AMD A4-9120C vs Intel Celeron N4000

AMD A4-9120C

The AMD A4-9120C is an entry-level chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for Chromebooks and entry level laptops (7th APU generation from 2016), which was announced early 2019. It is based on the similar named A4-9120 from 2016 but with a reduced TDP (6 versus 15 Watt) and reduced clock speeds of 1.6 - 2.4 GHz (compared to 2.2 - 2.5 GHz). Both CPUs integrate two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit).

It also includes a Radeon R4 GPU with 192 shaders at 600 MHz, as well as a single-channel DDR4-2133 memory controller, H.265 video engine and chipset with all I/O ports.

Architecture

Stoney Ridge is the successor of the Carrizo architecture and the design is almost identical. Thanks to optimized manufacturing processes and more aggressive Boost behavior, however, the clocks are a bit higher at the same power consumption. The memory controller now also supports DDR4-RAM, in this case up to 2133 MHz. Stoney Ridge is the designation for the smaller dual-core and single-core chip, while Bristol Ridge is the bigger quad-core chip with dual-channel memory controller. More technical details are available in the following articles:

• AMD's Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge Architecture
• AMD: Bristol Ridge APUs announced

Performance

Because of the significantly lower clock speed, the A4-9120C should be noticeably slower than the old A4-9120. AMD compares the A4-9120C with the Celeron N3350 in ChromeOS and sees a significant performance advantage for the A4. The efficiency however should be clearly worse as the A4-9120C is still manufactured in 28nm.

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A4-9120C with 6 Watts which should enable thin and light Chromebooks (even fanless).

Intel Celeron N4000

The Intel Celeron N4000 is a dual-core SoC designed for affordable laptops and mini-PCs and was announced late 2017. It runs at 1.1 GHz to 2.6 GHz (Single Core Burst, Multi Core Burst maxes out at 2.5 GHz) and is based on the Gemini Lake platform. Similar to the Apollo Lake predecessor, the chip is manufactured on a 14 nm process with FinFETs but offers slightly improved processor cores, double the amount of L2 cache, all in a smaller package. Partial Wi-Fi 5 support is baked into the chip. Besides two CPU cores, the chip also includes a DirectX 12 capable GPU as well as a DDR4/LPDDR4 memory controller (dual-channel, up to 2400 MHz). The SoC is not replaceable as it is directly soldered to the mainboard.

Architecture

The processor architecture was slightly reworked and is now called Goldmont Plus. It features a larger L2 cache (4 MB). That means the per-clock-performance should be a bit better, but not anywhere near the Core CPUs like Kaby Lake Y.

Performance

The average N4000 in our database only just matches the Core i5-4300Y, a fairly old dual-core processor of nearly the same energy efficiency, in multi-thread performance. In other words, the Celeron is a very slow processor that's good enough for the most basic of tasks only. Expect long load times no matter the app.

Graphics

The UHD Graphics 600 (Gemini Lake) is based on Intel's Generation 9 architecture, which supports DirectX 12 and is also used for the Kaby Lake / Skylake / Apollo Lake graphics adapters (like HD Graphics 520). Equipped with 12 EUs and a clock of up to 650 MHz, the performance should be roughly on par with the older HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake).

The chip also includes an advanced video engine with hardware support for the playback of VP9 and H.265 (8-bit color-depth).

Power consumption

Like most other N-class Intel chips, the Celeron N4000 has a 6 W TDP (also known as the long-term power limit). This is not much at all, allowing laptop makers to build passively cooled laptops, tablets, mini-PCs around the chip. The SoC can briefly consume up to 15 W, though, depending on how a system is configured.

Last but not the least, this Celeron is manufactured on one of the old 14 nm Intel processes leading to poor, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.