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AMD A9-9420 vs Intel Core i3-4010U

AMD A9-9420

► remove from comparison AMD A9-9420

The AMD A9-9420 is an entry-level chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for notebooks (7th APU generation), which was announced mid 2016. At its launch, the A9-9420 is the fastest Stoney Ridge processor (dual-core version of Bristol Ridge) and takes over that place from the A9-9410 (-100 MHz CPU clock). It integrates two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit) clocked between 3 - 3.6 GHz. It also includes a Radeon R5 GPU with 192 shaders at 800 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:

Performance

Thanks to the high maximum clock of up to 3.6 GHz, the single-core performance should be pretty good. The multi-core performance on the other hand is much lower compared to the Bristol Ridge models. Compared to older Carrizo-L/Beema quad-cores, the APU should still perform pretty well. The level of performance should be similar to a Core-m3 and therefore also be sufficient for more demanding applications.

The TDP can be configured between 10-25 Watts, so there can be big performance differences under sustained workloads.

Graphics Card

The integrated Radeon R5 (Stoney Ridge) GPU has 192 active shader units (3 compute cores) clocked at up to 800 MHz. More details about the GPU are available in the linked articles above. 

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A9-9420 with 15 Watts, but it can be configured between 10-25 Watts. This means the CPU is a good choice for thin and light notebooks, but also 15-inch devices with better cooling capabilities.

Intel Core i3-4010U

► remove from comparison Intel 4010U

The Intel Core i3-4010U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor for ultrabooks launched in Q2 2013. It is based on the Haswell architecture and is manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyper-Treading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel, leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 1.7 GHz and includes no Turbo Boost support.

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving the performance per clock by almost 10 percent. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

The performance of the Core i3-4010U is slightly above the old and slightly higher clocked Core i3-3217U. However, when using new instruction sets such as AVX2 the performance can be significantly better. Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as most applications.

The integrated HD Graphics 4400 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 200 - 1000 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it somewhat faster than the former HD Graphics 4000 at similar clock speeds. However, the HD 4400 is a bit slower than the HD 5000 found on a number of other ULV models.

The Core i3-4010U is rated at a TDP of 15 W including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited for small ultrabooks 11-inches or greater.

ModelAMD A9-9420Intel Core i3-4010U
SeriesAMD Bristol RidgeIntel Core i3
CodenameStoney RidgeHaswell
Series: Core i3 Haswell
AMD A9-9425 compare3.1 - 3.7 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A9-9420e compare - 2.5 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A9-9420 « 3 - 3.6 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A9-9410 compare2.9 - 3.5 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A6-9225 compare2.6 - 3.1 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A6-9220 compare2.5 - 2.9 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A6-9220C compare1.8 - 2.7 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A6-9210 compare2.4 - 2.8 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A4-9120 compare2.2 - 2.5 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A4-9120C compare1.6 - 2.4 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD E2-9010 compare2 - 2.2 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD E2-9000 compare1.8 - 2.2 GHz2 / 2 cores
AMD A6-9220e compare1.6 - 2.4 GHz2 / 2 cores
Intel Core i3-4110M compare2.6 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4100M compare2.5 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4000M compare2.4 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4100E compare2.4 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4158U compare2 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4120U compare2 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4030U compare1.9 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4025U compare1.9 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4100U compare1.8 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4010U « 1.7 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4005U compare1.7 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4102E compare1.6 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4030Y compare1.6 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4020Y compare1.5 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4012Y compare1.5 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i3-4010Y compare1.3 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Clock3000 - 3600 MHz1700 MHz
L2 Cache1 MB512 KB
Cores / Threads2 / 22 / 4
TDP10-25 Watt15 Watt
Transistors1200 Million
Technology28 nm22 nm
Die Size124.5 mm2
max. Temp.90 °C100 °C
SocketBGAFCBGA1168
FeaturesSingle-Channel DDR4-2133, Virtualization,HD Graphics 4400 (200 - 1000 MHz), DDR3(L)-1600 Memory Controller, HyperThreading, AVX, AVX2, Quick Sync, Virtualization, AES-NI
iGPUAMD Radeon R5 (Stoney Ridge) ( - 800 MHz)Intel HD Graphics 4400 (200 - 1000 MHz)
Architecturex86x86
Announced
L1 Cache128 KB
L3 Cache3 MB
$281 U.S.
Manufacturerark.intel.com

Benchmarks

Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64 Bit
min: 124     avg: 132     median: 134 (1%)     max: 138 Points
min: 163     avg: 169.9     median: 170.5 (1%)     max: 173 Points
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64 Bit
min: 75     avg: 80.3     median: 81 (24%)     max: 85 Points
min: 59     avg: 65.5     median: 67 (20%)     max: 68 Points
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64 Bit
min: 1.56     avg: 1.6     median: 1.6 (2%)     max: 1.65 Points
min: 1.76     avg: 1.8     median: 1.8 (2%)     max: 1.87 Points
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Single 64 Bit
min: 0.96     avg: 1     median: 1 (25%)     max: 1 Points
min: 0.69     avg: 0.7     median: 0.8 (19%)     max: 0.77 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Single (32bit)
min: 2761     avg: 2868     median: 2875 (17%)     max: 2969 Points
min: 2345     avg: 2461     median: 2469 (15%)     max: 2548 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Multi (32bit)
min: 4627     avg: 4830     median: 4841 (4%)     max: 5022 Points
min: 5194     avg: 5536     median: 5584 (4%)     max: 5786 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Multi (64bit)
6757 Points (5%)
min: 5629     avg: 6930     median: 7328 (5%)     max: 7434 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Single (64bit)
3410 Points (4%)
min: 2529     avg: 3137     median: 3328 (4%)     max: 3361 Points
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 1024m *
min: 673     avg: 710     median: 710 (8%)     max: 747 s
1000 s (12%)
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 32m *
min: 20.78     avg: 21.3     median: 21.3 (4%)     max: 21.8 s
32.6 s (7%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Serpent
100%
1 A9-9420 +
0.1 GB/s (0%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Twofish
100%
1 A9-9420 +
0.2 GB/s (4%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt AES
100%
1 A9-9420 +
1.1 GB/s (3%)
3DMark 06 - CPU - 3DMark 06 - CPU
100%
1 4010U +
min: 2266     avg: 2280     median: 2279.5 (5%)     max: 2293 Points
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M *
min: 18     avg: 18.3     median: 18.3 (4%)     max: 18.6 s
22 s (5%)
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M *
min: 39.16     avg: 40.5     median: 40.5 (2%)     max: 41.8 s
48.7 s (2%)
Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 32M *
min: 824     avg: 866     median: 866 (4%)     max: 908 s
1081 s (5%)
SiSoft Sandra Dhrystone (MIPS) - SiSoft Sandra Dhrystone (MIPS)
100%
1 4010U +
26370 MIPS (13%)
SiSoft Sandra Whetstone (MFLOPS) - SiSoft Sandra Whetstone (MFLOPS)
100%
1 4010U +
18150 MFLOPS (14%)
3DMark Vantage - 3DM Vant. Perf. CPU no Physx
100%
1 4010U +
min: 6012     avg: 6082     median: 6081.5 (5%)     max: 6151 Points
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Physics
min: 1569     avg: 1659     median: 1632 (4%)     max: 1776 Points
min: 2129     avg: 2371     median: 2340 (6%)     max: 2569 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Physics
19241 Points (16%)
min: 16754     avg: 19782     median: 20042.5 (16%)     max: 21204 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme Physics
100%
1 A9-9420 +
18148 Points (15%)
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Physics
100%
1 A9-9420 +
min: 18866     avg: 18895     median: 18894.5 (16%)     max: 18923 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Physics
min: 1375     avg: 1455     median: 1455 (4%)     max: 1535 Points
min: 1647     avg: 1758     median: 1773 (4%)     max: 1804 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Physics
min: 2153     avg: 2155     median: 2155 (4%)     max: 2157 Points
min: 2175     avg: 2411     median: 2448 (4%)     max: 2484 Points
Geekbench 3 - Geekbench 3 32 Bit Multi-Core
100%
1 4010U +
min: 3421     avg: 3534     median: 3534 (6%)     max: 3647 Points
Geekbench 3 - Geekbench 3 32 Bit Single-Core
100%
1 4010U +
min: 1693     avg: 1730     median: 1730 (34%)     max: 1767 Points
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Kraken 1.1 Total Score *
2120 ms (2%)
min: 4061     avg: 4113     median: 4112.5 (5%)     max: 4164 ms
Sunspider - Sunspider 1.0 Total Score *
148.1 ms (2%)
min: 192.8     avg: 198.2     median: 198.2 (2%)     max: 203.6 ms
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
min: 15762     avg: 17290     median: 17290 (16%)     max: 18818 Points
min: 7213     avg: 7443     median: 7442.5 (7%)     max: 7672 Points

Average Benchmarks AMD A9-9420 → 100% n=20

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i3-4010U → 101% n=20

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

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Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)