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 ESTGPU Benchmarks
Graphics is going to be a bit more challenging than the CPU tests. Games that test both the CPU and the GPU to the limits are going to find different tradeoffs with each of these systems.
The ASUS Zephyrus G14 is smaller and more thermally limited. It doesn’t have an AMD GPU, so it can’t take advantage of AMD’s new features like SmartShift that can manage power between the CPU and GPU. It technically has the stronger CPU, and while the graphics card is the same, ASUS has the Max-Q version of the RTX 2060, which is optimized for power and efficiency, and exhibits lower clocks. Technically the base frequency of this configuration is higher, at 975 MHz, the turbo is lower at 1185 MHz, and the GDDR6 memory is a lot lower at 1375 MHz (11Gbps/pin).
The Razer Blade 15 has the bigger chassis, and we assume is built for a larger overall TDP. While it has the ‘weaker’ CPU of the two, with fewer cores and lower frequency, it is paired with a full-fat GTX 2060 graphics card. We looked at the data for this card, and it exhibits a lower 960 MHz base frequency, it has the higher 1200 MHz turbo, 1750 MHz memory, and has a direct PCIe 3.0 x16 connection with the processor, while the ASUS system is only an x8.
For our tests, I’ve taken an older test (CS:Source), a couple of modern tests (Civ 6, FFXV) and a new test in Borderlands 3. We used the following settings:
- Final Fantasy, 1080p Fullscreen, Standard Quality
- Borderlands 3, 1080p, Medium Pre-Set
- Civilization 6, 1080p Maximum Preset No MSAA / 1K Occlusion Textures
- Civilization 6, 1080p Maximum Preset 8x MSAA / 2K Occlusion Textures
- Counter Strike Source, 1080p Maximum
In Final Fantasy, the results were around 10% different, favoring the AMD system.
Borderlands 3 was actually fairly close, with less than 5% between them, but still favoring AMD. I did notice that we were fairly close to the cutoff here between being CPU limited and GPU limited.
Civilization 6 is well known for constantly updating and being optimized, and here it seems the more powerful GPU wins out by a large 10 FPS margin.
However, if we add in some more compute and detail, we move to a more GPU limited scenario where the results are essentially equal.
Counter Strike is an odd one, given how old the game is. Here the game favors the Intel machine, with a ~10% advantage.
Like in the CPU tests, I did some of these gaming tests with the power cord removed and on battery saver mode. Results were interesting, to say the least, and can be found on the next page.
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Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
Thing is AMD is not their largest customer - they also build for Apple and Nvidia - so NO, TSMC could NOT deliver the same volume as Intel - not even close.Qasar - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
and intel cant deliver 10nm in volume, point is ?Namisecond - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
Until we know actual numbers, Intel's "Can't deliver in volume" may still be more than the volume AMD can. To the point where they win the OEM contracts.Qasar - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
and i STILL cant buy any 10nm based chips from intel, that kinda points to cant deliver in volume to me. some markets are getting them, but my local computer stores, best buy, or other stores that sell notebooks, dont have any.Deicidium369 - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
I bought 2 Dell 2-in-1s back in October - both 10nm Ice Lake, both i7-1065G7s. The fact you can't seem to locate them at the Goodwill where you shop, doesn't change the fact they are around, and no problem to get.try http://www.dell.com
Qasar - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
and yet more insults.. that all you got now ?? grow upDeicidium369 - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
I would bet you that Intel has sold more 10nm than AMD has sold period. The idea that Intel can't deliver silicon is a cute story. Intel 10nm is in like 20 different designs, and there are other 10nm products other than the laptops stuff. So they are delivering it in volume - for close to a year now - and they signaled that by making the Cooper Lake 4 and 8 socket only and only having 10nm Xeon in 1 and 2 socket.Qasar - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
" I would bet you that Intel has sold more 10nm than AMD has sold period " yea right, prove it.. most some links instead of your intel biased BSagain.. just be cause YOU were able to by intels 10nm stuff where YOU are, doesnt make it high volume, and to quote dell as being a source, good one, guess what dell as used intel for MOST of the time its been in business, and there for, more then likely gets first dibs.
Namisecond - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
If TSMC were exclusively working on AMD stuff, possibly, but TSMC has more steady and more lucrative customers like Nvidia, Qualcomm and Apple. To make matters worse, AMD is also tying up valuable fab time with their console SoCs.Namisecond - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
World's largest fab or not, You can't just throw some money at TSMC and demand more wafers overnight. Last I checked, TSMC was at capacity and was not accepting new orders for anything less than 18 months into the future. This is how contract suppliers work. AMD also has the problem of game console SoCs tying up their available fab capacity at TSMC. Intel owns their own fabs. If they can get their shit sorted out, they won't have capacity problems like this. Just because Gondalf makes bad fanboi arguments doesn't mean you have to lower yourself to his level.