The AMD Ryzen 7 5700U is an APU of the Lucienne product family designed for leaner laptops. The Ryzen features eight Zen 2 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz (base clock speed) to 4.3 GHz (Boost) as well as a Vega 8 iGPU. Thread-doubling SMT tech is enabled in this CPU for up to 16 concurrent processing threads.
Architecture
In spite of what its name may suggest, Ryzen 7 5700U is not a Zen 3 part, meaning this is a Ryzen 4000 series mobile processor in disguise. Nevertheless, the CPU is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and its performance as well as energy efficiency figures are very strong compared to what Intel currently has to offer in this segment.
The Ryzen 7 features 8 MB of Level 3 cache. Its built-in memory controller is designed to work with dual-channel DDR4-3200 or quad-channel LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Unlike the desktop Ryzen 5000 processors, Ryzen 7 5700U does not support PCI-Express 4.0, meaning those speedy NVMe SSDs will be limited to read/write rates of 3.9 GB/s.
The Ryzen gets soldered directly to the motherboard (FP6 socket) and is thus not user-replaceable.
Performance
Long-term performance sustainability of a mobile CPU tends to depend heavily on cooling system performance as well as TDP settings of a laptop. That said, Ryzen 7 5700U is one of the fastest U-class CPUs of 2021. As such, a 5700U will outshine any U-class Intel CPU, beating certain H-class Intel processors such as the Intel Core i5-11400H in the process. AMD Zen 2 is a fairly mature architecture, and eight Zen 2 cores are a force to be reckoned with, even at a 15 W TDP.
Graphics
In addition to its eight CPU cores, Ryzen 7 5700U features the Radeon RX Vega series graphics adapter with 8 CUs (= 512 shaders) running at up to 1,900 MHz. This iGPU trails behind the 96 EU Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 in synthetic benchmarks, yet its real-world performance is good enough for many games released in 2020 and 2021 at reasonable resolutions (up to Full HD 1080p) and low to medium quality. As the Vega 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, and will gladly HW-decode AVC, HEVC and VP9-encoded videos. There is no AV1 support here though.
Power Consumption
This Ryzen is manufactured on the 7 nm TSMC process for a very decent energy efficiency. Ryzen 7 5700U has a default TDP of 15 W that can be changed to anywhere between 10 W and 25 W by and OEM. The chip won't look out of place in super-slim laptops of all sizes (with an active cooling solution, if possible) as well as mini-PCs and portable gaming consoles and other fancy things.
The AMD Ryzen 7 4980U is a Renoir family processor designed for certain Microsoft Surface systems. 4980U has eight Zen 2 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz (base clock speed) to 4.4 GHz (Boost) with thread-doubling SMT tech enabled for a total of 16 threads. The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and partly thanks to that AMD promises a 2x improvement in performance-per-Watt over Ryzen 3000 series mobile CPUs.
Architecture
The Zen 2 microarchitecture has brought a sizeable per-thread performance boost compared to the outgoing Zen+ parts. Renoir product family is also the first to introduce 8-core ULV processors to laptop market, keeping power consumption within reasonable limits. This AMD processor family is very impressive from most perspectives. One of the disatvantages to keep in mind is the lack of PCI-Express 4 support, meaning these blazing-fast NVMe SSDs will be limited to 3.9 GB/s tops.
Ryzen 7 4980U is designed to work with quad-channel LPDDR4 memory at up to 4,267 MHz. 8 MB of Level 3 are present in this chip. The Ryzen 7 gets soldered straight to the motherboard (FP6 socket) and is thus not user-replaceable. Please go to our Renoir hub page for more information on the product family.
Performance
4980U is the fastest ULV Ryzen 4000 series model. As such, its clock speeds are 200 MHz higher (both the base and Boost) compared to the older Ryzen 7 4800U. We fully expect the new Zen 3 based Ryzen 7 5800U to be even faster thanks to the new architecture. In the meantime, 4980U proves to be nearly as fast as an i7-10870H in multi-core benchmarks while bending the knee to older Intel CPUs, such as the i5-8300H, when under single-thread load.
Graphics
In addition to its eight CPU cores, the Ryzen 7 also features the Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics adapter with 8 CUs (= 512 shaders) at up to 1,950 MHz. This iGPU is compatible with FreeSync and DirectX 12 and is able to HW-decode AVC, HEVC, VP9-encoded videos (no AV1 support here). Vega 8 is capable of outputting UHD 2160p60 video signal to several monitors and, similar to Intel's Iris Xe (80 EUs), is good enough for a bit of light gaming on the go, provided one is content with sub-1080p resolutions and low/medium quailty presets.
Power Consumption
The APU has a 15 W TDP that OEMs are free to change to anywhere between 10 W to 25 W. 4980U is a good fit for ultraportable laptops but is unlikely to play well with passive cooling solutions.
The AMD Ryzen 5 4680U is a semi-custom APU of the Renoir family designed for Microsoft devices. The 4680U integrates six CPU cores based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture clocked at 2.2 GHz (base) to 4 GHz (Boost) with SMT support for a total 12 threads. The two advantages a 4680U has over the older Ryzen 5 4600U are its higher base clock speed and a faster iGPU.
Architecture
The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process and in part thanks to this fact, AMD advertises a 2x performance per watt improvement over the 12 nm Ryzen 3000 mobile processors. The built-in dual-channel memory controller supports LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 8 MB of L3 cache can be found on the chip.
Just like the other mobile Ryzen 4000 CPUs, a 4680U supports PCI-Express 3.0. Please go to our Renoir processor hub page for additional information on the product family.
Performance
The Ryzen 5 will lag behind the Ryzen 7 4980U in multi-threaded workloads because of the lower core count, 6 vs 8, while being way ahead of the Intel Core i7-1065G7 (4 cores, up to 3.9 GHz), the fastest 15 watt Intel Ice Lake CPU. The single core performance does not differ much between the 4680U and 1065G7, as the max Boost clock speeds are nearly identical. Therefore, Ryzen 5 4680U is a very capable 15 watt CPU and clearly faster than the older Ryzen 7 3700U.
Graphics
In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates a DX 12 compatible Radeon RX Vega 7 graphics adapter with 7 CUs (448 unified shaders) at up to 1,500 MHz. The Vega iGPU will have no trouble HW-decoding AVC, HEVC and VP9 videos, but the newer AV1 codec will only be decoded via software. In terms of gaming, we are looking at an MX150-level performance. Pretty much all games released in 2020 can be played on low to medium settings in 720p on this graphics adapter.
Power Consumption
While the TDP of the APU is specified at 15 watts, it consumed roughly 23 watts under prolonged load in our testing. The chip is a good fit for the thinner, lighter laptops provided an active cooling system is present.