AMD Ryzen 9 9900X vs AMD Ryzen 9 H 270 vs AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
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The Ryzen 9 9900X is fast desktop processor of the Granite Ridge product family that sports 12 Zen 5 cores (24 threads) running at 4.4 GHz to 5.6 GHz, PCIe 5 support and a basic RDNA 2 architecture iGPU. The Ryzen was launched in June 2024, with sales slated to start some time in August.
Architecture and Features
Like Strix Point APUs, Granite Ridge processors make use of the new Zen 5 microarchitecture. However, there are no efficient cores here; all of 9900X's cores are full Zen 5 cores. Furthermore, Granite Ridge is a multi-die design with only the CPU cores produced using a fairly modern 4 nm TSMC process. Strix Point processors are a single-die design, from what we know.
According to AMD, Zen 5 delivers a 16% IPC improvement over Zen 4 thanks to branch prediction improvements and other refinements.
Elsewhere, the 9900X has 64 MB of L3 cache and 24 direct PCIe 5 lanes (3.93 GB/s throughput per lane) with up to 12 additional PCIe 4 lanes available depending on the motherboard. It supports DDR5 RAM as fast as fast as 5,600 MT/s (up to 8,000 MT/s if overclocked).
The 9900X is unlocked for overclocking. Naturally, the AM5 socket CPU fully supports Windows 11, 64-bit Windows 10 as well as many Linux distros.
Performance
If early July leaks are any indication, the CPU delivers multi-thread performance on par with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and the Intel Core i7-14700K. We'll update this section once we get our hands on a system powered by the 9900X.
Graphics
The Radeon 610M comes equipped with just 128 unified shaders running at up to 2,200 MHz. Its gaming performance is slated to be extremely low and only just sufficient for pre-2020 games in resolutions such as 1024x768.
Power consumption
The CPU cores are built with TSMC's N4P process for good, as of mid 2024, power efficiency. (Apple is the leader in this regard with the second-generation 3 nm process.)
The Ryzen 7's long-term TDP is 120 W. It'll probably consume at least 170 W when under heavy short-term loads. If overclocked, the power consumption figures will increase significantly.
AMD Ryzen 9 H 270
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The Ryzen 9 H 270 is a rebadged Ryzen 9 270 (or Ryzen 9 8945HS) for China, making it a fast mobile laptop processor. This is an APU of the Hawk Point family that has eight Zen 4 cores running at 4.0 GHz to 5.2 GHz. This APU was introduced at CES 2025 and all of its cores are SMT-enabled for a total of 16 processing threads.
Architecture and Features
Hawk Point family chips are powered by the Zen 4 architecture, much like Phoenix and Dragon Range family chips were. The 16 TOPS NPU present here isn't powerful enough for systems built around the 9 270 to be Copilot+ certified.
Elsewhere, the chip has 16 MB of L3 cache and support for super-fast DDR5-5600 and LPDDR5x-7500 RAM while also being compatible with USB 4 and thus with Thunderbolt. It comes with 20 PCIe 4 lanes, giving fast NVMe SSD up to 7.8 GB/s of throughput.
Please note that this processor is not overclockable and neither is it user-replaceable. It gets soldered to the motherboard for good instead (FP8 socket interface).
Performance
Its CPU performance is slated to be identical to the old Ryzen 9 8945HS and R9 7940HS.
Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.
Graphics
The Radeon 780M has 12 CUs (768 shaders) purring away at up to 2,800 MHz. The Radeon will let you use up to 4 monitors with resolutions as high as SUHD 4320p and it will also HW-decode and HW-encode the most widely used video codecs (such as AV1, HEVC and AVC) without breaking a sweat. As for gaming, most 2024 games run fine at 1080p with settings set to Low on this graphics adapter.
Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are, how competent the cooling solution of the system is, how fast the RAM of the system is (there is no dedicated VRAM here).
Power consumption
This Ryzen 9 series chip has a long-term power limit (default TDP) of 35 W to 54 W, giving laptop makers a choice between longer battery life and higher performance. Either way, an active cooling solution is a must for a system powered by this chip.
The R9 H 270 is built with TSMC's 4 nm process for a reasonably good, as of early 2025, energy efficiency.
AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS
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The Ryzen 5 8640HS is a mid-range, Hawk Point family processor that was unveiled in Q4 2023. The 8640HS isn't actually a new chip; instead, it's a rebadged Ryzen 5 7640U with a slightly higher wattage as well as higher clock speeds on the Ryzen AI NPU. The 8640HS has 6 SMT-enabled cores (12 threads) running at 3.5 GHz to 4.9 GHz. Those Zen 4 architecture cores are mated to the Radeon 760M integrated graphics adapter.
Architecture & Features
Hawk Point chips are powered by the Zen 4 architecture, much like Phoenix and Dragon Range family chips are. That's not to say there is no difference between the three. With Hawk Point, AMD is betting big on generative AI; these processors are set to deliver an up to 40% increase in generative AI performance over 7040 series APUs.
Unlike Zen 3, Zen 4 features AVX512 support and, thanks to a plethora of other improvements including larger caches/registers/buffers, is slated to deliver a double-digit IPC improvement over the former.
Elsewhere, the 8640HS has 16 MB of L3 cache and USB 4 support (therefore, Thunderbolt is supported as well). The chip is compatible with DDR5-5600 and LPDDR5x-7500 RAM which is still impressive as of late 2023.
A system powered by this Ryzen 5 will have access to twenty PCIe 4 lanes; this means a speedy enough NVMe SSD will be able to deliver speeds up to 7.8 GB/s.
Systems powered by this APU are expected to run 64-bit Windows 11, 64-bit Windows 10, or Linux. Like most laptop chips, the 8640HS is neither overclockable nor user-replaceable. It gets soldered to the motherboard for good (FP7, FP7r2, FP8 socket interfaces).
Performance
It's safe to expect the APU to be at least 15% faster than the Zen 3 Plus-powered Ryzen 5 6600U (6 cores, 12 threads, up to 4.5 GHz), as far as multi-thread performance is concerned.
Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your laptop is.
Graphics
The Radeon 760M has 8 CUs (512 shaders) running at up to 2,600 MHz. While not great for gaming (unless you are fine with resolutions such as 900p and low detail settings), the iGPU will let you use up to 4 monitors with resolutions as high as SUHD 4320p. It also HW-decodes and HW-encodes the most widely used video codecs including AV1, HEVC, AVC without breaking a sweat.
Power consumption
The 8640HS has a long-term power limit (default TDP) of 28 W that laptop makers are free to change to anything between 20 W and 30 W. Most companies will probably go for a higher value to get better performance. Either way, an active cooling solution is a must for any system powered by the chip.
Last but not the least, the 8640HS is manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process for high, as of late 2023, energy efficiency.
| Model | AMD Ryzen 9 9900X | AMD Ryzen 9 H 270 | AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Codename | Granite Ridge | Hawk Point-HS (Zen 4) | Hawk Point-HS (Zen 4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | AMD Granite Ridge (Zen 5, AM5) | AMD Hawk Point (Zen 4/4c) | AMD Hawk Point (Zen 4/4c) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series: Hawk Point (Zen 4/4c) Hawk Point-HS (Zen 4) |
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| Clock | 4400 - 5600 MHz | 4000 - 5200 MHz | 3500 - 4900 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L1 Cache | 768 KB | 512 KB | 384 KB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L2 Cache | 12 MB | 8 MB | 6 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L3 Cache | 64 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cores / Threads | 12 / 24 12 x 5.6 GHz AMD Zen 5 | 8 / 16 8 x 5.2 GHz AMD Zen 4 | 6 / 12 6 x 4.9 GHz AMD Zen 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TDP | 120 Watt | 45 Watt | 28 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology | 4 nm & 6 nm | 4 nm | 4 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| max. Temp. | 95 °C | 100 °C | 100 °C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Socket | AM5 | FP8 | FP7/FP7r2/FP8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Features | DDR5-5600 RAM, PCIe 5 + PCIe 4, SMT, AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, FMA3, MMX (+), SHA, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A | DDR5-5600/LPDDR5x-7500 RAM, PCIe 4, USB 4, Ryzen AI (16 TOPS), MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4A, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, AVX-512, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, SMT, CPB, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA, SME | DDR5-5600/LPDDR5x-7500 RAM, PCIe 4, Ryzen AI, AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, FMA3, MMX (+), SHA, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A, SSSE3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iGPU | AMD Radeon 610M ( - 2200 MHz) | AMD Radeon 780M ( - 2800 MHz) | AMD Radeon 760M ( - 2600 MHz) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Architecture | x86 | x86 | x86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | www.amd.com | www.amd.com | www.amd.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Die Size | 178 mm2 | 178 mm2 |
Benchmarks
Average Benchmarks AMD Ryzen 9 9900X → 100% n=2
Average Benchmarks AMD Ryzen 9 H 270 → 65% n=2
Average Benchmarks AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS → 60% n=2
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
