AMD Ryzen 5 4500U vs Intel Core i5-1034G1 vs Intel Core i5-1035G4

AMD Ryzen 5 4500U

The AMD Ryzen 5 4500U is an upper mid-range, hexa-core processor of the Renoir product family. The APU was unveiled in H1 2020; it is designed for use in thinner, lighter laptops. Its six Zen 2 CPU cores run at 2.3 GHz (base clock speed) to 4.0 GHz (highest Boost frequency possible). Ryzen 5 4500U features the Vega 6 iGPU.

The sole advantage of Ryzen 5 4600U over Ryzen 5 4500U is the thread-doubling SMT technology support. The former has SMT while the latter does not.

Architecture

Zen 2 is a resounding success, delivering massive improvements over outgoing Zen Plus-based processors. Ryzen 5 4500U is manufactured on the cutting-edge 7 nm TSMC process; it is compatible with dual-channel DDR4-3200 or quad-channel LPDDR4-4266 memory. This processor has 8 MB of Level 3 cache.

While the APU uses Zen 2 cores just like the desktop-grade Ryzen 3000-series processors do, Ryzen 7 3800XT included, it does does not have PCI-Express 4.0 support. It does feature several PCI-Express 3.0 lanes for connecting discrete graphics cards, SSDs and other devices. Four PCI-Express 3.0 lanes allow for read/write rates of up to 3.9 GB/s provided a suitably fast NVMe SSD is used.

Ryzen 5 4500U gets soldered permanently on to the motherboard (FP6 socket interface) and is anything but user-replaceable.

Performance

The average Ryzen 5 4500U in our database nearly matches the Core i5-11300H, the Core i5-11320H and also the AMD Ryzen 3 5300U as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned - thus delivering an undeniably impressive performance jump over the outgoing Ryzen 5 3500U.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term power limit of 38 W, the Xiaomi RedmiBook 16 R5 is among the fastest systems powered by the R5 4500U that we know of. It can be about 20% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system built around the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Graphics

Just like its name suggests, the Radeon RX Vega 6 graphics adapter has 6 Compute Units (6 x 64 = 384 unified shaders). In the case of Ryzen 5 4500U, this graphics adapter runs at up to 1,500 MHz. The iGPU definitely supports UHD 2160p monitors at 60 Hz; it will have no trouble HW-decoding HEVC, AVC, VP9, MPEG-2 and other widespread video codecs. AV1 is not supported though; such a video will have to be software-decoded for much lower energy efficiency.

Vega 6 will let you play many titles of 2020 and 2021 as long as you stick to low settings and low resolutions. F1 2021 (720p, Low) runs at 32 fps; Outriders (720p, Low) runs at 27 fps, 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

This Ryzen chip is very energy efficient, as of mid 2022, thanks to the cutting-edge 7 nm TSMC manufacturing process and the mature Zen 2 architecture.

The Ryzen 5 4500U has a default TDP (also known as the long-term Power Limit) of 15 W that can be changed to anything between 10 W and 25 W by laptop makers if required, a right they use more often than not. Clock speeds and performance will change accordingly as a result. By going for the lowest value, it will be possible to use the APU as the heart of a passively cooled tablet, laptop, mini-PC.

Intel Core i5-1034G1

The Intel Core i5-1034G1 is a power efficient quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Ice -Lake-U generation that was announced in Mai 2019 (Computex). It integrates four Sunnycove processor cores (8 threads thanks to HyperThreading) clocked at 0.8 (base) - 3.6 (single core Turbo) GHz. 2 cores can reach 3.6 GHz and all four 3.3 GHz using Turbo Boost. According to Intel the Sunnycove cores achieve 18% more IPCs (Instructions per Clock)  and therefore the CPU performance should be similar to the higher clocked Whiskey-Lake predecessors (e.g. Core i5-8365U with up to 4.1 GHz).

The biggest improvement for Ice-Lake is the integrated Gen 11 graphics card called UHD Graphics G1. The Core i5-1034G1 integrates the smallest GPU, the UHD Graphics that features 32 of the 64 CUs and clocks at 300 - 1050? MHz. The faster variants include Iris Plus G4 and G7.

Other improvements for Ice Lake are the AI hardware acceleration and the partial integration of Thunderbolt and Wifi 6 in the chip. The integrated DDR4 memory controller supports modules with up to 3200 MHz (and LPDDDR4 3733).

The Core i5-1034G1 is produced in the improved 10nm+ process at Intel (2nd generation) that should offer a comparable performance to the 7nm process at TSMC. The TDP is specified at 15 Watts and therefore the CPU can be used in thin and light laptops (but usually with a fan). Intel offers a configurable TDP of 7.5 - 25 Watts for the partners resulting in significant performance differences (due to longer periods of Turbo Boost).

Intel Core i5-1035G4

The Intel Core i5-1035G4 is a low-power, Ice Lake family processor (SoC) featuring 4 cores, 8 threads, 6 MB of L3 cache and the Iris Plus G4 (48 EUs) iGPU. It saw the light of day in H2 2019. The chip is designed for use in highly portable laptops; its CPU cores run at 1.1 GHz to 3.7 GHz, with only 3.3 GHz achievable if all the cores are loaded.

Unlike the costlier Core i5-1035G7, the 1035G4 has the 48 EU Intel iGPU at its disposal as opposed to the more powerful Iris Plus G7 (64 EUs); CPU cores have a slightly lower base clock speed in the case of the 1035G4, too.

Architecture & Features

Ice Lake family chips are powered by Sunny Cove CPU cores.The latter aim to do what Palm Cove cores (that we never really got a chance to get a taste of) were expected to do, delivering a double-digit IPC uplift over the venerable Skylake architecture thanks to a range of small improvements across the board including scheduler improvements, larger caches and buffers, and support for new instruction sets.

Thunderbolt 3 support is built right into the Core i5 (meaning the latter has several PCIe 3 lanes exclusive to Thunderbolt devices, reducing the number of additional components required for Thunderbolt to work) and so is CNVi Wi-Fi 6 support (making it easier for Intel to sell its proprietary WLAN cards to laptop makers). The Core i5-1035G4 also has the DL Boost and GNA features for applications centered around machine learning.

The 4 GT/s bus is indicative of a consumer-grade chip, since CPUs for gaming laptops and portable workstations usually employ the faster 8 GT/s bus. RAM support is nothing to sneeze at, at up to DDR4-3200 or LPDDR4-3733. NVMe SSDs are supported, with data transfer rates limited to 3.9 GB/s (this is what four PCIe 3 lanes are good for). SATA drives and even eMMC chips are also natively supported here.

This is not a user-replaceable CPU, as it gets permanently soldered to the motherboard (BGA1526 socket interface).

OS support is limited to 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11, as well as many Linux distros.

Performance

The average 1035G4 in our database is very close to the Ryzen 5 2500U and the Core i5-10310U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This makes it a mid-range chip, as of late 2021. It can even be used for a bit of gaming if mated to a decent graphics card.

The Acer Spin 3 SP314-54N-56S5 is one of the fastest laptops with this chip that we have tested. Thanks to the power limit 1 of 16.5 W, the Acer can be roughly 30% faster than the slowest system with the 1035G4 we know of, depending on the circumstances.

Graphics

The Iris Plus G4 (48 EUs) runs at up to 1.05 GHz. This is a rather decent iGPU that can be as fast as Nvidia's GeForce MX110 or even MX130, depending on the circumstances. It will handle many games at 1080p or 720p provided one is content with low or medium quality settings, respectively.

This DX12-compatible graphics adapter will drive up to 3 monitors with resolutions as high as 5120 x 3200. There is no support for ray tracing here and no hardware support for the latest AV1 codec; the usual HEVC, AVC and VP9 codecs are supported, thankfully.

Power consumption

This 10th generation Intel Core i5 processor has a default TDP of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit). Laptop makers are allowed to change that value to anything between 12 W and 25 W, with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly. This means the CPU is too power-hungry to be used as the base of a passively cooled laptop, tablet, mini-PC.

The Core i5-1035G4 is manufactured on Intel's 2nd generation 10 nm process (not "10 nm SuperFin" or "Intel 7") for average energy efficiency, as of early 2023.