AMD A4-1200 vs Intel Core 2 Duo T5800

AMD A4-1200

The AMD A4-1200 is a mobile dual-core SoC for tablets, which was presented in mid-2013. In addition to 2 CPU cores with a base clock speed of 1.0 GHz (no turbo), the 28-nanometer chip also integrates a Radeon HD 8180 GPU, a single-channel DDR3L-1066 memory controller as well as the Southbridge with various I/O- ports.

Architecture

Both Kabini (for notebooks) and Temash (tablets and compact subnotebooks) are based on AMD's new Jaguar architecture, which replaces the previous Bobcat models (e.g. the E-350). According to AMD, the performance per clock has been increased by about 15 percent. Furthermore, various modern instruction set extensions such as SSE up to version 4.2, AVX and AES are now supported. The finer 28-nanometer process from TSMC allows lower voltages and/or higher clock rates compared to Bobcat, as well as up to 4 CPU cores (Bobcat: 2 cores).

Performance

Due to the low clock speed of just 1.0 GHz, the performance is quite modest and similar to the old AMD C-60 or an Intel Celeron N2805. For simple office and multimedia tasks, the A4-1200 has sufficient power; however, it will quickly reach its limits in more demanding applications and games.

Graphics

The SoC integrates a Radeon HD 8180 GPU with 128 shaders, which is based on the GCN architecture. The core is clocked at 225 MHz (no turbo). On average, the HD 8180 is slightly below the Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge); however, the performance is often limited by the CPU. Recent Games (as of 2013) are therefore hardly playable. Only a few older and less demanding games will run fluently.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the entire SoC is rated at just 3.9 watts. Thus, the A4-1200 is suitable for slim ultraportables and passively cooled tablets.

Intel Core 2 Duo T5800