(Credit: AMD)
AMD is expanding the use of a new “Zen 4c” CPU core from servers to consumer PCs in an effort to make laptops and gaming handhelds run more efficiently.
The Zen 4c core architecture, which debuted in June, was originally designed for data centers and meant to run alongside the standard Zen 4 microarchitecture.
The main difference is that Zen 4c is optimized for density and power efficiency, rather than high clock speeds. The payoff is that a Zen 4c core can occupy a smaller area on the chip die while offering similar performance, according to AMD. “We can put the same number of cores in about 35% less area,” AMD’s technical marketing manager, Donny Woligroski, said in a press briefing.
(Credit: AMD)The Zen 4c tech may sound like Intel’s “Efficiency” cores or E-cores, which have been optimized for low-power workloads. But AMD rejects the comparison, since Zen 4c shares the same microarchitecture as the standard Zen 4 core, resulting in both possessing the same overall specs and instruction sets. In contrast, Intel E-cores use a different architecture from the company's performance cores.
“The only difference for consumers is the size of these on the die,” Woligroski added. “This is transparent to the operating system, it doesn’t change anything to how these are utilized.”
So why bring Zen 4c to laptops? AMD realized the technology can pair well with existing Zen 4 cores to make entry-level Ryzen processors run more efficiently. For example, Woligroski noted Zen 4c cores can consume less electricity to deliver more performance when a laptop is running programs at under 15 watts of power.
(Credit: AMD)“It’s a great way to bolster the entry-level (chips),” Woligroski said. AMD is also hinting the same technology can introduce some cost-savings. “The ability to leverage this has let us scale more cores down to a lower price point," he added.
The company has decided to pack the Zen 4c in an upcoming mobile chip, called Ryzen 5 7545U—which will replace the Ryzen 5 7540 U, originally announced back in May.
(Credit: AMD)The upcoming Ryzen 5 7545U will offer the same specs, including a max boost clock speed at 4.9GHz. But it’ll feature two Zen 4 CPU cores, alongside four Zen 4c cores, to help the processor achieve a better efficiency, although the chip’s performance does take a slight hit at higher TDP levels.
In addition, AMD is bringing the Zen 4c cores to the previously announced Ryzen 3 7440U chip for laptops and to the Ryzen Z1, a processor designed for PC gaming handhelds such as Asus ROG Ally.
We'll have to test the chips to see how the Zen 4c performs. But AMD says consumers wouldn't be able to notice a difference. Nevertheless, the company wanted to brief the press about the change as PC makers adopt the new chips.
(Credit: AMD)For now, AMD is only using the Zen 4c technology for more entry-level products, rather than more powerful consumer chips, where high clock speeds are a priority. But that could change over time. “In the future, we could squeeze more (Zen 4c) cores into a premium processor and get higher multi-threaded performance,” Woligroski said. AMD could also go in the opposite direction and use the Zen 4c cores to create new kinds of lower-end chips.