AMD Radeon R5 (Carrizo) vs AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo) vs AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)

AMD Radeon R5 (Carrizo)

The AMD Radeon R5 (Carrizo) is an integrated graphics card for a number of low-end mobile Carrizo-based APUs, such as those from the A6 series. It was first introduced in the AMD A6-8500P with 4 active compute cores for a total of 256 shader cores. The maximum GPU clock speed in the A6-8500P is 800 MHz. Performance depends on the main memory configuration and TDP setting, which can range anywhere from 12 to 35 Watt.

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 Carrizo chips can be found in our launch article.

Performance

Gaming performance of the integrated R5 GPU depends on the configured TDP (12 - 35 Watt) of the APU. In most laptops we should see a TDP of 15 Watt, which is similar to the mainstream Intel CPUs. Therefore, the performance of the R5 should be similar to the Intel HD Graphics 5500. In some games, the slower AMD CPU may bottleneck performance in direct comparisons to Intel hardware.

Power Consumption

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

AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo)

The AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo) is an integrated graphics card in the fastest Carrizo APUs. At launch in mid 2015 the R7 was used in the AMD FX-8800P SoC with 512 GCN shaders and 800 MHz clock rate (Boost?). Depending on the configured TDP (ranging from 12 to 35 Watt) and used main memory (up to DDR3-2133 in dual channel mode supported) the performance can differ greatly. 

Architecture and Features

The Radeon R7 is using the third generation GCN architecture (sometimes also called GCN 1.2) similar to the desktop Tonga chip. Therefore, it offers DirectX 12 (FL 12_0) hardware support and advanced color compression that leads to 5-7% improvement in games. Furthermore, the shaders can be used with Mantle, OpenGL and OpenCL. HSA 1.0 is supported to easily run code on CPU and GPU cores together.

The improved video decoder UVD 6 (Unified Video Decoder) is now able to decode HVEC / H.265 in up 4K in hardware. Furthermore, the VCE (Video Codec Engine) was improved for faster transcodes of H.264.

More information on architecture and features of the Carrizo chips can be found in our launch article.

Performance

The gaming performance of the integrated R7 depends on the configured TDP (12 - 35 Watt) of the chip. AMD e.g. published 3DMark 11 scores of a 15 and 35 Watt version, where the 35 Watt version was 38% faster than the 15 Watt version. Demanding games like Evolve or Far Cry 4 will struggle to achieve fluent frame rates. However, less demanding games like Call of Duty: AW may even run in high detail settings (see the slightly slower Kaveri R7 GPU for benchmarks).

Power Consumption

Depending on the configured TDP the chip may be used in thin and light machines (12 - 20 Watt range) or normal sized laptops (35 Watt TDP).

AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)

The AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo) is an integrated graphics card in the low-end Carrizo APUs. At launch in mid 2015 the R6 was used in the AMD A10-8700P and A8-8600P with 384 GCN shaders and 720 resp. 800 MHz clock rate (Boost?). Depending on the configured TDP (ranging from 12 to 35 Watt) and used main memory (up to DDR3-2133 in dual channel mode supported) the performance can differ greatly. 

Architecture and Features

The Radeon R6 is using the third generation GCN architecture (sometimes also called GCN 1.2) similar to the desktop Tonga chip. Therefore, it offers DirectX 12 (FL 12_0) hardware support and advanced color compression that leads to 5-7% improvement in games. Furthermore, the shaders can be used with Mantle, OpenGL and OpenCL. HSA 1.0 is supported to easily run code on CPU and GPU cores together.

The improved video decoder UVD 6 (Unified Video Decoder) is now able to decode HVEC / H.265 in up 4K in hardware. Furthermore, the VCE (Video Codec Engine) was improved for faster transcodes of H.264.

More information on architecture and features of the Carrizo chips can be found in our launch article.

Performance

The gaming performance of the integrated R6 depends on the configured TDP (12 - 35 Watt) of the chip. The difference from a 15 Watt A8 to a 35 Watt A10 e.g. can be 49% (3DMark 11, see scores below). Demanding games like Evolve or Far Cry 4 will struggle to achieve fluent frame rates. However, less demanding games like Counter-Strike: GO may even run in high detail settings (see the Kaveri R7 GPU for benchmarks).

Power Consumption

Depending on the configured TDP the chip may be used in thin and light machines (12 - 20 Watt range) or normal sized laptops (35 Watt TDP).