Intel and AMD are almost done competing with their new desktop architectures. Another X3D V-Cache CPU will be released in April, but aside from that, both companies have all their chips available [seriously? -Ed.]. The desktop part of this battle is over and the next front in this skirmish is on mobile. Intel has already released its high-performance HX series mobile CPUs. AMD on the other hand, has bided its time and is now sending reviewers laptops with its latest silicon. The first benchmarks for AMD’s mobile flagship are now available. While it trails Intel in single-core performance, it beats it in multi-core.
Notebook review site Notebookcheck.net put an Asus laptop with AMD’s top-tier Dragon range CPU through its paces. The AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread CPU. It has a base clock of 2.5GHz and can boost the single core to 5.4GHz. The CPU has 64MB of L3 cache and a TDP of 55W, but can be boosted to 75W if the vendor wants. However, the reviewer noted that when all 16 Gen 4 cores are fully loaded, it can consume up to 120W. Intel’s Core i9-13980HX processor is in the blue corner. This is Raptor Lake’s flagship mobile CPU with 24 cores and 32 threads (8P+16E). It can clock a single core slightly faster than AMD’s chip, which runs at 5.6GHz. however.
In single-threaded benchmarks such as 7-zip, Cinebench and others, Intel’s CPU outperformed the Gen 4 CPU in the test. The difference between the two is around 3% mainly due to Intel’s higher boost clock speed of 5.6GHz. It also consumes more energy. According to the site, the Gen 4 cores used 27W of power, while the P-cores in the 13980HX used 34-36W. The AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX outperforms its predecessor, the Gen 3+ Ryzen 9 6900HX, by 27% in single-core performance. That’s a significant improvement.
However, when it comes to multi-core performance, the tables have turned. In a variety of multi-core benchmarks, the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX outperformed Intel’s CPU by a small margin. On Cinebench R23, for example, AMD’s chip scored 34,521, while the Core i9 scored 33,052. Its maximum output is 120W so it wins even with low power. Under full load, the Raptor Lake CPU consumes 180 to 190W, according to reviewers.
