AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000) vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870

AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 is an integrated GPU for notebooks. It is used for the Ryzen 5 APUs, which were launched in the end of 2017. The GPU is based on the Vega architecture (5th generation GCN) and has 8 CUs (= 512 of the 704 shaders) clocked at up to 1100 MHz (Ryzen 5 2500U). 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.

AMD's reference design GPU is sitting between the GeForce 940MX / Radeon Pro 450 and GeForce MX150 / Radeon Pro 555. It can handle smooth gameplay in simple titles like League of Legends (med), Dota 2 (low), Overwatch (low), CS:GO (med), and Quake Champions (high) in 720p up to 1080p according to AMD.

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 RX Vega 56

AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870

The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL or Radeon RX Vega 870 (according to Dell) is an integrated GPU in the slower Intel Kaby-Lake-G SoC. It combines a Kaby-Lake processor, a Vega graphics card and 4 GB HBM2 memory on a single package. The graphics card offers 20 CUs (1280 shaders) and is clocked from 931 - 1011 MHz.

Currently it looks like the GPU is a mixture of Polaris (Shaders?) and Vega (HBM memory controller at least). E.g. the graphics card is called Polaris 22 internally. Detailed information on the Vega architecture can be found in our dedicated article about the Raven Ridge architecture.

The performance of the Vega M GL should be between the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti according to benchmarks from Intel. Therefore, it should be well suited for 1080p and high resolution gaming.

The power consumption should be quite similar to a dedicated Vega Mobile GPU, but due to the small form factor, smaller laptops can be built with the Kaby-Lake-G SoC. The TDP is specified at 65 Watt for the whole package including GPU, CPU and HBM2 memory.