AMD releases first Ryzen processors with Vega GPU for laptops
AMD will release its first mobile processors based on the Zen architecture on Thursday. The new socs have four cores and a GPU based on the Vega architecture. The new hardware can initially be found in laptops from HP, Acer and Lenovo.
The Ryzen 5 2500U and Ryzen 7 2700U, have four cores, with smt. The integrated GPU is based on the architecture of the Vega video cards, but logically gets fewer compute units. The Ryzen 5 processor has to make do with eight compute units, while the Ryzen 7 has ten with a slightly higher clock speed.
| cores/threads | 4/8 | 4/8 |
| Clock frequency | 2.0GHz | 2.2GHz |
| Turbo Frequency | 3.6GHz | 3.8GHz |
| GPU | 8CU (512 stream processors) | 10CU (640 stream processors) |
| gpu clock | Up to 1100MHz | Up to 1300MHz |
| tdp | 9 to 25W | 9 to 25W |
The new processors can be configured at a TDP between 9 and 25 watts and will clock their CPU cores as high as possible using the Precision Boost 2 algorithm, based on temperature, current and load.
In consultation with AMD, manufacturers can also enable xfr on the CPUs. That works slightly differently than with the desktop processors and is only enabled if AMD has approved the cooling in the laptop. Mobile xfr then clocks the CPU as high as possible, with only the temperature being the limiting factor. This is especially beneficial under long-term CPU load.
AMD has shared some benchmarks, in which the new processor delivers impressive results. Compared to Intel’s Core i7-8550U processor, the Ryzen 7 in Cinebench 1T has a ten percent lower score, but in the multithreaded benchmark the score is 44 percent higher. The Vega GPU must also be suitable for running not too heavy games on low settings, according to the results that AMD achieved in games such as League of Legends, Overwatch and CS:GO. The multimedia engine has also been improved and can now hardware decode videos in vp9 and hevc format.
The first laptops in which the Ryzen processors will appear are HP’s Envy x360, the Lenovo Ideapad 720S and the Acer Swift 3. According to AMD, these laptops will be on sale from Thursday. It is not yet known whether they are also immediately available in the Benelux. As soon as we have a review sample of one of those laptops, we will publish a review of Ryzen Mobile.