A Geekbench score for the AMD Zen 6 "Medusa Point" 10-core APU has leaked. At just 2,152 MHz, it would trade blows with the Apple M5 9-core. Cautious analysis.

AMD Zen 6 « Medusa Point » Leak: A 10-Core APU That Trades Blows with Apple M5 at 2.15 GHz

Notebookcheck reports a Geekbench leak that will get hardware watchers talking this weekend. An AMD Zen 6 APU codenamed « Medusa Point », featuring 10 cores, has been benched on the public database - and despite a maximum clock speed displayed at only 2,152 MHz, it « trades blows » (Notebookcheck's phrase) with the Apple M5 9-core.

Design

• Generation: Zen 6 (successor to Zen 5).
• Codename: Medusa Point.
• Format: APU (CPU + integrated GPU, targeting mobile / mini-PC).
• Leak config: 10 active cores, max frequency recorded by Geekbench 2,152 MHz.
• Comparison: Apple M5 (reference cited: 9-core version).

Hands-on

None: this is an ES (engineering sample) at AMD, not commercialized. The leak comes from the public Geekbench database (automatic uploads from runs). Notebookcheck did not share screenshots of the sub-scores.

Performance

The title is clear: trades blows with 9-core Apple M5. In other words, a score very close to the M5 in multi-thread. Zen 5 had already widened the gap with the M4 in multi-thread, but was still lagging in single-thread IPC and perf/watt. The leak does not decide but suggests progress if the ratio at 2.15 GHz is real: at this frequency, a significantly higher IPC is needed to keep up with an M5 in boost.

The final turbo on commercial silicon will be much higher: on mobile Ryzen APUs, early Geekbench leaks often run throttled at pre-silicon frequencies.

What to Relativize

• Geekbench 6 historically favors Apple architectures on single-core (short workload, cache-friendly).
• A leak = a runtime = no average. To be taken with a grain of salt.
• The effective TDP is not known. Without this figure, the perf/watt comparison remains theoretical.

Verdict

This is an encouraging but preliminary signal. If Zen 6 holds up on final silicon, AMD could close part of the perf/watt gap with Apple Silicon in 2026-2027. We await official confirmation and independent tests to decide.

Summary