AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U vs AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U vs AMD Ryzen 3 5400U

AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U

The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U is a processor for thin and light laptops based on the Cezanne generation. The R7 5850U integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture and is the fastest U-series processor at launch. They are clocked at 1.9 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.4 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT for a total of 16 processing threads. The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process.

The PRO CPUs offer additional management and security features. The 5850U is otherwise identical to the Ryzen 7 5800U.

The new Zen 3 microarchitecture offers a significantly higher IPC (instructions per clock) compared to Zen 2. For desktop processors AMD claims 19 percent on average and in applications reviews showed around 12% gains at the same clock speed.

In addition to the eight CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics processor with 8 CUs at up to 2000 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 16 MB level 3 cache (up from 8 MB at the 4800U) can be found on the chip.

Performance

The average 5850U in our database matches the Ryzen 7 5700U, Ryzen 7 4800U, Ryzen 7 5800U, Intel Core i7-1260P and also the Core i7-1270P in multi-thread performance. In other words, this is a very capable U-class APU that creeps in front of many H-class processors without breaking a sweat, as of early 2022.

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

Power consumption

This Ryzen 7 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 15 W. That is a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs. Besides, most laptop manufacturers will go for much higher values to achieve higher performance levels. Say, 23 W or 28 W.

The Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U is built with TSMC's 7 nm process for average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U

The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U is a processor for thin and light laptops based on the Cezanne generation. The R5 5650U integrates six of the eight cores based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture and is the third fastest U-series processor at launch. The cores are clocked at 2.3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.2 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (12 threads). The chip is manufactured in the modern 7 nm process at TSMC.

The PRO CPUs offer additional management and security features. The 5650U is otherwise identical to the Ryzen 5 5600U.

The new Zen 3 microarchitecture offers a significantly higher IPC (instructions per clock) compared to Zen 2. For desktop processors AMD claims 19 percent on average and in applications reviews showed around 12% gains at the same clock speed.

With the increased clock speed and IPC improvements thanks to Zen 3, the Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U should be clearly faster than the 200 MHz lower clocked Ryzen 5 4500U.

In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 7 integrated graphics card with 7 CUs and up to 1800 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 12 MB level 3 cache (up from 8 MB at the 4800U) can be found on the chip.

The TDP of the APU is specified at 15 Watt (default) and can be configured from 10 to 25 Watt by the laptop vendor (most chips are configured higher than 15 Watt). That means the chip is intended for thin and light laptops (but with fans).

AMD Ryzen 3 5400U

The AMD Ryzen 3 5400U is a processor for thin and light laptops based on the Cezanne generation. The R3 5400U integrates four of the eight cores based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture and is the slowest U-series processor of the Cezanne generation at launch. The cores are clocked at 2.6 (guaranteed base clock) to 4 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (8 threads). The chip is manufactured in the modern 7 nm process at TSMC.

The new Zen 3 microarchitecture offers a significantly higher IPC (instructions per clock) compared to Zen 2. For desktop processors AMD claims 19 percent on average and in applications reviews showed around 12% gains at the same clock speed.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 5400U as of August 2023, we are fairly confident the chip is a little faster than the Ryzen 3 5300U and its four Zen 2 cores running at clock speeds similar to what the 5400U has. Naturally, your mileage may vary depending on how competent the cooling solution of your laptop is and how high the CPU power limits are.

In addition to the four CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 6 integrated graphics card with 6 CUs and up to 1600 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 8 MB level 3 cache (same as the old 4800U) can be found on the chip.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 3 has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 15 W. Laptop manufacturers are free to change that value to anything between 10 W and 25 W if so desired, with clock speeds and performance changing correspondingly. Those values aren't low enough to allow for passively cooled designs.

This is a 7 nm chip; it thus has higher-than-average, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.