AMD A6-5200 vs Intel Core i5-5257U

AMD A6-5200

The AMD A6-5200 is a mobile quad-core SoC for low-end laptops, which was presented in mid-2013. In addition to 4 CPU cores with a clock speed of 2.0 GHz (no Turbo), the 28-nanometer chip also integrates a Radeon HD 8400 GPU, a single channel DDR3(L)-1600 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 our benchmarks, 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

Depending on the application, the performance of the A6-5200 is somewhere between a Pentium 977 and Core i3-3227U. The 4 CPU cores provide good results in multi-threaded applications, but the performance per core is quite low. Nonetheless, the APU should be sufficient for all daily workloads like Office, Internet browsing and multimedia.

Graphics

The SoC integrates a Radeon HD 8400 GPU with 128 shaders, which is based on the GCN architecture and clocked at 600 MHz (no Turbo). On average, the HD 8400 matches a Radeon HD 6490M or faster versions of the Intel HD Graphics 4000. However, the processor may limit the performance in some recent games (as of 2013). Older and less demanding games should run fluently.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the entire SoC is rated at 25 watts. Thus, the A6-5200 is suitable for 14-inch notebooks or bigger.

Intel Core i5-5257U

The Intel Core i5-5257U is a fast dual-core processor based on the Broadwell architecture, which has been launched in January 2015. With a TDP of 28 W, the CPU is suited for medium-sized ultrabooks and notebooks (MacBook Pro 13), whereas smaller devices will use more power efficient ULV models such as the Core i5-5200U (15 W TDP). In addition to two CPU cores with Hyper-Threading clocked at 2.7 - 3.1 GHz (2 Cores: 3.1 GHz as well), the chip also integrates an Iris Graphics 6100 GPU and a dual-channel LPDDR3-1866/DDR3L-1600 memory controller. The Core i5 is manufactured in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors.

Architecture

Broadwell represents the "Tick" in Intel's Tick-Tock model, which means a shrink of its predecessor Haswell. The new 14 nm manufacturing process with three-dimensional FinFET transistors allows not only improvements in energy efficiency, but also a significantly smaller die size fit for more compact packages and devices.

Further advantages result from the revised microarchitecture of Broadwell. Due to its improved branch prediction, bigger buffer sizes (1500 instead of 1000 entries in the L2 TLB) and other tweaks, the performance per clock has been increased by more than 5 percent over its predecessor. There are also some new instruction set extensions designed for cryptographic applications.

Performance

Thanks to its improved architecture, the Core i5-5257U almost matches the slightly higher clocked predecessors Core i7-4558U and Core i5-4308U (Haswell, 28 W). Thus, the CPU has sufficient power even for demanding applications and multitasking.

Graphics

The integrated Iris Graphics 6100 offers 48 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 300 - 1050 MHz. Similar to the CPU core, the GPU architecture (Intel Gen 8) has been thoroughly revised for improved performance-per-clock. In addition, the GPU benefits from faster memory speeds up to LPDDR3-1866 (Haswell: DDR3-1600). Overall, the Iris Graphics 6100 is about 20 - 25 percent faster than the former Iris Graphics 5100. Nevertheless, demanding games as of 2015 will be playable only in low or medium settings.

Broadwell is the first Intel chip to fully support DirectX 11.2 as well as OpenCL 1.3/2.0 and OpenGL 4.3. Video will output natively via DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a. However, the new HDMI 2.0 standard is not officially supported.

Power Consumption

The i5-5257U is rated at a TDP of 28 W including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited for medium-sized ultrabooks 13-inches or greater.