AMD’s Strix Halo “Ryzen AI MAX” APUs Come To DIY PC Builders With New MoDT “Mini-ITX” Motherboards, Equipped With Up To 128 GB of LPDDR5X Memory
AMD’s Strix Halo “Ryzen AI MAX” APUs are the fastest SoCs on the market, and are now available to DIY PC Builders with MoDT motherboards.
Chinese PC Manufacturer Brings AMD’s Fastest APU Series, The Strix Halo “Ryzen AI MAX”, To DIY PC Builders With New MoDT Motherboards
The Chinese PC Manufacturer, Sixunited, has unveiled its brand new STHT1 Thin Mini-ITX motherboard, which is based on AMD’s Strix Halo “Ryzen AI MAX” platform. The AMD Ryzen AI MAX series combines the fast Zen 5 cores with a beefed-up RDNA 3.5 GPU, offering insane levels of performance, packed on a single chip.
So far, the Strix Halo series has been confined to laptops and Mini PCs, but recently, it looks like manufacturers are opening up even more potential avenues for this Halo chip, such as handhelds & DIY motherboards.
So, looking at Sixunited’s STHT1, it is a Thin Mini-ITX motherboard which features support for the FP11-based AMD Strix Halo “Ryzen AI MAX” APUs. Now, the manufacturer itself isn’t listing any particular SKU, but since it is based around FP11, it can essentially come pre-equipped with any Ryzen AI MAX chip. The only thing is that this is a non-socketed platform, and the chip will be soldered to the motherboard.
AMD Ryzen AI MAX 300 “Strix Halo” APU Lineup:
| SKU Name | Architectures | CPU Cores | Max Clock | Cache | GPU Cores | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | Zen 5 / RDNA 3.5 | 16 / 32 | 5.1 GHz | 80 MB | 40 CUs (Radeon 8060S) | 45-120W |
| Ryzen AI Max 390 | Zen 5 / RDNA 3.5 | 12 / 24 | 5.0 GHz | 76 MB | 40 CUs (Radeon 8060S) | 45-120W |
| Ryzen AI Max 385 | Zen 5 / RDNA 3.5 | 8 / 16 | 5.0 GHz | 40 MB | 32 CUs (Radeon 8050S) | 45-120W |
| Ryzen AI Max 380 | Zen 5 / RDNA 3.5 | 6 / 12 | 4.9 GHz | 22 MB | 16 CUs (Radeon 8040S) | 45-120W |
The motherboard itself will support up to 128 GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory, which is once again soldered to the motherboard. LPDDR5X is essential for Strix Halo since it provides the GPU with enough bandwidth to offer decent levels of performance. Plus, 128 GB memory is going to be shared with the GPU, so you can definitely run some large language models, and use this motherboard as a DIY “AI” set-up box, which is essentially one of its main applications on mobile workstation platforms.
Let’s now talk about the motherboard itself. Sixunited uses what seems to be at least 16 VRM power phases for the SOC, and a 4+1 phase design for the rest of the components.
There are two M.2 2280 sockets for SSDs, rated at Gen 4.0 x4 per slot, a M.2 2230 slot for an Add-in WIFI card, 2 USB 3.2Gen2 ports, 2 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, 7 USB 2.0 ports, or you can get another configuration which includes three USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, 7 USB 2.0 ports and 1 Type-C port. Display capabilities include HDMI, DP, VGA, COM, plus eDP multi-monitor support. There’s also a standard RJ45 LAN port, along with a Headset/Mic port.
Other aspects include two fan headers, a 4-pin ATX power connector, and a 19V DC in plug on the rear. The motherboard measures 170x170mm. There are no PCIe slots on the motherboard, which might’ve been good for AICs, but if you were thinking about using a discrete GPU, it kind of defeats the purpose of the already beefy RDNA 3.5 GPUs featured on the AMD Strix Halo “Ryzen AI MAX” series.
The top Radeon 8060S features up to 40 compute units, and compares well against NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti GPU, and doesn’t require its independent power delivery. The chips are rated at up to 120W, and the board is well-equipped with the means to handle such high SOC power. There’s no word on pricing or availability yet, but it is likely to hit APAC markets first. Given the history of MoDT (Mobile on Desktop) boards, it should be priced very competitively. Framework also has the MODT available with a starting price of $800 US, more details here.
News Sources: HXL (@9550pro), ITHome
