The AMD Ryzen 5 4680U is a semi-custom APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) of the Renoir family, specifically designed for Microsoft devices. The 4680U integrates six CPU cores based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture, clocked at 2.2 GHz (base) to 4 GHz (Boost) with SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) support for a total of 12 threads. The two advantages a 4680U has over the older Ryzen 5 4600U are its higher base clock speed and a faster iGPU (Integrated Graphics Processing Unit).
The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) process, which allows for a 2x performance per watt improvement over the 12 nm Ryzen 3000 mobile processors. The built-in dual-channel memory controller supports LPDDR4-4266 RAM and it also has 8 MB of L3 cache. The 4680U also supports PCI-Express 3.0, which is in line with other mobile Ryzen 4000 CPUs.
In terms of performance, the multi-thread performance of the 4680U is most comparable to the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U and Intel Core i5-10500H. While the latter is a much more power-hungry CPU, the Ryzen 5 4680U is a more than decent CPU for most tasks, including more demanding ones.
The APU also integrates a DX 12 compatible Radeon RX Vega 7 graphics adapter with 7 CUs (448 unified shaders) at up to 1,500 MHz. The Vega iGPU will have no trouble HW-decoding AVC, HEVC and VP9 videos, but the newer AV1 codec will only be decoded via software. In terms of gaming, the 4680U offers MX150-level performance. Most games released in 2020 can be played on low to medium settings in 720p on this graphics adapter.
The Ryzen 5 4680U has a default TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 15 W, which is the long-term power limit. Laptop manufacturers, such as Microsoft, are free to set this value between 10 W and 25 W, with clock speeds and performance changing correspondingly. In stress testing, we saw the CPU consuming roughly 23 watts. The 7 nm TSMC process used in the Ryzen 5 4680U makes for very decent energy efficiency.
In addition to its performance and power efficiency, the 4680U also offers a number of features that make it a versatile and capable processor. For example, it includes XFR (eXtended Frequency Range) technology, which allows the processor to automatically boost its clock speed beyond its base speed when there is sufficient thermal headroom. This can help to improve performance in situations where the processor is running at or near its maximum temperature.
The 4680U also includes FMA3 (Fused Multiply-Add 3) and SSE 4.2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2) instruction sets, which can help to improve performance in a wide range of applications. Additionally, it supports AVX2 (Advanced Vector Extensions 2) instructions, which can help to improve performance in applications that rely heavily on vector operations.
The 4680U is also equipped with SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) technology, which allows it to process multiple threads simultaneously. This can help to improve performance in multi-threaded applications and increase overall system responsiveness.
In summary, the AMD Ryzen 5 4680U is a powerful and efficient APU that offers a wide range of features and capabilities. Its high base clock speed, fast iGPU, and low power consumption make it an excellent choice for multitasking and gaming, while its advanced instruction sets and SMT technology make it a versatile and capable processor. If you're in the market for a powerful and efficient APU for your Microsoft device, the Ryzen 5 4680U is definitely worth considering.
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