Intel's new 8th-gen Core vPro duels with AMD’s 2nd-gen Ryzen Pro mobile chips
By
The new enterprise-level Intel Core vPro mobile CPUs are met head-on by AMD’s 2nd-gen Ryzen Pro mobile chips
Like clockwork, the new 8th-gen Intel vPro CPUs are met head-on by AMD’s 2nd generation Ryzen 7 Pro and Ryzen 5 Pro CPUs. To top things off, AMD’s new mobile processor portfolio boasts of Ryzen 3 Pro and Athlon Pro chips that also target the same business market segment eyed by Intel.
8th-gen Intel vPro CPUs
On the Intel camp, the just-announced 8th generation Intel Core vPro U-series CPUs comprises the Intel Core vPro i7-8665U and the Intel Core vPro i5-8365U. They are touted to enhance user experience with their support for Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) network connectivity.
| Cores/Threads | Base/Boost clocks | Cache Size | TDP | Intel Graphics | Memory Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i7-8665U | 4/8 | 1.9GHz/4.8GHz | 8MB | 15W | UHD Graphics 620 | LPDDR3-2133, DDR4-2400 |
| Intel Core i5-8365U | 4/8 | 1.6GHz/4.1GHz | 6MB | 15W | UHD Graphics 620 | LPDDR3-2133, DDR4-2400 |
They also have built-in hardware security features, with the latest being Intel Hardware Shield. According to Intel, Hardware Shield will “reduce the attack surface of the BIOS”, and include a new reporting capability that’s visible at both OS and BIOS levels.
This feature is an addition to existing features that include Intel Authenticate, which is meant to reduce the threat of identity theft.
One of the major advantages of the new features is cost-savings. With the implementation of Wi-Fi 6 access nodes, up to four times the number of clients are able to join the node, this reduces the need for costly wired network implementation. Clients with the new Intel Core vPro chip are able to leverage on Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, right out of the box. There's also support for the WPA3 Wi-Fi security standard that was announced by Wi-Fi Alliance in October 2018.
Cost savings will also occur from the baked-in security features of the new Intel Core vPro CPUs and their support for remote administration, i.e., Intel AMT (Active Management Technology). Intel estimated worldwide enterprise security expenditure is estimated at US$120 billion annually; the new Intel CPUs will help reduce the need for additional security investments. Remote administration will reduce the need for on-premises IT staff, translating into manpower costs savings.
AMD’s 2nd generation Ryzen Pro and Athlon Pro CPUs
From the red camp, AMD has the new Ryzen Pro 3000-series that comprises the Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U, Ryzen 5 Pro 3500U, and the Ryzen 3 Pro 3300U processors. There’s also the Athlon Pro 300U CPU. The key difference of these 2nd generation Ryzen Pro / Athlon Pro processors over the first generation is the built-in Radeon Vega graphics engine - great for accelerating light graphics workloads and where graphics compute acceleration come into play that is usually the domain of discrete graphics.
| Cores/Threads | Base/Boost clocks | L2+L3 cache | TDP | Graphics model | Graphics core count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U | 4/8 | 2.3GHz/4.0GHz | 6MB | 15W | Radeon Vega 10 Graphics | 10 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 3500U | 4/8 | 2.1GHz/3.7GHz | 6MB | 15W | Radeon Vega 8 Graphics | 8 |
| AMD Ryzen 3 Pro 3300U | 4/4 | 2.1GHz/3.5GHz | 6MB | 15W | Radeon Vega 6 Graphics | 6 |
| AMD Athlon Pro 300U | 2/4 | 2.4GHz/3.3GHz | 5MB | 15W | Radeon Vega 3 Graphics | 3 |
All the new processors support security features, including AMD Memory Encryption, secure boot and enhanced OS security, under the AMD GuardMI Technology Protection. The Intel Core vPro processors have similar security features due to the chips’ support existing security methodologies that include Intel SGX (Software Guard Extensions) and third-party Trusted Media Platform. The new AMD chips support DASH (Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware) manageability for remote administration.
AMD new mobile processors portfolio has the advantage of product breadth compared to Intel’s new vPro offerings. In terms of other enterprise-level features, the only distinguishing factor is Intel's built-in support for Wi-Fi 6.
In terms of performance, AMD has provided benchmark results of an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U-based system, i.e., against a HP EliteBook 840r G4 notebook that was powered by an 8th–gen Intel Core i7-8650U. In terms of CPU performance, the AMD AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U system was about 16% higher, and due to the strength of its AMD Radeon Vega 10 GPU, it bested the Intel system by almost 106%! In terms of system-wide performance, based PCMark 10 scores, the same AMD Ryzen Pro-based system had a negligible winning margin over the Intel system.
The strength of AMD Radeon Vega graphics is also evident in the design and visualization benchmarks and we suspect they are as competitively priced to the Intel equivalent counterparts as compared by AMD.
AMD has started shipping its Ryzen Pro 3000-series and Athlon Pro 300-series CPUs to its OEM partners. The first business laptops, based on the new AMD APUs, from HP and Lenovo are expected now. Notebooks based on the 8th-gen Intel Core vPro chips are slated for launch as well.
Source: Intel, AMD.
