Despite the reduction in physical footprint, the "Zen 4c" core maintains the same instructions per cycle (IPC) efficiency, equating to unchanged single-thread performance when compared to the standard "Zen 4" core. It also retains an identical instruction set architecture (ISA), ensuring consistency in performance capabilities and compatibility.
AMD will introduce two initial Ryzen 7000 laptop processors, featuring Zen 4c cores. The AMD Ryzen 5 7545U stands out with its configuration, boasting two Zen 4 and four Zen 4c cores, resulting in a total of six cores and twelve threads. This chip is also equipped with a generous 22MB cache and offers clock speeds that can reach up to 4.9GHz. Additionally, it features a configurable TDP (Thermal Design Power) range of 15 to 30W. The Ryzen 5 7545U is poised to replace its predecessor, the Ryzen 5 7540U, which featured six regular Zen 4 cores. While the switch to Zen 4c cores marks a significant change in this new variant, AMD asserts that the chips are otherwise nearly identical. They share the same maximum clock speeds, cache size, and TDP range, resulting in almost identical performance expectations.
AMD's data center-oriented CPUs, the "EPYC 97X4" and "EPYC 8004," have previously incorporated the Zen 4c architecture. The newly announced "Ryzen 5 7545U" CPU presents a hybrid architecture, combining 2 Zen 4 cores with 4 Zen 4c cores within its 6-core structure. AMD asserts that this hybrid approach leverages a unified instruction set with nearly identical Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) across both core types. Consequently, task scheduling aids like the "Intel Thread Director," which are essential for some Intel CPUs, are not required for the Ryzen 5 7545U's operation. Additionally, the CPU supports Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) across all cores, further boosting its multitasking capabilities.
AMD has developed Zen 4c cores with a design focus on efficiency, yielding optimal performance at lower power consumptions. Benchmarks in Cinebench R23 indicate that the Ryzen 5 7545U, equipped with Zen 4c cores, shows a marginal performance advantage over the Ryzen 5 7540U, which has standard Zen 4 cores, when operating at a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 15W. Zen 4c cores will maintain cache parity with the Zen 4 core versions; both the Ryzen 5 7540U and the newer 7545U will have 22MB of cache.
The forthcoming AMD Ryzen 7000U series processors, tailored for laptops, are announced to be released 'soon'. The manufacturer has not specified an exact launch date nor provided details about potential laptop models that will incorporate these new chips.
