AMD Ryzen 3700C and 3250C Benchmark Results Point to Google Zork (Update)

Update 6/6/2020 6:30am PT: A Twitter user has spotted new documentation from AMD that sheds some light on the unannounced Ryzen 3700C & 3250C processors.

The Ryzen APUs are based specifically on the same x86 CPU architecture as AMD's other 8th-Gen APUs. The SoC is a complete solution that incorporates the integrated IO, graphics, multimedia, and memory interfaces. As a result, they don't require a chipset to function, which helps lower the Bill of Materials (BoM) cost for manufacturers.

The new chips bring the Data Fabric (SDF) technology to the APU segment. According to AMD, the feature maximizes "bandwidth utilization across the system with minimal latencies to boost overall system performance."

The APUs have TDP (thermal design power) ratings that span between 4.5W to 15W. They are available in the standard desktop AM4 package, the ultrathin FP5 package ultrathin laptops and the tiny FT5 package for 2-in-1 devices.

Original Article: 

A wonderful thing about today's benchmarking tools is that many of them upload results to online databases, giving us sneak peeks at upcoming hardware before their announcements. The latest to fall victim to this trap are AMD's Ryzen 3250C and 3700C, which are CPUs that appeared to have been benchmarked off a "Google Zork" device. 

The chips surfaced in the Geekbench databases (Geekbench 4 and Geekbench 5), as spotted by NotebookCheck, with the following specifications.

Specs

Both chips look to be 15W parts, making them ideal for use in applications with thermal restrictions. NotebookCheck suspects that they are adapted versions of the AMD Ryzen 3700U and 3250U APUs for laptops, which makes sense given that their core counts, TDPs and base frequencies are identical to those respective chips. 

Exactly why a Ryzen 3700C and 3250C would exist is unclear though. The C suffix is suspected to stand for 'Convertible,' though we reckon the chips might have either different boost profiles or slightly different graphics architectures to meet the needs of a convertible application. 

That being said, it must be noted that it's also possible that these chips won't exist at all: the Geekbench submissions landed on April , and we know painfully little about Google Zork thus far. 

What Is Google Zork?

If this isn't some failed April fools joke, then the question remains: What is Google Zork?

We first heard about Zork about a year ago as a reference board with the AMD Picasso chipset, which would serve AMD's APUs with Zen+ and Vega graphics. It's not confirmed, but NotebookCheck suggested that the Zork will end up being a 2-in-1 Google Pixelbook, based on traces in Git repositories for various sensors.

Further details about Google Zork are scarce at this time, except that the motherboard used is based on a "Trembyle" reference board -- apt, given that Trembyle was a character in the video game Return to Zork from way back in 1993. 

At this point, there are far too many mysteries for us to make a strong judgment about what's really going on.