Intel Core i5-8250U vs AMD A10-9620P vs AMD A12-9700P

Intel Core i5-8250U

The Intel Core i5-8250U is a power efficient quad-core SoC for notebooks and Ultrabooks based on the Kaby Lake Refresh generation and was announced in August 2017. Contrary to its direct predecessor the Core i5-7200U, which were still dual-cores, the i7-8250U is equipped with four cores but at a lower base frequency of 1.6 GHz. The Turbo Boost can go up to 3,4 GHz and therefore also offer good short term single core speeds. The GPU is now named Intel UHD Graphics 620 but otherwise identical to the Intel HD Graphics 620. The integrated memory controller supports DDR4-2400 / LPDDR3-2133 and dual channel memory.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

According to Intel, the new quad core models are up to 40% faster than their dual core predecessors. Due to the reduced TDP and the same 14nm+ process, the long term performance and throttling behavior will be interesting and depending on the laptop design. Therefore, the older 35 Watt quad-core models should be faster in applications that demand longer CPU loads.

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Intel Gen 9.5) is untouched from the 8th Gen Kaby Lake chips. With fast dual-channel memory it can reach the performance of a dedicated GeForce 920M.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby lake now also supports H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors announced in January should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors (14nm+), the same as the 7th Gen Kaby Lake processors. Intel still specifies the TDP with 15 Watts, which is typical for ULV chips. Depending on the usage scenario, the TDP can vary between 7.5 (cTDP Down) and 25 Watts.

AMD A10-9620P

The AMD A10-9620P is a mid-range APU of the Bristol Ridge series (7th generation of APUs) with 4 CPU-cores (two Excavator modules) clocked at 2.5 - 3.4 GHz. In our tests the A10-9620P even hit 3.6 GHz.

It was announced in 2017 and is based on the same silicon as Carrizo but with more and refined features. It is a ULV-chip with a TDP of 15 Watt and integrates a Radeon R5 graphics card (384 shader cores / 6 compute cores) and a dual-channel DDR4-18600 memory controller. As Carrizo its a full featured SoC that offers all I/O ports on the chip.

The A10-9620P is a bit faster than the old 15-Watt top model of Carrizo, the FX-8800P. See our Bristol Ridge article for more information on the architecture and improvements compared to Carrizo.

AMD A12-9700P

The AMD A12-9700P is a mainstream SoC from the Bristol-Ridge APU series for notebooks (7th APU generation), which was announced mid 2016. The ULV chip with a TDP of 15 Watts (can be configured to 12 Watts) has four CPU cores (two Excavator modules), a Radeon R7 GPU as well as a dual-channel DDR4-1866 memory controller. Carrizo is a full-fledged SoC and is also equipped with an integrated chipset, which provides all I/0 ports.

Architecture

Bristol Ridge is the successor of the Carrizo architecture and the design is almost identical. Thanks to optimized manufacturing processes and more aggressive Boost behavior, however, the clocks are a bit higher at the same power consumption. The memory controller now also supports DDR4-RAM, in this case up to 1866 MHz. More technical details are available in the following articles:

• AMD's Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge Architecture
• AMD: Bristol Ridge APUs announced

Performance

The performance of the A12-9700P is between the two 15-Watt processors A10-9600P and FX-9800P, and therefore roughly on par with a 15-Watt Core i3 from the Skylake or Kaby Lake series, respectively. Compared to the Intel model, the AMD chip has a small advantage in multi-thread scenarios, but is beaten when you only stress one or two cores. Due to the TDP limitation, the performance of the A12-9700P will drop significantly under sustained workloads.

This means there is sufficient performance for typical office and web applications as well as light multitasking.

Graphics Card

The integrated Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge) GPU has 512 active shader units (8 compute cores) clocked at up to 758 MHz. Thanks to the better utilization of the clock range as well as faster DDR4-RAm, the GPU can slightly beat its predecessors Radeon R7 (Carrizo) and competes with a dedicated GeForce 920MX in the best-case scenario (dual-channel memory, low CPU requirements). Many games from 2015/2016 can be played smoothly at low settings. 

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A12-9700P with 15 Watts, which is comparable to Intel's ULV models. This means the CPU is a good choice for thin notebooks starting with a 12-inch screen.