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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Deicidium369 - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
Except mean some sort of exclusion - I like you sister, except for here huge buck teeth.Accept mean to allow or to acquiesce...
Your teachers have dropped the ball with you horribly. Maybe one of those Word a Day calendars.
Qasar - Monday, April 13, 2020 - link
wow.. yet more insults, the must be all you have left.cgeorgescu - Friday, April 10, 2020 - link
The thing is that the very few 8-core Intel mobile CPUs cost about $600 each and, at 45W, they are slower than this CPU at 35W.Check on YouTube, there are plenty of comparisons of this AMD CPU with Intel's greatest at 45W and even a few pushed to 90W.
Zingam - Saturday, April 11, 2020 - link
I don't care about battery life. I have a power cord but I care very much about performance, noise, heat and portability.eva02langley - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
I care about battery life, especially since I want a laptop I can use for office work that is not going to die on me after 3-4 hours.Deicidium369 - Sunday, April 12, 2020 - link
My now almost 6 month old Dell 13 2-in-1 with Ice Lake gets 11 to 12 hours of real use - previous 2 year old Dell 13 2-in-1s that the Ice Lakes replaced were 7-8 hours at most. Battery life was the number one consideration for upgrading - but it's also noticeably much faster.redtail3 - Thursday, May 14, 2020 - link
Oh stop it you dumb f&ck. You are clearly a paid intel shill with so much persistence."Your" battery claims mean nothing. Post the screenshots or a video link.
philehidiot - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
I was really sceptical about the lack of a webcam. I think for the cost it's a simple addition. Then I remembered that I've had several laptops with webcams and I've just covered them up and never used them. Not once. When I have wanted to do anything requiring my face I've used my phone. Anyone I know who uses a webcam for business wants something far better than the integrated ones and so buys a decent standalone one.I wonder if this is a decision driven by use data from Windows 10 telemetry?
wr3zzz - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
I Skype video on Android most of the time but Windows Hello is very nice and there are times I need the webcam because I am using the phone for tethering. Not having a webcam nowadays is a pretty weird decision, especially in a gaming notebook.RollingCamel - Thursday, April 9, 2020 - link
You can use DroidCam to operate your Android phone or IP Cam as a webcam.