Intel Core i7-13850HX vs AMD Ryzen 7 6800H vs AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX

Intel Core i7-13850HX

The Intel Core i7-13850HX is a fast high-end mobile processor of the Raptor Lake series. Is was announced in early 2023 and offers combined 20 cores and 28 threads. Eight fast Raptor Cove performance cores (P-cores) with Hyper-Threading and eight Gracemont efficiency cores without HyperThreading. The 13850HX supports the full enterprise set of vPro management features.

The eight P-Cores are clocked from 2.1 GHz (base) up to 5.3 GHz (single core boost, all cores up to 4.7 GHz). The twelfe E-Cores clock between 1.5 (base) and 3.8 GHz (boost).

Compared to Alder Lake, Raptor Lake offers improved P-Cores (Raptor Cove micro-architecture) with bigger Caches and more E-Cores (same Gracemont micro-architecture). Furthermore, the chip supports faster DDR5 memory (up to 5600 MHz for the 13850HX).

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 13850HX as of August 2023, we fully expect the chip to be at least a couple pecentage points faster than the i9-12900HX, a CPU featuring eight P-cores and eight E-cores that run at nearly the same clock speeds as what the 13850HX has. Just how wide the performance delta will be will depend a lot on how competent the laptop's cooling solution is, and how high the CPU power limits are.

Power consumption

The chip's "minimum assured" power consumption sits at 45 W. Its Intel-recommended "Maximum Turbo" power consumption is 157 W while the Base power consumption is supposed to be around 55 W. Most laptop makers will probably go for a value much higher than 55 W to extract as much performance out of the chip as possible.

This Core i7 series processor is built with Intel's 4th generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for average, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 7 6800H

The AMD Ryzen 7 6800H is a processor for big (gaming) laptops based on the Rembrandt generation. The R7 6800H integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 3+ microarchitecture. They are clocked at 3.2 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.7 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (16 threads). The chip is manufactured on the modern 6 nm TSMC process.

The new Zen 3+ is a refresh of the Zen 3 architecture and should not offer a lot of changes. The chip itself however, offers a lot of new features, like support for USB 4 (40 Gbps), PCI-E Gen 4, DDR5-4800MT/s or LPDDR5-6400MT/s, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth LE 5.2, DisplayPort 2, and AV1 decode.

A big novelty is the integrated GPU Radeon 680M that is now based on the RDNA2 architecture and offers 12 CUs at up to 2.2 GHz. It should be the fastest iGPU of all at the time of announcement.

Performance

The average 6800H in our database is in the same league as the Core i5-12500H and the Core i7-12650H, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. The Ryzen 9 5900HX is found close nearby as well.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 90 W, the Legion 5 Pro 16ARH7H is among the fastest systems built around the 6800H that we know of. It can be about 60% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 7 series chip has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 45 W. An active cooling solution is a must for a CPU like this.

The R7 6800H is built with TSMC's 6 nm manufacturing process for above average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX

The AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX is a processor for big (gaming) laptops based on the Rembrandt generation. The R9 6980HX integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 3+ microarchitecture. They are clocked at 3.3 (guaranteed base clock) to 5 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (16 threads). The chip is manufactured on the modern 6 nm TSMC process. The "X" in the name indicates the overclocking capabilities of the CPU.

The new Zen 3+ is a refresh of the Zen 3 architecture and should not offer a lot of changes. The chip itself however, offers a lot of new features, like support for USB 4 (40 Gbps), PCI-E Gen 4, DDR5-4800MT/s or LPDDR5-6400MT/s, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth LE 5.2, DisplayPort 2, and AV1 decode.

A big novelty is the integrated GPU Radeon 680M, that is now based on the RDNA2 architecture and offers 12 CUs at up to 2.4 GHz. It should be the fastest iGPU of all at the time of announcement.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 6980HX as of August 2023, we have tested at least one laptop featuring the 6950HS, a chip with very similar specs (8 cores, 16 threads, up to 4.9 GHz, Zen 3+). Based on that, expect the 6980HX to be up to 10% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800H, Ryzen 9 4900H, Ryzen 5 PRO 7640HS and also the Core i7-11800H. In other words, this is an impressive laptop CPU that will handle almost any task with ease, as of mid 2023.

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are, and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 9 series APU has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 45 W, with the letter X indicating that the chip is ready for some healthy bit of overclocking - which will lead to much higher power consumption, naturally.

The R9 6980HX is manufactured on a 6 nm process for higher-than-average, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.