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 ESTLow Power Performance
Truth be told, I didn’t go into this review with low power testing in mind. These sorts of laptops, while capable of driving high performance on the go, are essentially expected to be connected to the power socket when performance is needed. Even the best ultraportables struggle for battery life when everything is whirring at full tilt. Nonetheless, after my own experiences of 3 hours of gaming on power with a Matebook X Pro and a high screen brightness, it is a genuine use case.
For these tests, the settings and software are the same as normal, but the only change is that the power cable has been removed and the power setting in Windows has been moved to ‘Best Battery Life’. We’re still in the Recommended Power Plan and not the Battery Saver Plan. What this does is force the OS and system to manage its power appropriately between CPU and GPU. In these circumstances being able to distribute the power where it is needed most can be a very critical factor in getting a project finished, or having a game that is playable.
Our tests here, due to time, are the following:
- Civilization 6, 1080p MSAA 8x, AI Test (On Battery, Battery Saver)
- Borderlands 3, 1080p Medium (On Battery, Battery Saver)
- Counter Strike Source, 1080p Max (On Battery, Battery Saver)
So previously Intel had a very slight advantage in AI turn time here, but as we move to a power limited scenario, AMD takes a more substantial lead – over 10%.
Where we had a small 5% win for AMD in the full power scenario, the gap is a bit bigger percentage wise for AMD in the low power scenario. It is still under 30 FPS, which is probably unplayable for BL3.
Now CSS is a little odd. When I’m in Battery Saver mode but plugged in, I get the full power FPS value. But the minute I take it out, on the Razer Blade, something goes a bit mental and we end up being limited to 60 FPS. V-Sync is disabled in every setting I think of, and yet there doesn’t seem to be a way of getting off of 60 FPS.
Ultimately in every scenario, in a few small tests, where Intel might have been ahead on wall power, AMD pulls ahead on limited power.
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guachi - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
I was looking at the very Razer you had in this review. Ended up preordering the Asus.So I thank you for the review and the comparison choice.
Mat3 - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
I know that's not a real die shot, but even so, that's the worst "fake" die shot I've ever seen.StevoLincolnite - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
I have a Ryzen 2700u notebook which I will happily toss out the window for this.ballsystemlord - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
Spelling and grammar errors:"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."
Double "lower frequency":
"If Intel has a fewer cores and a lower frequency, all for the same power envelope as AMD, then it looks like a slam dunk for AMD."
"When the system does the battery life done right, it's crazy good."
Badly worded:
"When the system balances performance and battery life, it's crazy good."
mkozakewich - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
On these kinds of systems, battery life can tank when something goes wrong. I wonder if there was also a reason that the Intel system was showing such poor battery life.When AnandTech reviewed the Surface Book, I remember them giving it a really low battery life score. It turns out there's some kind of problem with the GPU connection, and the device will get twice the life if you disconnect and reconnect the tablet portion multiple times. I actually get 12 hours on my 2017 Surface Book 2. The system can run on 4 W. So, finally! I've never even considered an AMD system, because they would run closer to 8 or 12 watts, and that meant they'd either have a massive and heavy battery, or they'd only last a few hours.
But the caveat: As you see here, and with the Surface Book, that efficiency can go out the window if one thing goes wrong.
zodiacfml - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
Thanks for the Anandtech quality review. I hope we see cheaper 8 core laptops without discrete graphics. Seeing the performance of the iGPU on two memory speeds, hope to see AMD with integrated memory in its future products like what they did in the PS5/Series X, great for mobile and compact desktop PCsplonk420 - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
thanks for the latency numbers! huuuuge help for emulation fans (or at least PS3 emulation fans)!deil - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
a bit high idle speed, but that response times is what we want most for "snappy laptop" which feels fast. I really want one now...Haawser - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
Hey Ian, could you do some iGPU game tests with a 720p render target, but running full screen with RIS ? I'd be interested to see if you can get much higher frame rates but without a massive loss of subjective IQ ? Cheers.Fulljack - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
I'm interested with AMD 25x20 initiative. Could you please make an update for it? Last time you did was two years ago back in 2018. It would be an interesting piece of article to show how much AMD has grown. Thanks!https://www.anandtech.com/show/13326/amd-updates-i...