AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge) vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 3 vs AMD Radeon R2 (Stoney 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).

AMD Radeon RX Vega 3

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 3 is an integrated GPU for laptops. It is used for the entry level Ryzen 3 APUs, which were launched in early 2018. The GPU is based on the Vega architecture (5th generation GCN) and has 3 CUs (= 192 of the 704 shaders) clocked at up to 1200 MHz (depending on the model). The performance depends on the configured TDP (12-25 W at launch), the clocks, the cooling, and the memory configuration). The GPU should benefit from fast dual-channel DDR4-2400 RAM (contrary to DDR4-2133 single-channel, which is also possible).

The Vega architecture offers some improvements over the Polaris generation and now supports DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_1. More information is available in our dedicated article about the Raven Ridge architecture.

Currently we estimate a performance around a GeForce 910M. Therefore, demanding current games may not be playable fluently.

Thanks to the 14nm process and clever power-saving features, the power consumption is comparatively low (according to AMD), so the graphics card can also be used for slim and light notebooks.

AMD Radeon R2 (Stoney Ridge)

The AMD Radeon R2 (Stoney Ridge) is an integrated graphics adapter of the weakest mobile dual-core Stoney Ridge APUs. At its launch, it is being used in the AMD E2-9010 and probably has 128 shaders running at up to 600 MHz. The performance can vary heavily depending on the configured TDP and the system memory.

Architecture and Features

The Radeon R4 is equipped with two cores from the third GCN generation (often called GCN 1.2 or 2.0 by the press). This means it is very similar to the Tonga desktop chip and supports DirectX 12 (FL 12_0), but the graphics cores can also be accessed via Mantle, OpenGL, and OpenCL. The GPU supports the HSA 1.0 standard as well and can therefore use the connection with the CPU cores very efficiently. The technical specifications are identical to the Carrizo predecessor. 

The video unit includes the UVD 6 (Unified Video Decoder), which can decode HEVC/H.265 and 4K with support from the hardware. More details are available in our dedicated Stoney Ridge article. 

Power Consumption

Depending on the model and configured TDP (cTDP), the 28 nm chip is specified with 10 up to 15 Watts. This means it can also be used for thin and light notebooks.