AMD E2-9000 vs Intel Core m3-7Y30

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 m3-7Y30

The Intel Core m3-7Y30 is a very efficient dual-core SoC for tablets and passively cooled notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in the end of August 2016. The CPU consists of two processor cores clocked at 1.0-2.6 GHz (2-core Turbo not specified yet). Thanks to Hyper Threading, the processor can execute up to four threads simultaneously. The chips also includes the Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR3L/LPDDR3) as well as VP9 and H.265 video de- and encoder. It is still produced in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors. 

Architecture

Intel basically used the familiar micro architecture from the Skylake generation, so the per-MHz performance is identical. Only the Speed-Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of the voltages and clocks was improved, and the matured 14 nm process now also enables much higher frequencies and better efficiency than before. 

Performance

Since Intel basically removed the Core m5 and Core m7 series or included them into the higher i5 and i7 series, respectively, the m3-7Y30 is officially the last Core-m chip. Thanks to its high Turbo clock, the 7Y30 can sometimes keep up with the 15 Watt models for short peak load and single-thread scenarios, but the clocks will drop significantly under sustained workloads. The CPU is still suitable for many more demanding applications as well as multitasking. Thanks to the improved efficiency, the CPU can often even beat the Core m5 and m7 siblings from the previous Skylake generation.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU has 24 Execution Units (EUs) like the old HD Graphics 515 and runs with clocks between 300 and 900 MHz in combination with this processor. The performance heavily depends on the TDP limit as well as the memory configuration; with fast LPDDR3-1866 RAM in dual-channel mode, the GPU should sometimes be able to compete with the HD Graphics 520, but can also be much slower in other scenarios. Modern games from 2016 will, if at all, only run smoothly in the lowest settings.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now also supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14 nm process with FinFET transistors, so the power efficiency was once again improved significantly. The typical TDP for the Y-series is specified at 4.5 Watts, and can be adjusted in both directions depending on the usage scenario.