AMD today announced the Ryzen 5000C line of mobile processors for Chromebooks. This is the company’s second generation of Chromebook-specific processors after the Ryzen 3000C series based on the original “Zen” microarchitecture. The 5000C series chips are based on “Zen 3,” with CPU core counts of up to 8-core, and hence present a big leap in performance over the 3000C series, along with a complete suite of the latest connectivity, display technology, and security and management features specific to Chrome OS.
The Ryzen 5000C series is based on the 7 nm “Cezanne” monolithic silicon. The chip physically features an 8-core/16-thread CPU based on the “Zen 3” microarchitecture, with 16 MB of shared L3 cache; an iGPU based on the Vega graphics architecture, with 8 compute units (512 stream processors), a dual-channel DDR4 or LPDDR4/x memory interface, and unlike the conventional Ryzen 5000-series mobile processors, these chips come with a special microcode to match the security and management features of Chrome OS. AMD also supplies Chromebook vendors with timely driver updates for the various components on these chips.
AMD claims that the switch to “Zen 3” brings in up to 67% web-browsing performance gain over the previous generation, which should directly impact performance of web-based applications. There is also a 107% multi-tasking performance gain, mainly from the doubling in CPU core count. Graphics performance is up 85% over the previous generation, which should benefit GPU-accelerated web-rendering, and browser-based gaming. The fastest SKU in the 5000C series, the Ryzen 7 5825C, is also claimed to be 7% faster than the Intel Core i7-1185G7 “Tiger Lake” processor at web-browsing, 25% faster at multi-tasking, and 10% faster in graphics performance.
The lineup consists of four models, led by the Ryzen 7 5825C, a maxed-out SKU with 8-core/16-thread CPU, 8 “Vega” graphics compute units, 20 MB of total cache (L3 + L2), 2.00 GHz CPU base frequency, up to 4.50 GHz CPU boost frequency, 1.80 GHz iGPU engine clocks. The mid-range Ryzen 5 5625C packs a 6-core/12-thread CPU, with 2.30 GHz base frequency, 4.30 GHz boost frequency, 7 graphics compute units, 19 MB of total cache, and 1.60 GHz iGPU engine clocks.
The Ryzen 3 5425C is the mainstream part, with a 4-core/8-thread CPU ticking at 2.70 GHz base frequency, 4.10 GHz boost frequency, 10 MB of total cache (8 MB L3 + 4 MB L2); 6 graphics compute units, and 1.50 GHz iGPU engine clocks. At the entry-level, is the Ryzen 3 5125C, with a 2-core/4-thread CPU clocked at 3.00 GHz, with 9 MB of total cache (8 MB L3 + 1 MB L2), 3 graphics compute units, and 1.20 GHz iGPU engine clocks.
All four models have a rated TDP of 15 W, enabling Chromebook designers to create either thin-and-light designs that are ultra-portable, or even mainstream form-factors with large batteries that, when paired with 15 W SoCs, can result in up to 13 hours battery life. AMD claims to have heavily optimized these chips for the power-management features of Chrome OS vendor designs, so they offer almost double the battery life over the i5-1135G7 “Tiger Lake.”
Besides the various security features baked into the mainline Ryzen 5000 mobile processors, the 5000C processors come with an exclusive security stack that includes Chrome Secure Web layer, and Widewine DRM, as well as Google TPM (Trusted Platform Manager).
Among the Chromebooks in development that are powered by Ryzen 5000C series processors, are the HP Elite C645 G2 Chromebook, and the Acer Chromebook Spin 514. The Elite C645 G2 is a 14-inch conventional form-factor Chromebook with processor options all the way up to the Ryzen 7 5825C, connectivity that includes Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and an optional 4G LTE modem. Other features include a 1080p camera, a SmartCard reader, and an SEC fingerprint reader. The Chromebook Spin 514 is a 14-inch convertible, with its Full HD touchscreen on a 360° hinge, with processor options up to the Ryzen 7 5825C, and up to 256 GB NVMe SSD-based storage. This one is built for the road, meeting MIL-STD 810H, and featuring Gorilla Glass for the touchscreen.
The complete slide deck follows.
