Analysis and Benchmarks of the AMD Carrizo-L Notebook Platform

Carrizo-L: A8-7410

The successor of the Beema platform is supposed to be a big deal in the market of inexpensive (sub-) notebooks. Similar to the predecessors, the APUs combine CPU, GPU and an AMD Secure processor including input/output systems. The maximum power consumption is between 10 and 25 watts (TDP). We can look at a quad-core chip A8-7410 clocked at up to 2.5 GHz inside the Toshiba Satellite C55D-C-10P in this article. This chip is the top model of the AMD 7000-series. It also includes a Radeon R5 GPU. The power consumption is between 12 and 25 watts depending on the load. Microsoft’s upcoming graphics interface DirectX 12, which will be available this summer with Windows 10, is supported by the APUs.

We already know the graphics unit Radeon R5. It was also used for Beema notebooks (A8-6410) and provided decent performance. 128 shader units (GCN architecture with two compute units) run at up to 800 MHz. This is at least the case for our Toshiba review unit, where the TDP is probably limited to 15 watts.

Predecessor

Let’s start with the 3D scores of some benchmarks. Ice Storm Standard Graphics (3DMark 2013) determined pretty much the identical score compared to the A8-6410. The HP 355 G2 with the same APU is an exception with its R5 M240 and is therefore 30% faster. This result continues in the Cloud Gate Standard score and 3DMark 11 Performance GPU. It seems that the R5 of the A8-7410 does not even have a slight advantage over the R5 in the A8-6410. Toshiba lets the Radeon R5 run at 800 MHz. 

Rivals

The Intel HD 5500 is 11-12% faster in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU. The same applies in 3DMark 2013, where the Intel GPU is 20 and 29% faster in Ice Storm Standard Graphics. Cloud Gate Standard Graphics even determines an advantage of 40 to 49%, respectively. However, the 3DMark scores are also influenced by the faster Intel CPU (Broadwell i5 & i3). Is the advantage of an integrated Radeon GPU gone? It certainly looks this way, since the Intel chip is also on par in Cinebench R11.5 OpenCL. The old 3DMark Vantage is also won by the Intel GPU, the Core i3 system ThinkPad Edge E550 is 35% faster.

You would need at least an A10-7300 with a Radeon R6 GPU (Kaveri) to beat Intel’s "powerful" integrated GPU. The R6 is 21 up to 35% faster than the HD 5500. By the way, the GeForce 920M, Nvidia's slowest 9xxM model, is 114 (Cloud Gate Standard Graphics), 126 (R11.5 OpenCL), 128 (3DMark Vantage) or 129% (3DMark 11) faster than the Radeon R5. 

Differentiation

The HD Graphics (Bay Trail-M) is easily beaten by 50% up to 70%, so the Intel GPU of the Pentium N3540 cannot compete with the Radeon R5 (Carrizio/Beema). But it does not have to, since it has a much lower TDP of just 7.5 watts. The corresponding laptops are more frugal and manage longer runtimes.

Thanks to the Radeon R5 M240, the A8-6410 in the HP 355 G2 is almost twice as fast as our integrated Radeon R5 in Dota 2. The game is only playable in the lowest settings. The Intel HD 5500 is 64 and 91%, respectively, faster. The HD Graphics (Haswell), however, falls behind the Radeon R5 (Dota 2, Tomb Raider). We can compare the frame rates with the predecessor APU A8-6410 in Tomb Raider, and the latter is around 20% faster in the low and medium presets. This has to be the result of the throttling of the APU cores by Toshiba. The Radeon R5 does not throttle in our review unit and even runs at 800 MHz in our stress test. Our A8-7410 only manages comparable values to the predecessor Radeon R5 in Battlefield 4, only the Radeon R5 M240 has a clear advantage.

The GeForce 920M is 160 and 180% faster in Bioshock. The advantage is even 200% in Tomb Raider, and 66 or 68% in Battlefield Hardline.

We also tried Tomb Raider with the Bay Trail Pentium, but the HD Graphics is between 40 and 70% slower than the Radeon R5 of the Carrizo-L depending on the settings. The HD Graphics from the 15-watt Broadwell SoCs is not necessarily faster than the R5. It is 30% slower in high settings, but around 40% faster in low settings.

Sure, Carrizo-L is a chip for inexpensive budget notebooks, but we are still disappointed by the performance from the top model A8-7410 in the Toshiba notebook. There are barely any differences compared to the APU A8-6410 predecessor, especially since the tested Toshiba Satellite C55D-C-10P is supposed to retail for 530 Euros (~$582). The performance does not fit into the segment, and the 15-inch device does not offer any highlights in other categories like the components, ports, etc., either. Our first Carrizo-L sample does not leave a good impression.

The Turbo utilization is very limited and we even noticed throttling. We are eager to see whether the next review devices with Carrizo-L will have the same issues or if the performance disadvantage is only a result of Toshiba’s decision for the TDP limit. Throttling does not limit the general usability of the laptop, but this is obviously a very unfavorable phenomenon for a performance comparison of a new platform. For now, Carrizo-L only appears to be Beema with an optional TDP limitation (Toshiba test model) and a new socket (for the compatibility with Carrizo).

The gaming performance is disappointing as well, the Radeon R5 is not only usually much slower than the Broadwell HD Graphics, but the frame rates are often also lower compared to the "predecessor" Radeon R5 (Beema) of the A8-6410.

AMD wants Carrizo-L to compete with Intel’s Haswell Pentium, Bay Trail-M and simple Core i3s. This will obviously only work when the prices of corresponding devices are between 350 and 450 Euros (~$385 and $494). This is the segment where you can find the mentioned Intel entry-level SoCs. Toshiba's Satellite C55D-C-10P is definitely too expensive at 530 Euros (~$582), especially since the manufacturer does not seem to utilize the maximum performance of the Carrizo top model. This means you ultimately get a weak APU that is just a couple of percent points faster than a Bay Trail Pentium or sometimes even beaten. Haswell Pentium and Core i3 are in another league, at least in respect of the raw CPU performance.

The situation is better when you look at the graphics performance of Carrizo-L, because the HD Graphics (Bay Trail-M) is easily beaten by 50 up to 70%. However, the Radeon R5 cannot beat the Haswell Pentium GPU (Dota 2, Tomb Raider) and the Intel IGP even has a slight advantage. The HD Graphics 5500, also in the Core i3, usually manages a big lead, both in 3D benchmarks as well as games.