AMD A10-7400P vs Intel Core i3-7020U

AMD A10-7400P

The quad-core AMD A10-7400P is a mid-range processor based on the Kaveri architecture. It was revealed in June 2014 for notebooks and is manufactured by GlobalFoundries using a 28 nm SHP process. In addition to having two CPU modules for a total of four integer cores clocked at 2.5 - 3.4 GHz, the AMD chip also integrates a Radeon R6 GPU clocked at up to 654 MHz with 384 GCN shaders and a dual-channel DDR3-1866 memory controller.

Architecture 

Kaveri is the successor to the 2013 Richland architecture (e.g. A10-5750M). The revised CPU cores, codenamed Steamroller, represent the third generation of the module-based Bulldozer design. A number of major changes include modified decoders (now one per integer core), optimized branch prediction, and increased L1 I-cache from 64 KB to 96 KB per module. These revisions boost the performance per clock slightly over a similarly clocked Richland APU. For more details about the AMD Kaveri architecture, see our detailed analysis here:

Analysis of the AMD Kaveri Notebook Platform

Performance 

According to the clock rates, the A10-7400P should offer a CPU performance level similar to the Sandy Bridge-based Intel Core i3-2330M or 2350M. Overall, the A10-7400P will be sufficient for multitasking daily workloads (Office, Internet browsing, multimedia) as well as more demanding programs.

Graphics

The Radeon R6 (Kaveri) GPU of the A10-7400P features a core clock of up to 654 MHz and 384 shader units. Since the GPU is based on AMD's GCN 1.1 architecture, both DirectX 11.2 "Tier 2" and Mantle are supported. Furthermore, the GPU can be used for general purpose computing in various applications, such as Adobe Photoshop via the OpenCL API. 

In terms of 3D performance, the GPU benefits from its high raw computational power and memory support up to DDR3-1866. Thus, the Radeon R6 is just slightly behind a dedicated GeForce GT 730M and can handle many current games at low or medium settings at WXGA resolution.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the entire APU is rated at 35 Watts, which is similar to other competing mid-range models. As a result, the A10-7400P is best suited for 14-inch notebooks or larger.

Intel Core i3-7020U

The Intel Core i3-7020U is a dual-core processor of the Kaby Lake architecture. It offers two CPU cores clocked at 2.3 GHz (without Turbo Boost) and integrates HyperThreading to work with up to 4 threads at once. The architectural differences are rather small compared to the Skylake generation, therefore the performance per MHz should be very similar. The SoC includes a dual channel DDR4 memory controller and Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics card (clocked at 300 - 1000 MHz). It is manufactured in an improved 14nm FinFET process at Intel. Compare to the old i3-7100U, the newer i3-7020U is clocked 100 MHz lower (CPU cores) and therefore the current entry level model for the Core i3 line. The similar Pentium Gold 4415U offers less Cache (2 versus 3 MB) and a slower GPU.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.