AMD Zen 6 Gains a New Low-Power Core Beyond Zen 6 and Zen 6C, Surfacing in Linux Kernel Patches

AMD's next-generation Zen 6 CPUs will include a brand-new core type, which will aim to bring low-power mode to several platforms.

After Zen Classic and Zen Dense, AMD Is Working On A Third Core Type For Zen 6 With Low-Power In Mind

AMD's current Zen 5 lineup includes two major core types based on the same ISA (Instruction Set Architecture). These include the Zen 5 and Zen 5C variants. The Zen 5 is the standard variant, and the Zen 5C focuses on higher core densities but with optimized clocks/power characteristics. We have seen the inclusion of these two Zen core types since the Zen 4 generation featured on both client and enterprise processors.

Now, AMD plans to release a third Zen core type with its Zen 6 architecture. As spotted in the latest Linux Kernel patches, AMD is listing a new "Low Power" CPU core type, which is based on the same Zen x86 architectures.

Unlike Intel, which features different ISAs across its hybrid chips such as P-Cores and E-Cores, the AMD core types feature the same fundamental ISAs with the aforementioned changes. The newer Low Power core is expected to land with the Zen 6 family and should retain the same ISA.

Details regarding the Zen 6 Low-Power core type are slim, but it is suggested that this specific Zen 6-LP variant will be a hybrid of Zen 5 based on the Zen 6 ISA. Based on this, the core type sounds very interesting, and it will be even more interesting to see its performance, power, and efficiency characteristics on display when it finally lands.

The Zen 6 LP (Low-Power) core type is expected to be used in AMD's Medusa APU family. The next-generation APU family is going to span multiple products with multiple configurations. We will see the use of standard Zen 6, Zen 6C, and Zen 6LP cores in the chips.

This series extends the x86 topology cpu_type classification to support a Low Power core type, in addition to the existing Performance and Efficiency types.

AMD heterogeneous parts report the core type via CPUID Fn0x80000026 EBX[31:28] (Extended CPU Topology, Core Type). Value 2 identifies a low-power core designed for minimal power consumption during background or idle workloads. Distinguishing it from a regular efficiency core matters for:

• user space exposure via /sys/kernel/debug/x86/topo/cpus/*, which today reports cpu_type "unknown" for low-power cores
• amd_get_boost_ratio_numerator(): on every X86_FEATURE_AMD_HTR_CORES-capable AMD/Hygon part, low-power cores must scale by amd_get_highest_perf() rather than the fixed CPPC_HIGHEST_PERF_PERFORMANCE ceiling, matching the existing efficiency-core path

Kernel.org

AMD's listing states that the low-power core is designed for minimal power consumption during background or idle workloads, which means that we can see a drastic increase in efficiency and match the idle / low-power standards set by competing platforms. AMD Medusa chips will land around CES 2027, so we will definitely get a lot more information on the new core types powering the Zen 6 lineup.

News Source: Phoronix

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