AMD E2-9000 vs Intel Core i3-6100H vs AMD A4-9120C

AMD E2-9000

The AMD E2-9000 is the least powerful chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for notebooks (7th APU generation) at the time of announcement in 2017. The SoC integrates two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit) clocked between 1.8-2.2 GHz. It also includes a Radeon R2 GPU clocked at 600 MHz as well as a single-channel DDR4-1866 memory controller, H.265 video engine and chipset with all I/O ports. Compared to the older E2-9010, the E2-9000 offers a lower base speed (1.8 versus 2 GHz).

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 1866 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:

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

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the E2-9000 with 10 Watts (compared to the 9010 at 15W). This means the APU is intended for thin and light notebooks.

Intel Core i3-6100H

The Intel Core i3-6100H is a dual-core processor based on the Skylake architecture, that has been launched in September 2015. In addition to two CPU cores with Hyper-Threading clocked at 2.7 GHz (no Turbo Boost), the chip also integrates an HD Graphics 530 GPU and a dual-channel DDR4-2133/DDR3L-1600 memory controller. The CPU is manufactured using a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors.

Architecture

Skylake replaces both Haswell and Broadwell and brings the same microarchitecture in every TDP class from 4.5 to 45 W. The extensive improvements of the Skylake design include increased out-of-order buffers, optimized prefetching and branch prediction as well as additional performance gains through Hyper-Threading. Overall, however, performance per clock has been increased by only 5 to 10 percent (compared to Haswell) respectively under 5 percent (compard to Broadwell), which is quite modest for a new architecture ("Tock").

Furthermore, the organisation of the eDRAM cache has been modified. Instead of acting like a victim cache, which has to be adressed via the L3/LLC, the eDRAM can now be adressed directly by programms just like the main memory. The size is still 128 MB for the quad-core models (4C + GT4e), while the dual-core chips (2C + GT3e) only offer 64 MB.

Performance

According to the specified clock rates and the improved architecture, the Core i3-6100H performs similar to a Core i5-5300U (Broadwell, 15 W) or Core i7-4510U (Haswell, 15 W). Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as more demanding applications and multitasking.

Graphics

The integrated graphics unit called HD Graphics 530 represents the "GT2" version of the Skylake GPU (Intel Gen. 9). The 24 Execution Units, also called EUs, are clocked at 350 - 900 MHz and offer a performance about 20 percent above the old HD Graphics 4600. Games of 2015 can thus be played smoothly in low or medium settings. For more information about performance and features, check our page for the HD Graphics 530.

Power Consumption

Specified at a TDP of 35 W (including CPU, GPU and memory controller), the CPU is best suited for medium-sized notebooks (13-inches and above).

AMD A4-9120C

The AMD A4-9120C is an entry-level chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for Chromebooks and entry level laptops (7th APU generation from 2016), which was announced early 2019. It is based on the similar named A4-9120 from 2016 but with a reduced TDP (6 versus 15 Watt) and reduced clock speeds of 1.6 - 2.4 GHz (compared to 2.2 - 2.5 GHz). Both CPUs integrate two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit).

It also includes a Radeon R4 GPU with 192 shaders at 600 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:

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

Performance

Because of the significantly lower clock speed, the A4-9120C should be noticeably slower than the old A4-9120. AMD compares the A4-9120C with the Celeron N3350 in ChromeOS and sees a significant performance advantage for the A4. The efficiency however should be clearly worse as the A4-9120C is still manufactured in 28nm.

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A4-9120C with 6 Watts which should enable thin and light Chromebooks (even fanless).