AMD Ryzen 5 3580U vs AMD Ryzen 5 3500U

AMD Ryzen 5 3580U

The AMD Ryzen 5 3580U (Microsoft Surface Edition) is a mobile SoC that was announced in October 2019 as part of the Surface Book 15. It combines four Zen+ cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.2 - 3.8 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 9 graphics adapter with 9 CUs (576 Shaders) clocked at up to 1300 MHz. Compared to the similar Ryzen 5 3500U, the 3580 integrates a faster GPU with 9 instead of 8 CUs.

The Picasso SoCs use the Zen+ microarchitecture with slight improvements that should lead to a 3% IPS (performance per clock) improvements. Furthermore, the 12nm process allows higher clock rates at similar power consumptions.

The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. As the features of the Picasso APUs are the same compared to the Raven Ridge predecessors, we point to our Raven Ridge launch article.

As the Ryzen 5 3580U CPU specification is identical to the Ryzen 5 3500U, the processor performance should be similar. AMD states that the Picasso APUs are about 8% faster than the predecessors. Therefore, the Ryzen 5 3500U and 3580U should be ahead the Ryzen 5 2500U (2 - 3.6 GHz) and nearly on par with the Ryzen 7 2700U (2.2 - 3.8 GHz).

Power consumption

This Ryzen 5 has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 15 W, a value that laptop manufacturers - or should we say, Microsoft - are allowed to change to anything between 12 W and 35 W with clock speeds and performance changing correspondingly. Those values are not low enough to allow for fan-free designs, for better or worse.

The CPU is built with a fairly old, as of late 2022, 12 nm process for lower-than-average energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U

The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U is a mobile SoC that was announced in January 2019. It combines four Zen+ cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.1 GHz to 3.7 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 8 iGPU with 8 CUs (512 Shaders) clocked at up to 1200 MHz. Specified at 15 Watt TDP, the SoC is intended for thin mid-range laptops. In Chromebooks, AMD calles the APU AMD Ryzen 5 3500C, but the specifications (and performance) are the same.

The Picasso SoC uses the Zen+ microarchitecture with slight improvements that should lead to a 3% IPS (performance per clock) improvements. Furthermore, the 12 nm process allows for higher clocks at similar power consumption.

The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. As the features of the Picasso APUs are the same compared to the Raven Ridge predecessors, we point to our Raven Ridge launch article.

Performance

The average 3500U in our database matches Intel Core i7-1065G7 in multi-thread performance to be an OK lower mid-range option for thinner, lighter laptops and truly small mini-PCs.

Power consumption

The Ryzen 5 has a default TDP of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit), a value that laptop manufacturers are free to set to anything between 12 W and 35 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, this is a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

This little CPU is manufactured on a somewhat old, as of late 2022, 12 nm process for average energy efficiency.