AMD Radeon 780M tested
ETA PRIME is a tech reviewer of all things limited by power. The YouTuber has shared many handheld gaming console, Mini-PC and laptop reviews over the past few years. With the arrival of powerful AMD integrated based on Vega, RDNA2 and RDNA3 graphics, these mobile products are now thriving in gaming.
The newest review of ASUS TUF system powered by Ryzen 9 7940HS is one of the first of this kind. AMD has barely provided information on the HS variants of the Ryzen 7040 series. Customers can’t find those processors at stores yet, but there are some details listed by AMD on official website.
AMD Phoenix APU is the latest mobile silicon introduced by the company at CES in January this year. This chip is powered by Zen4 architecture and paired with RDNA3 GPU. The GPU is what makes this APU so interesting because it has the same core count as the last-gen Rembrandt, but higher clocks and newer architecture. This combined with fast DDR5 memory is what might change the landscape for mobile gaming once again.
ASUS TUF A15 Gaming with Ryzen 9 7940HS, Source: ETA PRIME
The system tested by ETA Prime is ASUS TUF A15 with discrete RTX 4060 graphics, but his review is not about the RTX, but dedicated to integrated chip entirely.
The Ryzen 9 7940HS is an 8-core Zen4 CPU with a base clock of 4.0 GHz and max boost up to 5.2 GHz. This system allows the TDP to be modified up to 80W. The ASUS gaming laptop is equipped with dual-channel DDR5-5600 memory and there is up to 4GB of shared memory dedicated for the GPU. This memory is likely to be increased on other systems.
AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS/Radeon 780M GPU Furmark, Source: ETA PRIME
The GPU clocks up to 2.8 GHz, confirming that 3.0 GHz is not available with stock settings.
Radeon 780M iGPU 3DMark, Source: ETA PRIME
In 3DMark the Radeon 780M GPU is 12% and 15% faster than 680M in 3DMark Fire Strike and Time Spy respectively. Do note that the 680M system was using faster LPDDR5 memory.
When it comes to gaming, according to PRIME, the early driver for this system is not ready for many games. The system crashes in titles such as Spider-Man 1 and 2, but it is worth mentioning that there was no official launch driver for Phoenix yet.
Radeon 780M iGPU Cyberpunk 2077, Source: ETA PRIME
AMD Radeon 780M (RDNA3) iGPU Average gaming performance with CPU Limit at 80W
- CSGO (1080p High): 130 FPS
- GTA (1080p Very High): 81 FPS
- Forza Horizon 5 (1080p High): 86 FPS
- Fortnite (1080p Medium): 78 FPS
- Doom Eternal (1080p Medium): 83 FPS
- Horizon Zero Dawn (1080p Favor Performance): 69 FPS
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1080p Recommended/FSR Perf.): 106 FPS
- Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p Medium/Low Mix): ~70 FPS
The iGPU is capable of delivering playable performance at popular games with 1080p resolution. The system was tested with Performance mode set through ASUS Armory Crate software. Handheld gaming consoles will be limited to 15-35W depending on the settings.
Interestingly, the integrated GPU can be overclocked in this system. ETA Prime had no problem overclocking the graphics to 3 GHz. This was shown during Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay. The clock could go up to 3.25 GHz, but this resulted in a crash. Hopefully, more compatibility and overclocking features will be available with the working driver once AMD Phoenix is released.
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