AMD Ryzen 7 2700U vs AMD 3015e

AMD Ryzen 7 2700U

The AMD Ryzen 7 2700U is a mobile SoC that was announced in October 2017. It combines four Zen cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.2 - 3.8 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics card with 10 CUs (640 Shaders) clocked at up to 1300 MHz. The TDP can be configured by the laptop manufacturer between 12 to 25 Watt (15 Watt nominal) and therefore the APU is also suited for thin and light laptops. The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. More information on Raven Ridge can be found in our launch article.

The performance of the Zen CPU cores should be better than a high end Kaby-Lake-Refresh Quad-Core CPU (e.g. the Core i7-8650U) according to AMD. Therefore, the Ryzen 7 2700U is suited for all applications.

AMD 3015e

The AMD 3015e is a dual-core, quad-thread processor (APU) of the Pollock product family. Its cores run at 1.2 GHz to 2.3 GHz and it has a low 6 W TDP, making it a good option for use in passively cooled laptops and ultra-small mini-PCs of the more affordable flavour. The processor first saw the light of day in 2020; it has a built-in Vega 3 graphics adapter running at up to 600 MHz.

Architecture & Features

This chip makes use of the rather dated Zen architecture for comparatively poor performance-per-MHz values. It has 4 MB of L3 cache and several PCI-Express 3.0 lanes for connecting NVMe SSDs, discrete graphics cards and other devices; its RAM controller functions in single-channel mode and supports DDR4-1600 memory or slower. AMD 3015e is compatible with Windows 10, Windows 11, and many Linux distros as well. Please note this is not a user-replaceable CPU. It gets soldered permanently to the motherboard (FT5 socket interface).

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 3015e as of August 2023, we have some performance data for the 3050e, a chip that is just slightly superior. Based on that, the 3015e is a low-end option competing with the likes of the Intel N4500 and the Intel 4415U that is good for the most basic tasks and applications only.

Graphics

The Vega 3 runs at an unusually low clock rate of 600 MHz, or less. It will let you connect several monitors in resolutions as high as UHD 2160p, and it will happily decode AVC, HEVC and VP9-encoded videos, too. The latest AV1 video codec is not supported; such a video will have to be software-decoded, with the limited CPU horsepower putting a hard limit on video resolution that can be played back without stuttering. Expect to see a lot of dropped frames when watching a 1080p30 video.

Gaming is possible to a very limited extent with this iGPU. Even if it's CS:GO or a similarly old game that you want to play, be prepared to set the settings to Low.

Power consumption

This little AMD processor has a low default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 6 W, making it one of the better options for use in a passively cooled laptop, tablet, mini-PC.

The AMD 3015e is manufactured on a 14 nm process leading to poor, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.