Aya Neo 2 Taps Rembrandt APU To Outmuscle The Steam Deck – Tom’s Hardware

The creators behind the Aya Neo gaming console have officially announced a successor to the popular gaming handheld called the Aya Neo 2. The new console features a host of upgrades over its predecessor, the largest of which includes an 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (Rembrandt) APU with RDNA 2 graphics. The CPU upgrade makes the Aya Neo 2 one of the world's first handheld gaming consoles to leverage RDNA 2 graphics outside of Valve's Steam Deck.

The processor upgrade alone will give the Aya Neo 2 a serious performance upgrade over the original Aya Neo's Ryzen 5 4500U running on the older Zen 2 architecture and much slower Vega graphics. The AMD's Ryzen 7 6800U running in the Aya Neo 2 has two more cores and runs on the much more efficient and powerful Zen 3+ microarchitecture.

With this type of performance in mind, the Aya Neo 2 has the potential to outperform Valve's Steam Deck as well, and not just the older version of the Aya Neo. The Aya Neo 2 has superior APU specifications across the board, with a faster Zen 3+ CPU featuring more cores and a higher frequency RDNA 2 GPU that features more cores than the Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck's Aerith APU (a custom chip based on Van Gogh) wields four Zen 2 cores with a 2.4 GHz base clock and 3.5 GHz boost clock, whereas the Aya Neo 2's Ryzen 7 6800U flaunts eight Zen 3+ cores at a 2.7 GHz base clock and 4.7 GHz boost clock.

But the Aya Neo 2's most significant upgrade comes in the Radeon 680M RDNA 2 iGPU paired to the Ryzen 7 6800U, which is AMD's most potent iGPU to date. According to AMD, the Radeon 680M performs just under that of the entry-level discrete Nvidia GPUs such as the GTX 1650 Max-Q, making it a serious option for PC gaming at resolutions up to 1080P. In addition, the Radeon 680M has 12 RDNA 2 CUs at 2,200 MHz; meanwhile, Aerith sports eight RDNA 2 CUs that max out at 1.6 GHz.

The Aya Neo 2 is also receiving several other upgrades besides the SoC. Including support for LPDDR5-6400 memory, PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, and USB 4.0 ports, to name a few. The improvements should put the Aya Neo 2 at feature parity with other modern gaming handhelds, including the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, all we know about the new Aya Neo 2 is in terms of specifications. Other specs such as screen size, type, and resolution are still unknown.

Besides upgrades, the Aya Neo 2's also got a massive makeover in aesthetics. The console no longer features the boxy look of the original Aya Neo or the green and black finishes on the buttons. Instead, the Neo 2 features a far more rounded design, with grips that look very similar to the Steam Deck -- ironically, and the color theme has transitioned to a grey-on-white theme -- identical to that of Nintendo's Wii consoles and controllers. It gives the Aya Neo 2 a more mature look than the original Neo.

The only unfortunate news is that we don't have any data about a release schedule or pricing. However, if the new console has broken cover, we should know more information very soon.

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Aya Neo 2 Taps Rembrandt APU To Outmuscle The Steam Deck - Tom's Hardware