Intel Celeron B830 vs AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 8945HS

Intel Celeron B830

The Intel Celeron B830 is a dual core processor for entry level laptops. It is based on the Sandy Bridge architecture (2nd generation Core) and features an integrated graphics card (Intel HD Graphics based on the HD Graphics 2000 at 650-900MHz) and a reduced feature set (compared to the faster Core processors). E.g. Turbo Boost, AES, Hyperthreading, Virtualization VT-d, Quick Sync, Wireless Display and Clear Video HD are deactivated. Furthermore, some power saving features may be deactivated, leading to a shorter battery runtime compared to Core i3 processors.

Due to the slow clock speed, the performance is rather limited. Compared to the previous generation, the B830 should be similar fast as a 1.9 GHz Arrandale Pentium /  Celeron (e.g. P6000).

The integrated dual channel DDR3-1066/1333 memory controller supports up to 8GB.

AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 8945HS

The Ryzen 9 PRO 8945HS is a powerful Hawk Point family processor (APU) released in April 2024. The R9 PRO 8945HS is identical to the "normal" R9 8945HS in virtually all respects; both come with 8 Zen 4 cores running at 4.0 GHz to 5.2 GHz (16 processing threads), a 16-TOPS Ryzen AI NPU (higher clock speeds) and the top-of-the-line Radeon 780M graphics adapter. Other key features include PCIe 4 and USB 4 support, LPDDR5x-7500 RAM support and 16 MB of L3 cache. Unlike the R9 8945HS however this PRO series chip has ECC memory support and the Secure Processor feature which in a nutshell is an ARM co-processor built into the main chip.

Architecture and Features

Hawk Point APUs are powered by the Zen 4 architecture, just like Dragon Range, Phoenix and Raphael processors are. With this product family, AMD is betting big on generative AI; these chips are said to deliver an up to 40% increase in generative AI performance over 7040 series APUs making apps like DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Photoshop more powerful than ever before.

Unlike Zen 3, Zen 4 features AVX512 support and, thanks to a plethora of other improvements including larger registers/buffers/caches (reportedly at the cost of some of them becoming slightly slower), is supposed to bring an IPC improvement of around 13%.

Elsewhere, the R9 PRO 8945HS has 16 MB of L3 cache and support for super-fast RAM (up to LPDDR5x-7500 or DDR5-5600 with ECC support optionally present depending on the socket). The processor is compatible with USB 4 and thus with Thunderbolt; PCIe support is limited to the 4.0 spec for a throughput of 1.97 GB/s per lane. 20 lanes are available.

OS support is limited to 64-bit editions of Windows 11 and Windows 10 and of course to Linux. Note that the chip isn't overclockable and neither is it user-replaceable as it gets soldered down for good (FP7, FP7r2, FP8 socket interfaces).

Performance

The 8945HS is an R9 7940HS in disguise, so it's realistic to expect the chip to be just slightly faster than the Core i9-12900HK and also the Ryzen 7 7840HS, as far as multi-thread performance is concerned.

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.

Graphics

The Radeon 780M has 12 CUs (768 shaders) running at up to 2,800 MHz. This is a very fast iGPU, as of late 2023. It will let you use up to 4 monitors with resolutions as high as SUHD 4320p, and it is also capable of HW-encoding and HW-decoding the most widely used video codecs including AVC, HEVC and AV1. More importantly, it is fast enough for proper 1080p gaming as long as one is fine with low to medium detail settings.

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are, how competent the cooling solution of the system is, how fast the RAM of the system is (there is no dedicated VRAM here).

Power consumption

This Ryzen 9 series chip has a long-term power limit (default TDP) of 35 W to 54 W, giving laptop makers a choice between longer battery life and higher performance. Either way, an active cooling solution is a must for a system powered by this chip.

The 8945HS is built with TSMC's 4 nm process for high, as of late 2023, energy efficiency.