The first alleged independent benchmark results of AMD's recently introduced eight-core Ryzen 9 5980HS "Cezanne" laptop processors have been published. AMD's Zen 3-based chip uses integrated Radeon graphics, and, according to the new numbers, beats its predecessor and Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake in single and multi-core workloads, as well as 11th Gen intel Tiger Lake in single-core. Yet, there is a processor that beats AMD's Cezanne.
Hardware enthusiast @Tum_Apisak found two Geekbench 5 results from the Asus ROG Flow X13 . The gaming notebook runs the eight-core Ryzen 9 5980HS at a 3.30 GHz default clock speed and can boost it all the way to a 4.53 GHz. In one case , AMD's Cezanne APU hit a 1,532 single-core score and 8,219 multi-core score. In another case , the processor finished with 1,541 single-core points and 8,224 multi-core points.
| CPU | Single-Core | Multi-Core | Cores/Threads, uArch | Cache | Clocks | TDP | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS | 1540 | 8,225 | 8C/16T, Zen 3 | 16MB | 3.30 ~ 4.53 GHz | 35W | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/6027200 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 4900H | 1230 | 7,125 | 8C/16T, Zen 2 | 8MB | 3.30 ~ 4.44 GHz | 35~54W | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/6028856 |
| Intel Core i9-10885H | 1335 | 7,900 | 8C/16T, Skylake | 16MB | 2.40 ~ 5.08 GHz | 45W | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/6006773 |
| Intel Core i7-1185G7 | 1550 | 5,600 | 4C/8T, Willow Cove | 12MB | 3.0 ~ 4.80 GHz | 28W | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/5644005 |
| Apple M1 | 1710 | 7,660 | 4C Firestorm + 4C Icestorm | 12MB + 4MB | 3.20 GHz | 20~24W | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/6038094 |
When compared to previous-generation AMD and Intel architectures, the new Cezanne looks very good
The most interesting comparison we can make with a Zen 3 APU is with an Intel Willow Cove processor. Since Intel hasn't launched its eight-core Tiger Lake-H chips yet, the only available CPUs featuring the Willow Cove microarchitecture are quad-core Core i7 1100-series "Tiger Lake-U" processors. These CPUs are not quite meant for gaming machines and, therefore, come inside notebooks with less sophisticated cooling.
Generally, Intel Core i7-1185G7 -based machines score 1,350-1450 single-core points on Geekbench 5. A well-cooled example can hit around 1,550 on a single core and about 5,600 on multi-cores.
Therefore, it looks like mobile CPUs featuring AMD's Zen 3 and Intel's Willow Cove cores have comparable single-core performance (assuming that both are cooled properly). Naturally, AMD's eight-core gaming APU naturally beats Intel's quad-core CPU in workloads leveraging multiple cores.
As far as Geekbench 5 results go, AMD's Ryzen 9 5980HS looks like a very potent mobile APU with a 35W TDP. Yet, it's not unbeatable.
Apple's tiny M1 system-on-chip ( SoC ) running at 3.20 GHz scored 11% better than the Ryzen 9 5980HS in single-core workloads and 7% worse in multi-core workloads while consuming about 30% less power, assuming that its TDP is up to 24W .
Typically , AMD's eight-core Ryzen 9 4900H "Renoir" APUs, based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture, scores about 1,230 single-core points and around 7,100 multi-core points when running at 3.30 / 4.44 GHz clocks in Geekbench 5. Therefore, the new Cezanne APU is apparently 25% faster than its Renoir predecessor in single-core tasks and about 15% faster in multi-core workloads.
Cezanne's noticeably higher performance compared to its predecessor can be explained by microarchitectural improvements, as well as a two times larger L2 cache. The Ryzen 94900H is rated for up to a 54W TDP, whereas the new one has a default TDP of 35W.
A comparison of the new numbers for the Ryzen 9 5980HS to Intel's eight-core Core i9-10885H , Intel's fastest mobile Comet Lake CPU with a locked multiplier, suggests the Ryzen 9 5980HS is 15% faster in single-core workloads and 4% faster in multi-core tasks.
It should be noted that the Ryzen 9 5980HS numbers haven't been confirmed, so you should take them with a grain of salt.