AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge) vs Intel HD Graphics 620 vs AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge)

AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)

The AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge) is an integrated graphics card for a number of mid-range mobile Bristol-Ridge-based APUs, such as those from the A10 series. It features 384 shader cores clocked at 720 MHz (15 Watt APUs) or 800 MHz (35 Watt APUs). Depending on the configurable TDP (set per laptop model) and the used main memory, the performance can also differ.

Architecture and Features

The Radeon R5 utilizes the third generation GCN architecture (sometimes referred to as GCN 1.2) similar to the desktop Tonga chip. As a result, it supports DirectX 12 (FL 12_0) with advanced color compression that leads to a 5-7% improvement in games. Furthermore, its shaders can be used with Mantle, OpenGL and OpenCL. HSA 1.0 is supported for running code on both CPU and GPU cores simultaneously. The improved video decoder UVD 6 (Unified Video Decoder) is now able to decode HVEC / H.265 up to 4K in hardware. Furthermore, the VCE (Video Codec Engine) has been improved for faster transcoding of H.264. More information on architecture and features of the Bristol Ridge architecture can be found in our launch article.

Performance

Gaming performance of the integrated R5 GPU depends on the configured TDP, model and main memory of the system. A typical ULV version with a TDP of 15 Watt paired with fast dual channel main memory is nearly on a level with the dedicated GeForce 920M or Radeon R7 M260 (see gaming benchmarks below). Therefore, demanding games of 2015 and 2016 may only run in the lowest detail settings fluently (and some not at all).

Power Consumption

Depending on the configured TDP, the still in 28 nm produced chip may be used in thin-and-light (12 - 20 Watt range) to standard-sized laptops (35 Watt TDP).

Intel HD Graphics 620

The Intel HD Graphics 620 (GT2) is an integrated graphics unit, which can be found in various ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors of the Kaby Lake generation. This "GT2" version of the Kaby Lake GPU is clocked at up to 1050 MHz (depending on the CPU model). Due to its lack of dedicated graphics memory or eDRAM cache, the HD 620 has to access the main memory (2x 64bit DDR3/DDR4).

Performance

The exact performance of the HD Graphics 620 depends on various factors like L3 cache size, memory configuration (DDR3/DDR4) and maximum clock rate of the specific model but is very similar to the old HD Graphics 520 GPU. That means only some less demanding recent games like Farming Simulator 17 run fluently in low detail settings (see below for gaming benchmarks). Compared to dedicated graphics cards, the HD620 should be positioned between a GeForce 910M and 920M from Nvidia. For games, the drivers however are not that fast updated and tested as with GeForce graphics cards.

Features

The revised video engine now supports H.265/HEVC Main10 profile in hardware with 10 bit colors. Furthermore, Googles VP9 codec can also be hardware decoded. The first models do not support HDCP 2.2 and therefore Netflix 4K. This was added with the new models in 2017 and beginning of May 2017 also the older CPU models like the i3-7100U are now shipped with a new S-Spec Code that supports HDCP 2.2. HDMI 2.0 however is still only supported with an external converter chip (LSPCon).

Power Consumption

The HD Graphics 620 can be found in mobile processors specified at 15 W TDP and is therefore suited for compact laptops and ultrabooks.

AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge)

The AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge) is an integrated graphics card for the fastest mobile AMD Carrizo APUs. At its launch, the R7 is available on the top model FX9830P with 512 GCN shader units and a core clock of 900 MHz. The technical specifications do not differ from the AMD Radeon R7 in Carrizo, but the clock is up to 100 MHz higher. Depending on the cooling and the configurable TDP (12-45 Watts), the performance can differ quite a lot. The performance also depends on the memory (best performance with dual-channel DDR4).

Architecture and Features

According to AMD, the Radeon R7 consists of eight cores based on the third GCN generation (often called GCN 1.2 or 2.0 in the press). It is therefore very similar to the Tonga desktop chip and supports DirectX 12 (FL 12_0). Furthermore, its shaders can be used with Mantle, OpenGL and OpenCL. HSA 1.0 is supported for running code on both CPU and GPU cores simultaneously.

Compared to the Kaveri generation (Kaveri R7 with GCN 1.1), the new color compression in particular results in better memory utilization and improves the gaming performance by 5-7 %. 

The improved video decoder of Carrizo/Bristol Ridge now includes UVD 6 (Unified Video Decoder), which can decode HVEC / H.265 up to 4K in hardware. Furthermore, the VCE (Video Codec Engine) has been improved for faster transcoding of H.264. More information on architecture and features of the Bristol Ridge architecture can be found in our launch article.

Performance

Depending on the configurable TDP of the Bristol Ridge chips between 12 up to 45 Watts, there can be significant differences in games. Overall, the results are slightly better compared to the Carrizo Radeon R7 due to the higher clocks for comparable model. You can still use the Kaveri R7 benchmarks to check the gaming performance.

Power Consumption

Depending on the configurable TDP (cTDP), the 28 nm chip is specified at 12-45 Watts. It can therefore be used for thin and light notebooks as well as medium-sized devices or All-in-Ones (AiO).