Mysterious AMD RDNA 4m graphics spotted

AMD's roadmap for integrated graphics is becoming increasingly complex as the company appears to be looking to bridge the gap between its current offerings and the next-generation UDNA architecture. New commits to the LLVM compiler suggest that the previously spotted GFX1170 target, branded as RDNA 4m, is expanding, as two additional software IDs, GFX1171 and GFX1172, have surfaced.

As spotted by Phoronix in the LLVM compiler, these GFX117x targets are not “true” RDNA 4 parts, which reside in the GFX12 branch. Instead, they appear to be a custom evolution of RDNA 3.5. By backporting specific RDNA 4 modules into the GFX11 instruction set, AMD is creating what we might call RDNA 3.5+. This hybridisation adds support for INT8 and FP8 data types, which are essential for running the machine-learning-based upscaling and frame-generation features of FSR 4.

The decision to modify RDNA 3.5 rather than jump straight to a full RDNA 4 iGPU isn't clear, but one might guess it's due to limitations shrinking the full RDNA 4 architecture down for things like thin and light laptops, where a smaller power envelope is crucial. By updating RDNA 3.5 with WMMA (Wave Matrix Multiply-Accumulate) and SWMMAC instructions, AMD might be ensuring that its upcoming APUs can leverage FSR Redstone features.

While “Medusa Point” is expected to use an RDNA 4m iGPU, “Medusa Halo” is expected to leap straight to the RDNA 5/UDNA microarchitecture.

KitGuru says: While RDNA 4m is mostly a rebrand of RDNA 3.5, the addition of native FP8 support could be enough to enable FSR 4. 

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