AMD Ryzen 3 5300U vs AMD Ryzen 5 4680U

AMD Ryzen 3 5300U

The AMD Ryzen 3 5300U (not to be confused with the A4-5300, a CPU released in 2012) is a Lucienne family processor designed for use in thin and light laptops. The R3 5300U integrates four cores (quad core) based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture. They are clocked at 2.6 (guaranteed base clock) to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT for a total of 8 threads. The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process. Compared to the older and similar Ryzen 3 4300U (Renoir), the Ryzen 3 5300U offers SMT and slightly higher clock speeds. The faster Ryzen 3 5400U is based on the newer Zen 3 architecture. See our hub page on the Renoir Processors for more information on the Lucienne / Renoir architecture.

In addition to the four CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 6 integrated graphics adapter with 6 CUs at up to 1500 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 4 MB level 3 cache can be found on the chip.

Performance

The average 5300U in our database matches the Core i5-11300H, the Core i7-11375H and also the Ryzen 5 4500U in multi-thread performance, making it an outstandingly good chip as far as sub-US$700 laptops go.

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

Power consumption

The Ryzen 3 series chip has a default TDP of 15 W, a value that laptop makers are allowed to change to anything between 10 W and 25 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. By going for the lowest value possible, it will be possible to build a passively cooled system around the chip, however, most companies will do the opposite to achieve higher performance levels.

The AMD Ryzen 3 5300U is built with TSMC's 7 nm manufacturing process for average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 5 4680U

The AMD Ryzen 5 4680U is a semi-custom APU of the Renoir family designed for Microsoft devices. The 4680U integrates six CPU cores based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture clocked at 2.2 GHz (base) to 4 GHz (Boost) with SMT support for a total 12 threads. The two advantages a 4680U has over the older Ryzen 5 4600U are its higher base clock speed and a faster iGPU.

Architecture

The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and in part thanks to this fact, AMD advertises a 2x performance per watt improvement over the 12 nm Ryzen 3000 mobile processors. The built-in dual-channel memory controller supports LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 8 MB of L3 cache can be found on the chip.

Just like the other mobile Ryzen 4000 CPUs, a 4680U supports PCI-Express 3.0. Please go to our Renoir processor hub page for additional information on the product family.

Performance

Multi-thread performance is most comparable to the Ryzen 7 4700U and the Core i5-10500H, the latter being a much more power-hungry chip. This makes the Ryzen a more than decent CPU for most tasks, as of early 2022.

Graphics

In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates a DX 12 compatible Radeon RX Vega 7 graphics adapter with 7 CUs (448 unified shaders) at up to 1,500 MHz. The Vega iGPU will have no trouble HW-decoding AVC, HEVC and VP9 videos, but the newer AV1 codec will only be decoded via software. In terms of gaming, we are looking at an MX150-level performance. Pretty much all games released in 2020 can be played on low to medium settings in 720p on this graphics adapter.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 5 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 15 W, a value that laptop makers - Microsoft, in this case - are free to change to anything between 10 W and 25 W, with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Indeed, we saw the CPU consume roughly 23 watts when subjected to our usual stress testing routine.

The 7 nm TSMC process this Ryzen is built with makes for very decent, as of mid 2022, energy efficiency.