AMD Ryzen 5 3500U vs Intel Core i5-10210U vs AMD Ryzen 5 3550H

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U

► remove from comparison

The AMD Ryzen 5 3500U is a mobile SoC that was announced in January 2019. It combines four Zen+ cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.1 GHz to 3.7 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 8 iGPU with 8 CUs (512 Shaders) clocked at up to 1200 MHz. Specified at 15 Watt TDP, the SoC is intended for thin mid-range laptops. In Chromebooks, AMD calles the APU AMD Ryzen 5 3500C, but the specifications (and performance) are the same.

The Picasso SoC uses the Zen+ microarchitecture with slight improvements that should lead to a 3% IPS (performance per clock) improvements. Furthermore, the 12 nm process allows for higher clocks at similar power consumption.

The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. As the features of the Picasso APUs are the same compared to the Raven Ridge predecessors, we point to our Raven Ridge launch article.

Performance

The average 3500U in our database matches Intel Core i7-1065G7 in multi-thread performance to be an OK lower mid-range option for thinner, lighter laptops and truly small mini-PCs.

Power consumption

The Ryzen 5 has a default TDP of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit), a value that laptop manufacturers are free to set to anything between 12 W and 35 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, this is a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

This little CPU is manufactured on a somewhat old, as of late 2022, 12 nm process for average energy efficiency.

Intel Core i5-10210U

► remove from comparison

The Intel Core i5-10210U is a power efficient quad-core SoC for notebooks based on the Comet Lake (CML-U) generation and was announced in August 2019. Compared to the similar Whiskey Lake processors (e.g. Core i5-8665U), the only difference is support for higher memory speeds (up to LPDDR4-2933 vs DDR4-2400) and two additional cores in the top model (not in this i5). The processor cores are clocked between 1.6 and 4.2 GHz (all 4 cores 3.9 GHz max). Thanks to Hyper-Threading 8 threads can be used. Compared to the faster i5-10510U, the level 3 cache was reduced from 8 to 6 MB. More information on Comet Lake and all the models and articles on it can be found here.

The integrated graphics adapter however is still the same as in the previous generations. It’s still called Intel UHD Graphics 620 and clocked from 300 – 1100 MHz in the i5. Furthermore, the SoC integrates a VP9 and H.265 de- and encoder.

Performance

The average 10210U in our database is just as fast as AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Intel Core i7-8565U and Intel Core i5-1035G1 are, as far as multi-thread performance is concerned. While the i5 is not a performance monster, it sails through basic day-to-day workloads. As is usually the case with laptop-grade processors, the higher Power Limits are and the better cooling solution is, the more performance you get.

Power consumption

This Core i5 has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 15 W, a value that laptop manufacturers are free to change to anything between 10 W and 25 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. It has to be noted, Comet Lake U processors can consume as much as 80 W or even 90 W when under short-term loads.

The CPU is built with an old, as of early 2023, 14 nm Intel process for subpar energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 5 3550H

► remove from comparison

The AMD Ryzen 5 3550H is a mobile SoC that was announced in January 2019. It combines four Zen+ cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.1 GHz to 3.7 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics adapter with 8 CUs (512 Shaders) clocked at up to 1,200 MHz. Compared to the similar Ryzen 5 3500U, the 3550H offers a 20 Watt higher TDP and therefore a better performance under long periods of load. The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. As the features of the Picasso APUs are the same compared to the Raven Ridge predecessors, we point to our Raven Ridge launch article.

The Picasso SoCs use the Zen+ microarchitecture with slight improvements that should lead to a 3% IPS (performance per clock) improvements. Furthermore, the 12 nm process allows higher clock rates at similar power consumptions.

Performance

The average 3550H in our database proves itself as a solid mid-range CPU, its multi-thread benchmark scores hovering around those of Intel Core i7-10710U and Core i5-8257U. Which is a little slow for an H-class processor but still more than enough for the vast majority of apps and games, provided one is happy to wait a little longer than usual for that 4K video encoding job to get completed.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 5 has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 35 W. Laptop manufacturers are free to change this value to anything between 12 W and 35 W, with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, that’s a little too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

Last but not the least, the AMD APU is built with a fairly old, as of late 2022, 12 nm process for average energy efficiency.

Benchmarks

Performance Rating

– CB R15 + R20 + 7-Zip + X265 + Blender + 3DM11 CPU

– R5 3500U