AMD Ryzen 5 4500U vs AMD Ryzen 7 4800H

AMD Ryzen 5 4500U

The AMD Ryzen 5 4500U is a hexa-core processor of the Renoir product family designed for thinner, lighter laptops. The Ryzen features six Zen 2 cores running at 2.3 (base clock speed) to 4.0 GHz (Boost). Unfortunately, the cores are not SMT-enabled. This chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and in part thanks to this fact AMD promises an up to 2x higher performance-per-watt ratio compared to Ryzen 3000 series mobile CPUs. The costlier Ryzen 5 4600U is SMT-enabled but is otherwise identical to Ryzen 5 4500U.

Architecture

Zen 2 is a resounding success, delivering massive improvements across the board compared to older Zen+ based processors. Ryzen 5 4500U is built on TSMC's 7 nm node, just like desktop Ryzen 3000 series parts, and is based on the same Zen 2 microarchitecture. In spite of the latter fact, Ryzen 5 4500U does not have PCI-Express 4.0 support (no 7.9 GB/s NVMe SSDs here).

The APU is compatible with dual-channel DDR4-3200 or quad-channel LPDDR4-4266 memory and has 8 MB of Level 3 cache. The CPU gets soldered straight to the motherboard (FP6 socket) and is not user-replaceable. Please go to our Renoir processor family hub for more information.

Performance

Long-term Boost sustainability of a mobile CPU tends to depend heavliy on cooling system performance as well as TDP settings of a laptop. That said, the average Ryzen 5 4500U in our database outpaces Intel's Core i7-1065G7 (4 cores at up to 3.9 GHz), the fastest consumer Ice Lake-U model, by a comfortable margin while understandably being much slower than the octa-core Ryzen 7 4700U and 4800U. In fact, the Ryzen 5's real-world performance approaches that of entry-level H-class Intel Core CPUs such as the i5-9300H and i5-11300H. This is a very potent 15 W CPU delivering an undeniably impressive performance jump over the outgoing Ryzen 5 3500U.

Graphics

In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates the Radeon RX Vega 6 graphics adapter with 6 CUs (= 384 shaders) running at up to 1,500 MHz. This GPU definitely supports UHD 2160p monitors at 60 Hz, and will have no trouble HW-decoding HEVC, AVC, VP9-encoded videos. AV1 is not supported though.

In terms of gaming performance, the iGPU will handle many titles of 2020 and 2021 as long as one sticks to low settings and resolutions. F1 (2021) runs at 32 fps at 720p, Low; Outriders runs at 27 fps at 720p, Low, to give you an example or two. As the iGPU has no VRAM of its own, it is paramount that fast system RAM is used.

Power Consumption

The Ryzen 4000 series processors are fairly energy-efficient thanks to the cutting-edge 7 nm manufacturing process and the mature architecture. Ryzen 5 4500U has a default TDP of 15 W that can be changed to anywhere between 10 W and 25 W by an OEM. This makes the chip a good fit for thinner, lighter laptops (with an active cooling solution, preferably) as well as gaming consoles, mini-PCs and other gadgetry.

AMD Ryzen 7 4800H

The AMD Ryzen 7 4800H is a Renoir APU designed for larger, more powerful laptops with room for better termals. The Ryzen features eight Zen 2 cores running at 2.9 GHz (base clock speed) to 4.2 GHz (Boost). The CPU also has 8 MB of L3 cache and a Vega series integrated GPU. Thread-doubling SMT tech is enabled in this processor, allowing for up to 16 concurrent processing threads.

Architecture

Ryzen 7 4800H is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and in part thanks to this fact AMD promises an up to 2x higher performance-per-watt figure compared to Ryzen 3000 series mobile APUs. This isn't the only noteworthy change however as Zen 2 architecture is leagues ahead of the outgoing Zen+ when it comes to single-core performance. Renoir family processors feature up to 8 CPU cores compared to 4 cores of the previous generation mobile AMD CPUs.

A 4800H will work with dual-channel DDR4-3200 or quad-channel LPDDR4-4266 RAM. The important difference between desktop Ryzen 4000 and mobile Ryzen 4000 processors is that the latter do not have PCI-Express 4.0 support, meaning those blazing-fast NVMe SSDs will be limited to a throughput of 3.9 GB/s.

The Ryzen 7 gets soldered straight to the motherboard (FP6 socket) and is thus not user-replaceable. Please go to our Renoir processor family hub for more information on these CPUs.

Performance

Long-term performance sustainability of any mobile CPU tends to depend heavily on cooling system performance as well as TDP settings of a laptop. That said, the average 4800H in our database beats the Intel Core i7-10875H with ease, approaching the realm of Intel Core i9-10980HK. The Ryzen's single-core performance does not look quite as impressive though as it can trail behind Core i3-1005G1 (a dual-core Ice Lake part) in certain tests. This is not really important as most modern apps will gladly load as many cores as they can get access to.

Graphics

Ryzen 7 4800H features the Radeon RX Vega 7, a 7 CU integrated graphics adapter running at up to 1,600 MHz. The iGPU's underlying architecture is fairly old as of 2021, yet its 448 shaders will let you play many games of 2020 and 2021 as long as you stick to reasonable resolutions and presets. F1 2021 runs well at medium quality, 1080p resolution, to give you an example. A Vega 7 can be as fast as a GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q, or as slow as an 80 EU Iris Xe; this depends on the benchmark as well as on cooling system performance and TDP settings of a laptop as mentioned above. As the iGPU has no VRAM of its own, it is paramount that fast system RAM is used.

The Vega definitely supports UHD 2160p monitors at 60 Hz. This iGPU is capable of hardware decoding AVC, HEVC and VP9-encoded videos. There is no AV1 support here.

Power Consumption

Ryzen 7 4800H has a default TDP of 45 W which can be changed to anywhere between 35 W and 54 W by an OEM. The chip is a good fit for gaming laptops as well as portable workstations, with high-performance cooling solution being pretty much a necessity. AMD Ryzen 7 4800HS is a 35 W edition of Ryzen 7 4800H designed for leaner, less power-hungry systems.