AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 Performance - 12-Core Strix Halo
In total I ran around 200 benchmarks across all these laptops/CPUs for this in-depth workload comparison using Ubuntu 25.04 with Linux 6.14. It's been ultimately a two month journey building up all of this fresh data for Ubuntu 25.04 for H1'2025 representation.
When taking the geometric mean of all the raw CPU performance benchmarks that ran across all of the tested laptops, it's an impressive showing for how far in front Strix Halo is compared to Strix Point and prior. The Ryzen AI Max 390 was delivering around 92% the performance of the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 flagship SoC overall with this diverse mix of single and multi-threaded workloads. The Ryzen AI Max 390 delivered 1.32x the performance of the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 SoC found within the Framework Laptop 13 and was 1.78x the performance of the Core Ultra 7 258V within a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen13 Aura Edition. The Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 packs a lot of performance out-of-the-box and slightly more can be squeezed out in the "performance" platform profile with the HP ZBook Ultra G1a. In the low-power platform profile, there was still better performance than the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 at its defaults.
The Ryzen AI Max (PRO) 390 and Ryzen AI Max+ (PRO) 395 both have a 55 Watt default TDP (and a 45 to 120 Watt cTDP). When looking at the CPU power consumption across the entire span of benchmarks carried out, on average both of these Strix Halo SoCs had around a 48 Watt average and a recorded peak of 72 Watts. Across the many diverse CPU workloads tested under Ubuntu Linux, the Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 and Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 both within the HP ZBook Ultra G1a were delivering similar power consumption. But with the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 having a higher boost frequency and 16 cores versus 12 cores, that top-end SKU ends up yielding better performance-per-Watt.
On average when both of these Ryzen AI Max PRO SoCs within HP ZBook Ultra G1a laptops were at the default (balanced) platform profile, the geo mean of the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 was at 1.07x that of the Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 but at similar power levels. The Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 yielded better power efficiency with the low-power platform profile where it was at 70% the power consumption with 78% the performance, but the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 can also resort to a low-power mode. If really striving for optimal power efficiency is where the Strix Point SoCs like the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 are quite attractive.
Both the AMD Ryzen AI Max (PRO) 390 and Ryzen AI Max+ (PRO) 395 deliver incredible performance. With the flagship 395 model it's just even better and with a more compelling power efficiency story for its 16 cores / 32 threads. Both Strix Halo SoCs are also especially impressive with the Radeon 8050S / Radeon 8060S integrated graphics to really make a compelling case for these top-end Ryzen AI 300 series offerings.
If you find yourself with a Ryzen AI Max (PRO) 390, it's an extremely powerful option between its 12 Zen 5 cores and the Radeon 8050S graphics and works well with modern Linux distributions. Besides the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 coming out ahead in power efficiency, the Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 at least in the context of the HP ZBook Ultra G1a is a tougher sell from the pricing perspective.
👁 HP ZBook Ultra G1a with Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 pricing
The HP ZBook Ultra G1a pricing has fluctuated a lot in recent weeks and is much cheaper than the $6~8k price initially listed for at launch with the maxed out specs. But it's still a $3k+ laptop. As of writing on 4 June, the HP ZBook Ultra G1a with Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 with 128GB of RAM is listed for $3219 USD as a "sale" price... While the 12-core Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 with 64GB of RAM is actually more expensive at $3249. Yes, the higher-end model costing less... In which case it's a no-brainer going for the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 over the PRO 390, not to mention having twice the amount of RAM.
At other Internet retailers there isn't the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 at a "sale" price but typically the Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 model with 64GB of RAM around ~$3200 USD and then the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 with the same RAM at around $3300~3400 USD. So around a $100~200 premium going from the 12-core Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 with Radeon 8050S to the 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 with Radeon 8060S Graphics. That isn't much in the context of being a $3k+ mobile workstation / premium laptop.
👁 ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Strix Halo prices
The only other notable Strix Halo laptop readily available in the US right now is the ASUS ROG Flow Z13. There ASUS currently lists the Ryzen AI Max 390 model for $2099 and the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 at $2299 for a 10% premium on the flagship model.
We'll see how the pricing of the Ryzen AI Max laptops / SFF PCs pan out in the coming months and as more laptops/PCs come to market. If the Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 laptop pricing falls below the $3k mark for the HP ZBook Ultra G1a or a greater difference than what is listed right now from HP, it would be much better positioned to fill the void in premium workstation laptops.
Both of these Strix Halo SoCs are excellent but in the context of the HP ZBook Ultra G1a the flagship Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395 at current pricing is much better value and better performance-per-Watt to seal the deal. The one caveat in the Linux support comes down to the web camera but I'll be writing more about the HP ZBook Ultra G1a in its own dedicated review on Phoronix to complement all of these Ryzen AI Max benchmark articles. At a high level, I am incredibly excited over Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" with its impressive CPU performance up to 16 cores with AVX-512 and SMT support and rounded out by superb integrated graphics performance. Beyond premium laptop computing, AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" can also make for interesting opportunities for small form factor PCs for edge computing, SOHO low-power servers, local AI inferencing, and other low-power deployments able to leverage a very powerful CPU and iGPU.
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