AMD is powering the ‘gaming rig’ inside the new Tesla Model S and Model X

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

When the refreshed Tesla Model S and Model X were announced earlier this year, Tesla said that the new vehicles would have “basically a gaming computer” inside, with 10 teraflops of power. That’s now confirmed, as AMD told the world that they’re powering the new infotainment system inside the upcoming Teslas, including the power to play AAA games.

AMD’s CEO Lisa Su, said that in addition to an AMD APU powering the infotainment system, there was “a discrete RDNA2-based GPU that kicks in when running AAA games, providing up to 10 teraflops of compute power…. we look forward to giving gamers a great platform for AAA gaming.” That’s just slightly less power than a PS5, so it seems Musk’s earlier proclamation was correct.

Serial leaker Patrick Schur gave us another piece of that puzzle, finding a block diagram that shows the Tesla infotainment system, with a Navi 23 GPU, and 16GB of GDDR6 RAM. Now, the Radeon 6600M laptop chip is also Navi 23, which gives us a good idea of the power inside the infotainment center.

READ MORE: AMD announces its new Ryzen 7000 desktop processor range

You might be wondering why the hell you’d want to play AAA games in your car, and you’re not alone in that thought. I mean, you’d only be able to play when parked, right?

The thing is, Teslas need charging every so often, and even though the SuperChargers are quick, you’ll still sitting around waiting for your car to be charge. That’s a perfect time to play some games, making your new Tesla an $80k gaming console while you’re parked.

We’ll see the full power of the AMD infotainment center soon, as the Model S Plaid (which has the AMD infotainment system) is shipping from June 10.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Tesla is finally starting to use the camera above the rear-view mirror to monitor drivers during Autopilot
• Tesla is transitioning away from radar and to a camera-only system for Autopilot
• This video shows a Tesla driver being pulled over for driving 82 mph while asleep with Autopilot on
• California’s DMV is investigating Tesla for misrepresenting its self-driving capabilities

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.