AMD Ryzen 5 5500U vs AMD Ryzen 7 H 260 vs AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS
AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
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The AMD Ryzen 5 5500U is a hexa-core APU of the Lucienne product family designed for use in ultra-thin, upper mid-range laptops. The processor was unveiled in H1 2021; its six CPU cores are based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture. The cores run at 2.1 GHz (base clock speed) to 4 GHz (highest Boost frequency possible) and feature the thread-doubling SMT technology for a total of 12 threads. The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process.
One could be forgiven for thinking Ryzen 5 5500U is a renamed Ryzen 5 4500U - which is not the case. Ryzen 5 5500U is most similar to Ryzen 5 4600U, the most noteworthy difference between the two being the faster iGPU model of the former.
In the meantime, Ryzen 5 5600U got a little more lucky; it is based on the newer Zen 3 architecture and it also has higher clock speeds than what a 5500U can boast of.
Architecture
While Ryzen 5 5500U and Ryzen 7 5700U are Zen 2-based processors, the neighbouring Ryzen 5 5600U and Ryzen 7 5800U use AMD's brand-new Zen 3 architecture. This makes the former two a generation older than their names suggest. Still, Zen 2 is nothing to sneeze at, with its high performance-per-Watt and performance-per-MHz figures.
Ryzen 5 5500U supports dual-channel DDR4-3200 and quad-channel LPDDR4-4266 RAM and has 8 MB of Level 3 cache. Unlike desktop-grade Ryzen 5000-series processors, Ryzen 5 5500U is limited to PCI-Express 3.0 (not PCI-Express 4.0; no 7.9 GB/s NVMe SSDs here).
The processor gets soldered permanently on to the motherboard (FP6 socket interface) and is thus not user-replaceable.
Performance
Multi-thread performance is most comparable to the Ryzen 7 4700U and the Core i7-10850H, which is nothing to sneeze at. The Ryzen will have no trouble chewing through pretty much any workload, as of mid 2022.
Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of around 27 W, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14ALC05-82HU006NGE is among the fastest laptops built around the 5500U that we know of. It can be more than 30% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.
Graphics
The Radeon RX Vega 7 iGPU has 7 CUs at its disposal (64 x 7 = 448 unified shaders) running at up to 1,800 MHz. Its real-life performance is close to what we've seen from GeForce MX250 and Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80 EUs); Mass Effect Legendary Edition (2021) runs well at 1080p resolution, low-to-medium settings, to give you an example. As the iGPU has no VRAM of its own, it is paramount that fast system RAM is used.
The graphics adapter definitely supports UHD 2160p monitors at 60 Hz. It will have no trouble HW-decoding HEVC, AVC, VP9, MPEG-2 and other popular video codecs. There is no AV1 support; AV1-encoded videos will be software-decoded, which six Zen 2 cores will handle with ease.
Power consumption
The APU 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 and in many cases they do go for a value higher than 15 W to achieve higher performance levels. On the other hand, by going for the lowest value, it will be possible to build a passively cooled system around the Ryzen 5.
The R5 5500U is manufactured using TSMC's 7 nm process for average, as of mid 2023, average efficiency.
AMD Ryzen 7 H 260
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The AMD Ryzen 7 H 260 is a high-end notebook processor from the Hawk Point series with 8 cores and hyperthreading (SMT), which means it can process up to 16 threads simultaneously. At release, the CPU is only available in China and is technically practically identical to the older AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS or Ryzen 7 7840HS (slower AI engine).
The performance of the second-fastest model in the Hawk Point series should only be slightly behind the Ryzen 9 7940HS (+100 - 200 MHz clock, e.g. only 2% slower Turbo). As a result, the performance at 54W TDP should also be comparable to the AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX (also 8 Zen 4 cores, max 5.1 GHz, 55W, 32 MB L3) and thus clearly ahead of the old top model AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX resp. 6980HS (with lower TDP).
The chip integrates a modern RDNA 3-based graphics card (iGPU) called Radeon 780M with 12 CUs and up to 2.7GHz including AV1 video engine. Furthermore, a Xilinx FPGA-based XDNA AI accelerator is also integrated, which is now clocked higher. Hawk Point offers 2x USB 4 (40 Gbps), 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes and a dual-channel DDR5-5600 / LPDDR5x-7500 memory controller (with ECC support).
The Hawk Point series is a single chip (unlike the Dragon Range 7045HX series) and is manufactured at TSMC using the modern 4nm FinFET process.
AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS
► remove from comparisonThe Ryzen 5 8640HS is a mid-range, Hawk Point family processor that was unveiled in Q4 2023. The 8640HS isn't actually a new chip; instead, it's a rebadged Ryzen 5 7640U with a slightly higher wattage as well as higher clock speeds on the Ryzen AI NPU. The 8640HS has 6 SMT-enabled cores (12 threads) running at 3.5 GHz to 4.9 GHz. Those Zen 4 architecture cores are mated to the Radeon 760M integrated graphics adapter.
Architecture & Features
Hawk Point chips are powered by the Zen 4 architecture, much like Phoenix and Dragon Range family chips are. That's not to say there is no difference between the three. With Hawk Point, AMD is betting big on generative AI; these processors are set to deliver an up to 40% increase in generative AI performance over 7040 series APUs.
Unlike Zen 3, Zen 4 features AVX512 support and, thanks to a plethora of other improvements including larger caches/registers/buffers, is slated to deliver a double-digit IPC improvement over the former.
Elsewhere, the 8640HS has 16 MB of L3 cache and USB 4 support (therefore, Thunderbolt is supported as well). The chip is compatible with DDR5-5600 and LPDDR5x-7500 RAM which is still impressive as of late 2023.
A system powered by this Ryzen 5 will have access to twenty PCIe 4 lanes; this means a speedy enough NVMe SSD will be able to deliver speeds up to 7.8 GB/s.
Systems powered by this APU are expected to run 64-bit Windows 11, 64-bit Windows 10, or Linux. Like most laptop chips, the 8640HS is neither overclockable nor user-replaceable. It gets soldered to the motherboard for good (FP7, FP7r2, FP8 socket interfaces).
Performance
It's safe to expect the APU to be at least 15% faster than the Zen 3 Plus-powered Ryzen 5 6600U (6 cores, 12 threads, up to 4.5 GHz), as far as multi-thread performance is concerned.
Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your laptop is.
Graphics
The Radeon 760M has 8 CUs (512 shaders) running at up to 2,600 MHz. While not great for gaming (unless you are fine with resolutions such as 900p and low detail settings), the iGPU will let you use up to 4 monitors with resolutions as high as SUHD 4320p. It also HW-decodes and HW-encodes the most widely used video codecs including AV1, HEVC, AVC without breaking a sweat.
Power consumption
The 8640HS has a long-term power limit (default TDP) of 28 W that laptop makers are free to change to anything between 20 W and 30 W. Most companies will probably go for a higher value to get better performance. Either way, an active cooling solution is a must for any system powered by the chip.
Last but not the least, the 8640HS is manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process for high, as of late 2023, energy efficiency.
| Model | AMD Ryzen 5 5500U | AMD Ryzen 7 H 260 | AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Codename | Lucienne-U (Zen 2) | Hawk Point-HS (Zen 4) | Hawk Point-HS (Zen 4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | AMD Lucienne (Zen 2, Ryzen 5000) | AMD Hawk Point (Zen 4/4c) | AMD Hawk Point (Zen 4/4c) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series: Hawk Point (Zen 4/4c) Hawk Point-HS (Zen 4) |
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| Clock | 2100 - 4000 MHz | 3800 - 5100 MHz | 3500 - 4900 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L1 Cache | 384 KB | 512 KB | 384 KB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L2 Cache | 3 MB | 8 MB | 6 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L3 Cache | 8 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cores / Threads | 6 / 12 | 8 / 16 8 x 5.1 GHz AMD Zen 4 | 6 / 12 6 x 4.9 GHz AMD Zen 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TDP | 25 Watt | 45 Watt | 28 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology | 7 nm | 4 nm | 4 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| max. Temp. | 105 °C | 100 °C | 100 °C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Socket | FP6 | FP7/FP7r2/FP8 | FP7/FP7r2/FP8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Features | DDR4-3200/LPDDR4-4266 RAM, PCIe 3, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4A, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, SMT, CPB, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA, SME | DDR5-5600/LPDDR5x-7500 RAM, PCIe 4, Ryzen AI, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4A, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, AVX-512, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, SMT, CPB, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA, SME | DDR5-5600/LPDDR5x-7500 RAM, PCIe 4, Ryzen AI, AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, FMA3, MMX (+), SHA, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A, SSSE3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iGPU | AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 ( - 1800 MHz) | AMD Radeon 780M ( - 2700 MHz) | AMD Radeon 760M ( - 2600 MHz) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Architecture | x86 | x86 | x86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | www.amd.com | www.amd.com | www.amd.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Die Size | 178 mm2 | 178 mm2 |
Benchmarks
Average Benchmarks AMD Ryzen 5 5500U → 0% n=0
Average Benchmarks AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS → 0% n=0
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
