AMD Ryzen 5 7545U vs Intel Core i5-1245U

AMD Ryzen 5 7545U

The AMD Ryzen 5 7545U is a fast mid-range laptop processor of the Phoenix series. It offers 6 cores (hexa core) based on the Zen 4 architecture that supports hyperthreading (12 threads). The cores clock from 3.2 (base) up to 4.9 GHz (single core boost). The processor includes 6 MB L2 cache and 16 MB L3 cache.

Thanks to the new Zen 4 architecture and higher clock speeds, the R5 7545U is clearly faster than the old Ryzen 5 6600U (Zen 3, 6 cores, 4.5 GHz). Compared to the similar 7640U, the 7545U offers a lower base clock and a slower iGPU. Compared to the similar Ryzen 5 7540U, the 7545U offers a higher clocked GPU and uses the smaller Zen 4c cores for 4 of the 6 CPU cores.

The chip integrates a modern and fasts RDNA 3 graphics card (iGPU) called Radeon 740M with 4 of the 12 CUs and 2.5 GHz clock speed. Furthermore, the Phoenix series include a video engine with AV1 de- and encoding, and a dual-channel DDR5-5600 / LPDDR5x-7500 memory controller (with ECC support). The connectivity features includes 2 possible USB 4 (40 Gbps) ports and 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes for a GPU and SSDs. The new Xilinx FPGA based XDNA AI accelerator (Ryzen AI) is not included in the 7545U.

The Phoenix series uses a single monolithic design (unlike the chiplet design of the 7045HX series) and is manufactured in the modern 4nm process at TSMC. The TDP can be configured between 15 and 30 Watt (28 Watt default).

Intel Core i5-1245U

The Intel Core i5-1245U is a mid-range mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 2 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 12 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.6 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.2 to 3.3 GHz on the efficient cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 12 MB L3 cache. Compared to the i7-1265U (fastest U-series CPU at launch), the 1245U offers lower clock speeds, a slower iGPU, but the full "Enterprise" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

Thanks to the 10 cores, the multi-threaded performance should be clearly faster than the older quad-core Tiger Lake CPUs with 15 Watt (like the Intel Core i7-1160G7). The sustained performance will be limited by the TDP setting and thermals and therefore only short term loads. Thanks to the architectural improvements of the big Golden Cove cores, the single thread performance should be better than similar clocked Tiger Lake CPUs.

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficient cores for the best performance. For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). Quick Sync in version 8 is the same as in the Rocket Lake CPUs and supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 decode, JPEG, VP8 decode, VP9, HEVC, and AV1 decode in hardware. The CPU only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.2 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 15 W base power (TDP, PL1) and 55 W max. Turbo power (PL2) and the whole SoC is manufactured on a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.