AMD Ryzen 5 4600HS vs Intel Core i5-10500H

AMD Ryzen 5 4600HS

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600HS is a mobile SoC for big laptops based on the Renoir architecture. The 4600HS integrates six of the eight cores based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture. They are clocked at 3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (12 threads). The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and partly thanks to it AMD advertises a 2x improved performance per Watt for the Renoir chips. Compared to the similar named Ryzen 5 4600H, the 4600HS is the power efficient version with a TDP of 35 Watt (10 Watt less).

Due to the two deactivated cores and the slower Turbo clock speed, the Ryzen 5 4600HS should be significantly slower than the Ryzen 7 4800HS. The old top model Ryzen 7 3750H is still clearly slower due to the four Zen+ cores. Compared to the competition, the Intel Core i7-8850H (6-core Coffee Lake 2.6 - 4.3 GHz) should offer a similar performance.

In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 6 integrated graphics card with 6 CUs and up to 1500 MHz. 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). Although the TDP is 10 Watt lower than the Ryzen 5 4600H, the chip is still intended for big and relatively heavy laptops. 

Intel Core i5-10500H

The Intel Core i5-10500H is a fast processor for laptops with six cores based on the Comet Lake-H series (4th generation of Skylake architecture). The processor clocks at between 2.5 and 4.5 GHz and can execute up to twelve threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading. According to Intel, the CPU is manufactured on a 14nm (14nm++) process. 

The Comet Lake architecture is similar to Coffee Lake and offers the same features and is produced on the same 14nm process. Other than the improved clock rates, the memory controller now also supports faster DDR4-2933 RAM. More information on Comet Lake and all the models and articles on it can be found here.

Performance

The average 10500H in our database matches the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U, a noticeably less power-hungry processor, in multi-thread performance making the i5 a somewhat underwhelming option as far as H-class processors go.

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

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 iGPU is supposed to offer a similar performance as the UHD630 in the Core i5-9300H. As a  low-end solution it will probably only run current games smoothly at reduced details - if at all.

Power consumption

This Core i5 series chip has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 45 W. Laptop makers are free to reduce that value slightly, 35 W being the minimum Intel-recommended value, resulting in lower clock speed and lower performance. Either way, an active cooling solution will still be needed to dissipate the heat.

The i5-10500H is built with one of the old 14 nm Intel processes for low, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.