AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H vs AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H

AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H

The AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H is a processor for big (workstation) laptops based on the Rembrandt generation. The R9 6900HX integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 3+ microarchitecture. They are clocked at 3.3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.9 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (16 threads). The chip is manufactured on the modern 6 nm TSMC process. The 6950H is the professional version of the consumer R9 6900HX without overclocking features but with additional management features and the Microsoft Pluton Security processor.

The new Zen 3+ architecture is a refresh of the Zen 3 architecture and should not offer a lot of changes. The chip itself however, offers a lot of new features, like support for USB 4 (40 Gbps), PCI-E Gen 4, DDR5-4800MT/s or LPDDR5-6400MT/s, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth LE 5.2, DisplayPort 2, and AV1 decode.

A big novelty is the integrated GPU Radeon 680M, that is now based on the RDNA2 architecture and offers 12 CUs at up to 2.4 GHz. It should be the fastest iGPU of all at the time of announcement.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 6950H as of August 2023, we have tested one system featuring the 6950HS, its slightly more power-efficient brother. Based on that, expect the 6950H to be slightly faster than the Ryzen 7 5800H, Ryzen 9 4900H, Ryzen 5 PRO 7640HS and also the Core i7-11800H. In other words, this is a higher-end chip that will handle almost any task with ease, as of late 2022.

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

Power consumption

This Ryzen has a default TDP of 45 W (also known as the PL1). A high-performance cooling solution is a must for a CPU like this one here.

Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H is built with TSMC's 6 nm process leading to great, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H

The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H is a processor for big (gaming) laptops based of the Rembrandt generation. The R5 6650H integrates six of the eight cores based on the Zen 3+ microarchitecture. They are clocked at 3.3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.5 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (12 threads). The chip is manufactured on the modern 6 nm TSMC process. The Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H is the professional version of the consumer R5 6600H with additional management features and the Microsoft Pluton Security processor.

The new Zen 3+ is a refresh of the Zen 3 architecture and should not offer a lot of changes. The chip itself however, offers a lot of new features, like support for USB 4 (40 Gbps), PCI-E Gen 4, DDR5-4800 or LPDDR5-6400, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth LE 5.2, DisplayPort 2, and AV1 decode.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system powered by the Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H as of August 2023, it's safe to expect the chip to be about as fast as the 6600HS.

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

In the 6000 series, AMD finally switched to the current RDNA 2 graphics architecture for the iGPU. The 6650H only offers the slower Radeon 660M with 6 of the 12 CUs enabled and 1.9 GHz max. clock rate.

The TDP of the APU is specified at 45 Watts (default). The power efficiency should be very good, thanks to the improved 6 nm process and additional power saving features in the 6000 series.