AMD Ryzen 5 4500U vs AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS

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 9 4900HS

The AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS is a mobile SoC for big laptops based on the Renoir architecture. The 4900HS integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture. They are clocked at 3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.3 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (16 threads). The chip is manufactured in the modern 7 nm process at TSMC and partly thanks to it AMD advertises a 2x improved performance per Watt for the Renoir chips

According to our information, the Ryzen 9 4900HS is only slightly faster than the Ryzen 7 4800HS. The CPU is clocked 100 MHz (base and boost) higher, but the gains greatly depend on the cooling and TDP settings. Compared to Intel chips, the i9-9980HK top model should be comparable. That means the Ryzen 9 4900HS should be able to handle all demanding tasks and gaming. Compared to the similar named 45W-version, the Ryzen 9 4900H, the 4900HS is differs in 100 MHz boost and 300 MHz base clock.

In addition to the eight CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 7 integrated graphics card with most likely 7 CUs. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 8 MB level 3 cache can be found on the chip. See our hub page on the Renoir Processors for more information.

The TDP of the APU is specified at 35 Watt (default). That means the chip is intended for big and relatively heavy laptops. The Ryzen 7 4900HS is the 35 Watt version of the R9 4900H with a 10 Watt lower TDP.