AMD Ryzen 3 4300U vs AMD E2-9000 vs AMD A6-9220C

AMD Ryzen 3 4300U

The AMD Ryzen 3 4300U is a processor for thin and light laptops based on the Renoir family. The 4300U integrates four cores based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture (quad core CPU). They are clocked at 2.7 (guaranteed base clock) to 3.7 GHz (Turbo) without SMT / Hyperthreading support (4 threads). The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and partly thanks to it AMD advertises a 2x improved performance per Watt for the Renoir chips. Compared to the faster Ryzen 5 4000 CPUs (e.g., Ryzen 5 4600U), the Ryzen 3 only offers 4 cores and lower Turbo clock speeds.

In addition to the four CPU cores, the APU also has the Radeon RX Vega 5 integrated graphics card with 5 CUs and up to 1400 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 4 MB of Level 3 cache can be found on the chip. See our hub page on the Renoir Processors for more information.

Performance

The average 4300U in our database matches the Core i5-1035G4 and the Core i5-11300H, both quad-core chips, in multi-thread performance. Technically a lower mid-range CPU, this Ryzen is light years ahead of Intel Pentiums and AMD Athlons that so many sub-US$500 laptops ship with.

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

Power consumption

The Ryzen 3 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 15 W, a value that laptop manufacturers are free to change to anything between 10 W and 25 W with performance and clock speeds changing accordingly as a result. By going for the lowest value, it is possible to build passively cooled tablets, laptops, mini-PCs around this APU.

The 7 nm TSMC process the Ryzen 3 4300U is manufactured on makes for average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

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.

AMD A6-9220C

The AMD A6-9220C is an entry-level chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for Chromebooks (7th APU generation from 2016), which was announced early 2019. Compared to the A6-9220, the 9220C is rated at a reduced TDP of 6 versus 15 Watt and also reduced clock speeds. It integrates two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit) clocked between 1.8 - 2.7 GHz (versus 2.5 - 2.9 GHz on the A6-9220).

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 A6-9220C should be noticeably slower than the old A6-9220. AMD compares the performance against the Pentium N4200 in ChromeOS and sees the A6-9220C clearly ahead. The efficiency should be worse however, due to the old manufacturing process.

Graphics Card

The integrated Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge) GPU is a bit controversal, as AMD states 3 compute cores which should translate to 192 shaders.

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A6-9220C with 6 Watts which should enable thin and light (even fanless) Chromebooks.