AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS vs Intel Celeron N4500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS

AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS

The AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS is a fast high-end laptop processor of the Phoenix series. It offers 8 cores (octa core) based on the Zen 4 architecture that supports hyperthreading (16 threads). The cores clock from 4 (base) up to 5.2 GHz (single core boost). The processor includes 8 MB L2 cache and 16 MB L3 cache.

Compared to the consumer Ryzen 9 7940HS, the PRO models offer additional security, manageability, and reliability features designed for professional users and workstation environments.

The performance of the R9 PRO 7940HS should be slightly higher than the old top model Ryzen 9 6980HX (8 Zen 3 cores with up to 4.9 GHz) at 54W TDP and Ryzen 9 6980HS at 35W TDP. Compared to the higher end Dragon Range series, the 7940HS should be similar to the Ryzen 7 7745HX (also 8 Zen 4 cores, max 5.1 GHz, 55W tDP, 32 MB L3).

The chip integrates a modern and fasts RDNA 3 graphics card (iGPU) called Radeon 780M with 12 CUs and up to 2.8 GHz clock speed. Furthermore, the Phoenix series include a video engine with AV1 de- and encoding, a new Xilinx FPGA based XDNA AI accelerator (Ryzen AI) that should be faster than the AI engine in the Apple M2 SOC 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 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 35 and 45 Watt.

Intel Celeron N4500

The Intel Celeron N4500 is a dual-core SoC of the Jasper Lake series that is primarily intended for inexpensive notebooks and was announced in early 2021. The two Tremont CPU cores clock between 1.1 and 2.8 GHz (single core Burst) and offer no HyperThreading. The N4500 uses 1.5 MB L2 and 4 MB L3 cache. The chip is manufactured on the first-gen 10 nm Intel process.

Architecture

The processor architecture is called Tremont and a complete redesign compared to the old Golmont Plus cores in the predecessor. According to Intel, the single thread performance of a core could is up two 30% better on average (10 - 80% in all tests of SPECint and SPECfp).

Features

In addition to the dual-core CPU block, the SoC integrates a 16 EU Intel UHD Graphics GPU clocked from 350 - 750 MHz and a dual-channel DDR4 / quad-channel LPDDR4(x) memory controller (up to 16 GB, up to 2933 MHz). The chip now also partly integrates Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes, 14 USB 2.0/ 3.2 ports and two SATA 6.0 ports. The package got bigger and measures 35 x 24 mm (compared to 25 x 24 mm for the N5030 e.g.). The SoC is directly soldered to the mainboard (BGA) and can't be easily replaced.

Performance

The average N4500 in our database shapes up to be a fairly slow processor, its multi-thread benchmark scores only just matching those of the Core i3-4010U. (The latter saw the light of day in 2013 as a lower mid-range, dual-core CPU designed for use in ultraportable laptops.) In other words, expect the Celeron to be painfully slow in all but the most basic activities.

You mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are.

Power consumption

Like most N-class Intel chips, the Celeron has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 6 W. This is not much at all and thus good enough for passively cooled tablets, laptops, mini-PCs.

The Celeron N4500 is built with Intel's 2nd generation 10 nm process (not 10 nm SuperFin or Intel 7) for low, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS

The Ryzen 5 7640HS is an upper mid-range processor (APU) of the Phoenix product family. It was brought to life in H1 2023 and it has 6 SMT-enabled Zen 4 cores (12 threads) running at 4.3 GHz to 5.0 GHz. The laptop chip is one of the first to feature Ryzen AI, AMD's answer to Intel's DL Boost and GNA technologies. The Radeon 760M iGPU is responsible for carrying out 3D calculations and similar duties.

Architecture & Features

Phoenix family chips are powered by the Zen 4 architecture, much like Dragon Range family chips are. The latter however lacks hardware AI workload acceleration capabilities that Phoenix has.

More importantly, Zen 4 introduces AVX512 support (Zen 3-powered chips did not have that) and, thanks to a plethora of other improvements including larger caches/registers/buffers across the board, is set to bring a double-digit IPC improvement.

Elsewhere, the 7640HS has 16 MB of L3 cache and a super-fast DDR5-5600 / LPDDR5x-7500 RAM controller. USB 4 (and thus Thunderbolt) is supported natively and so is PCIe 4. In fact, 20 PCIe 4 lanes are on offer; data transfer speeds of up to 7.8 GB/s will be possible provided a sufficiently fast NVMe SSD is used.

Systems powered by this Ryzen 5 series chip are expected to run 64-bit Windows 11, 64-bit Windows 10, or Linux. Please note that the APU is not overclockable and neither will you be able to replace it with a faster one as it gets soldered down permanently (FP7, FP7r2, FP8 socket interfaces).

Performance

The average 7640HS in our database is about as fast as the Ryzen 9 5900HX, Ryzen 7 6800H, Ryzen 7 7736U and also the Core i5-12500H, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This is a good if not record-breaking result as of mid 2023. Such a CPU will handle pretty much any task you can throw at it, gaming included.

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.

Graphics

The Radeon 760M has 8 CUs (512 shaders) running at up to 2,600 MHz. While this is not the best graphics adapter for gaming as it's only just fast enough for low quality settings and resolutions such as 1600 x 900, it will let you connect up to four SUHD 4320p monitors and it also HW-encodes and HW-decodes the most widely used video codecs such as AV1, HEVC and AVC.

Power consumption

The 7640HS has a long-term power limit (default TDP) of 35 W to 54 W, giving laptop makers a choice between improving battery life and giving the system they are working on more oomph. Either way, an active cooling solution is a must for any system powered by this chip.

The APU is built with TSMC's 4 nm process for high, as of late 2023, energy efficiency.