AMD Announces Ryzen 5000C "Zen 3" Processors for Chromebooks

[btarunr]

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.


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[Deleted member 185088]

Chromebooks are awful pieces of junk. How did Google manage to create this abomination, Google seems enable to create a proper OS for something else than smartphones.

 

[Valantar]

... so AMD now has a wider range of 15W Zen3 APUs for chromebooks than for laptops? That's ... interesting I guess.


Edit: I guess it's not wider, it just matches the combined Zen3 APUs from the 5000U and 6000U series. Are chromebooks completely destroying ordinary laptops in the low end market?

 

[thegnome]

8 cores and 16 threads in a web based OS, something you can run with 2 skylake cores...

 

[ModEl4]

Acer Spin 514 ain't exactly cheap starting at 549€ with athlon (Athlon Silver 3050C/8GB/64GB flash) and goes much higher with Ryzen series (799€ for Ryzen 5 3500C/8GB/128GB SSD) and HP Elite ain't gonna be cheap either.
So we are talking about premium Chromebook category with maybe the dual core ryzen 3 going mainstream probably +150€ from the 3000 series athlon, so 700€ for dual core/8GB/128GB SSD lol

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Chromebooks are awful pieces of junk. How did Google manage to create this abomination, Google seems enable to create a proper OS for something else than smartphones.

Chromebooks are great devices, often far better built then equivelantly priced windows devices, that are easy to manage for school districts and organizations and do 99% of what consumers need to do at home. ChromeOS is far less bloated then, say, windows 11.

 

[Cutechri]

Chromebooks are awful pieces of junk. How did Google manage to create this abomination, Google seems enable to create a proper OS for something else than smartphones.

The fuck are you on about? Chromebooks are great for what they're designed for, mass deployment in school environments. Why would anyone bother with Windows security policies or setting up Linux distros when ChromeOS exists?

Chromebooks are great devices, often far better built then equivelantly priced windows devices, that are easy to manage for school districts and organizations and do 99% of what consumers need to do at home. ChromeOS is far less bloated then, say, windows 11.

Love that word, 'bloat', became a buzzword I swear.

 

[ARF]

8 cores and 16 threads in a web based OS, something you can run with 2 skylake cores...

Facebook and YouTube run better on platforms with more cores. More cores means better overall responsiveness and user experience. More cores is always better.

 

[Fouquin]

... so AMD now has a wider range of 15W Zen3 APUs for chromebooks than for laptops? That's ... interesting I guess.


Edit: I guess it's not wider, it just matches the combined Zen3 APUs from the 5000U and 6000U series. Are chromebooks completely destroying ordinary laptops in the low end market?

Between Cezanne and Rembrandt there are 13 SKUs at 15W configured TDP that I know of. Many are configurable up to 28W though. Except for the 5125C which is the first 2C/4T Cezanne slice I've seen to date (though maybe I missed one earlier) these are all direct rebrands of the Ryzen PRO 5x75 Cezanne-U chips that launched only two weeks ago.

 

[Valantar]

Between Cezanne and Rembrandt there are 13 SKUs at 15W configured TDP that I know of. Many are configurable up to 28W though. Except for the 5125C which is the first 2C/4T Cezanne slice I've seen to date (though maybe I missed one earlier) these are all direct rebrands of the Ryzen PRO 5x75 Cezanne-U chips that launched only two weeks ago.

Only two U SKUs in the 5000-series are Zen3 - 5600U and 5800U - the rest are Zen2. There are only two U-series 6000-series SKUs (6600U and 6800U).

 

[Fouquin]

Only two U SKUs in the 5000-series are Zen3 - 5600U and 5800U - the rest are Zen2. There are only two U-series 6000-series SKUs (6600U and 6800U).

Let me know if I missed any.

 

[RedBear]

The 5125C is kind of weird, there was no two cores Zen 3 part in the Cezanne-U series before and its clock seems to stop at just 3 Ghz.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

Chromebooks are great devices, often far better built then equivelantly priced windows devices, that are easy to manage for school districts and organizations and do 99% of what consumers need to do at home. ChromeOS is far less bloated then, say, windows 11.

There is a niche for them yes, but windows/MacOS/Linux are far superior and more versatile, at best chromebooks are glorified tablets. Their hardware is useful given the awfulness of the OS. Better use iPads.

 

[Logoffon]

Chromebooks are great devices, often far better built then equivelantly priced windows devices, that are easy to manage for school districts and organizations and do 99% of what consumers need to do at home. ChromeOS is far less bloated then, say, windows 11.

I can't imagine the schools paying like $800 per unit for a good-specced Chromebooks though.

Also, *school districts in western countries because I don't remember seeing any schools outside of those countries using Chromebooks.

 

[yeeeeman]

chromebooks might be "perfect" for deployment in schools, but why aren't also asus vivobook line or lenovo ideapad line of laptops perfect for school deployment???? why do i need to buy a specialized and limited device when i can buy the ordinary one for the same price with better specs. that is also the case with macs. everyone buys a mac for college. why? do you do music production or why? there are tons of windows laptops with very low weight and very good battery and lower prices, so this "mac", "google", "microsoft" cult has to disappear.

 

[ARF]

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.

15 W is high. They should release 3-5 W APUs in order to make the battery duration at least 50 hours.

 

[prtskg]

15 W is high. They should release 3-5 W APUs in order to make the battery duration at least 50 hours.

It's screen which consumes more power, not the processor.

 

[ARF]

It's screen which consumes more power, not the processor.

I don't think that the micro LEDs consume that much power - my guess is 0.5 - 1 W.
So, yeah, the APU should consume more.

 

[Valantar]

View attachment 246216
View attachment 246217

Let me know if I missed any.

So they've expanded since launch then - and singled out some marginally higher bins/mid-cycle refreshes with +100MHz clock bumps. That's good - especially the 4c8t and 2c4t variants, as bottoming out at 6c12t for mobile Zen3 always seemed like an odd approach. I generally don't differentiate between Pro and non-Pro SKUs though, as they are for all intents and purposes identical, just used in different product segments (and Pro SKUs have a smattering of management features enabled) - it's as if Intel were to make vPro-enabled pairings for each of their SKUs. But at least now there are an effective 4+2 SKUs, with all but one also coming with Pro and +100MHz variants, rather than 2+2 as I thought. Progress!

Still, this makes me genuinely curious about just what the defect rate on TSMC's 7/6nm processes are right now - and if yields are sufficient to get away with just two overall bins for Rembrandt-U, do AMD need to start taping out a second, 4c U die for their next generation? High end chips are flashy and attractive, but OEMs like options. I suppose that switching to 5nm will throw a wrench in all of that speculation, but at least for now it seems they're being held back from providing a full range of products by having too good yields (at least within the scope of an 8c+12CU die with 8c12CU and 6C6CU bins). At least with Cezanne they had pin-compatible Zen2 refresh chips to fill out the range; with Rembrandt being DDR5-only there's nothing to fill out those gaps. I wouldn't be too surprised if this means we only see Rembrandt appear in relatively high end laptops.

 

[DrCR]

I’d be up for a netbook, but not something I can’t de-google.

 

[trsttte]

15 W is high. They should release 3-5 W APUs in order to make the battery duration at least 50 hours.

5W to 8W would also be able to replace Atoms and Pentium Gold on the lowest end and tablet form factors (like Surface Go or that HP 11 inch unnamed tablet), that would have been great to see.

 

[R-T-B]

chromebooks might be "perfect" for deployment in schools, but why aren't also asus vivobook line or lenovo ideapad line of laptops perfect for school deployment???? why do i need to buy a specialized and limited device when i can buy the ordinary one for the same price with better specs.

Because we are talking about students man... being able to limit what they can do is a feature to the district, not a limitation.

 

[LabRat 891]

Oh no... Are you telling me Chromebooks might actually end up with the hardware to back up their misleading advertising, finally?
Unless there are some serious firmware locks, this'll make for some great Windows and Linux PC conversions.
As long as they're mod-able, I look forward to picking up a Ryzen powered Chromebook for CHEAP next Cyber Monday.