)

In Geekbench, this specific sample of Ryzen AI Max 385 dished out 2,489 points and 14,136 points in the single-core and multi-core categories, respectively. This is considerably slower than comparable samples of the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, hovering in the 2,900-3,000 points territory (single-core). There aren't any signs of thermal throttling, as the CPU averaged between 4.95 GHz and 5 GHz. Still, we shouldn't consider these early benchmarks as definitive, as several variables could be at play here.

The test bench in this case was the aforementioned HP ZBook Ultra G1a with 32GB of LPDDR5x memory. HP's website confirms the existence of such a model, listed at an eye-watering $2,599, with shipments starting tomorrow. As of writing, Asus' Flow Z13 doesn't offer a configuration below the 12-core Ryzen AI Max 390. The Framework Desktop is configurable with the Ryzen AI Max 385, with shipments expected in Q3 (July to September) 2025. Meanwhile, only HP's upcoming Z2 Mini G1a mini workstations sport the entry-level hexacore Ryzen AI Max 380.

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