AMD A8-8600P vs AMD A12-9720P vs AMD Pro A12-8800B

AMD A8-8600P

The AMD A8-8600P is a mid-range Carrizo APU of 2015 for mainstream laptops. It is a SoC that contains two Excavator CPU modules (with 4 integer and 2 FP units counted as 4 compute cores), a Radeon R7 graphics card with 6 compute cores (384 shaders), a DDR3-2133 (35 Watt cTDP) memory controller and a video engine (including UVD 6 with hardware HEVC / H.265 decoding). Compared to the faster A10-8700P, the A8-8600P features a slower clocked CPU and GPU.

The performances of the CPU and GPU cores depend on the configurable TDP. This cTDP can range from 12 to 35 Watts depending on the cooling solution and size of the laptop. The faster Carrizo models gain about 35% in 3DMark 11 depending on the cTDP and results for the A8-8600P model should be similar.

More technical details and features of the 6th generation of APUs (Carrizo) can be found in our launch article.

AMD A12-9720P

The AMD A12-9720P is a mainstream SoC from the Bristol Ridge APU series for notebooks (7th APU generation), which was introduced in 2017. The ULV chip with a TDP of 15 Watts (can be configured to 12 Watts, not verified) has four CPU cores (two Excavator modules) clocked at 2.7 - 3.8 GHz (4.05 GHz for single core were briefly achievable in our test sample), a Radeon R7 iGPU as well as a dual-channel DDR4-1866 memory controller. Carrizo is a full-fledged SoC and is also equipped with an integrated chipset, which provides all I/0 ports.

Architecture

Bristol 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 1866 MHz. More technical details are available in the following articles:

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

Performance

The average A12-9720P in our database is in the same league as the Core i5-4210U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned, making the former a fairly slow chip that's suitable for basic day-to-day activities only as of late 2022.

Graphics

The integrated Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge) GPU has 512 active shader units (8 compute cores) clocked at up to 758 MHz. Thanks to the better utilization of the clock range as well as faster DDR4-RAM, the GPU can slightly beat its predecessors Radeon R7 (Carrizo) and competes with a dedicated GeForce 920MX in the best-case scenario (dual-channel memory, low CPU requirements). Many games from 2015/2016 can be played smoothly at low settings.

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A12-9720P with 15 Watts, which is comparable to Intel's ULV models. This means the CPU is a good choice for thin notebooks starting with a 12-inch screen.

AMD Pro A12-8800B

The AMD Pro A12-8800B is the top-tier Carrizo APU of 2015 for business laptops. It is a SoC containing two Excavator CPU modules (with 4 integer and 2 FP units counted as 4 compute cores), a Radeon R7 graphics card with 8 compute cores (512 shaders), a DDR3-2133 (35 Watt cTDP) memory controller and a video engine (including UVD 6 with hardware HEVC / H.265 decoding). It is similar to the consumer version, the FX-8800P, but offers business support and a ensure a long-tail support program. 

The performances of the CPU and GPU cores depend on the configurable TDP. This cTDP can range from 12 to 35 Watts depending on the cooling solution and size of the laptop. Thus, clock speeds of the compute cores will vary. E.g., the GPU can score between 1992 points (15 Watts) to 2753 points (+38% with 35 Watts cTDP) in 3DMark 11 (based on the similar FX-8800P).

According to AMD, the 35 Watt configuration scores 12% (Cinebench single-thread) and 15% (Cinebench Multi-threaded) higher compared to the previous Steamroller generation (most likely the AMD FX-7600P). If configured to 15 Watt instead, the gains are higher (40% to 55%) compared to the 19 Watt Kaveri FX-7500 APU. See more benchmarks on our FX-8800P page.

More technical details and features of the 6th generation of APUs (Carrizo) can be found in our launch article.