AMD’s Mobile Revival: Redefining the Notebook Business with the Ryzen 9 4900HS (A Review)
by Dr. Ian Cutress on April 9, 2020 9:00 AM ESTCPU Benchmarks
Comparison of these two CPUs is going to be interesting. Both laptops being tested excel in different ways:
| ASUS Zephyrus G14 vs Razer Blade 15 | ||
| ASUS Zephyrus G14 |
AnandTech | Razer Blade 15-inch |
| Ryzen 9 4900HS | CPU | Core i7-9750H |
| 8 / 16 | Cores / Threads | 6 / 12 |
| 1400 MHz | Idle Frequency | 1100 MHz |
| 3000 MHz | Base Frequency | 2600 MHz |
| 4300 MHz | Rated 1T Turbo | 4500 MHz |
| 4500 MHz | Measured 1T Turbo | 4200 MHz |
| 35 W | TDP Listed | 45 W |
| - | TDP Measured | 35 W |
| - | PL2 Listed | 60 W |
| - | PL2 Measured | 45 W |
| 16 GB DDR4-3200 22-22-22 1T |
DRAM | 16 GB DDR4-2666 19-19-19 2T |
The ASUS device has more cores, and by the looks of our testing, actually turbos to a higher frequency, regardless of the sticker on the box. We’ve already shown that AMD’s Zen 2 can have comparable if not better IPC than Intel’s Coffee Lake refresh, so add that to the more cores, should put every test in AMD’s camp.
What should benefit Intel here is the on-box TDP, of 45 W, compared to the AMD 35 W. When we fired up our usual program for monitoring Intel frequencies, it showed that there is a hard coded BIOS boost up to 60 W, which we thought should give some extra power. However, when the system was actually set to a workload, the peak turbo power was only 45 W, which the system was able to keep for 10-15 seconds. Then it sat back at 35 W, which makes it in line with AMD. This is odd performance from the Intel CPU, however we assume at this level that Razer has made the decisions in order to fit within the thermal profile of the Blade 15 chassis.
If Intel has a lower frequency, fewer cores, and a lower frequency, all for the same power envelope as AMD, then it looks like a slam dunk for AMD.
It is. These systems are built with productivity in mind, and even with benchmarks that are bursty like PCMark, AMD takes the win.
I also took some time to run the Civ 6 AI benchmarks, which performs 10 turns of a late game and averages the turn time. Intel won this test, but I performed it again with the power unplugged and on battery saver mode in Windows. The results were reversed:
This led me to do some more tests without power connected. I’ve separated these out into a different page, combining some CPU and some GPU data.
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alufan - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
As an it pro you should know betterhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Ethernet-Including-...
Cooe - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
Because sticking a cheap USB adapter on the end of the Ethernet cable you plug into is just too much work? That problem is really minor to fix tbh.Icehawk - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
Agreed, for a home user - which this is aimed at I think it’s NBD but for enterprise machines I much prefer an integrated NIC so I don’t need to rely on a customer having a dongle (they won’t) or remembering to bring one. Sadly they are hard to find these days in this size laptop.At least this machine has a DIMM slot instead of soldered only.
GreenReaper - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Sure, but having to mod your memory because they didn't enable XMP profiles is not super-convenient. I'm sure Asus would like you to buy their RAM, but still. (Or perhaps it's an issue of Intel not giving the necessary data?)1_rick - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
What do you need a webcam for? I've seen a bunch of people here and at other sites call the lack of a webcam a hard pass.I use teleconferencing software extensively at my day job, both for meetings among people in different offices (and at home) and for meetings with clients, and nobody uses a webcam, although we're all far more interested in screen sharing, either to show someone how to do something, or to show a document of some kind, or whatever.
schujj07 - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
^ThisTotally agree with this. I do the same thing and screen sharing is far more important for me in the IT world than a webcam. If you need a webcam go out and get a good one from Logitech instead of the included garbage on most laptops.
1_rick - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
Yeah, that's the other thing--why wouldn't you want a better camera than the potato 720p you'll get with a laptop, if you do need one?haukionkannel - Saturday, April 11, 2020 - link
Webcams Are useful for personal contacts. At work I keep webcam mostly closed.And there Are/will be Also models with it, so people can chose what They pay for. So no worry if one Gaming laptop does not have it :)
Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
People making imaginary purchases....sonny73n - Saturday, April 11, 2020 - link
That and privacy issue too. I have a piece of black electrical tape cover my laptop webcam. I would not know when it turns on by itself and snoops on me like those Samsung TVs a while back.The aholes would say I got something to hide. I would like to let them know that I’d rather break the law or break their faces than letting myself caught in my most embarrassing moments.