AMD A6-9220 vs AMD A4-9120C vs AMD A6-9210

AMD A6-9220

The AMD A6-9220 is an entry-level chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for notebooks (7th APU generation), which was announced mid 2016. The 9210 is a mid-range Stoney Ridge processor (dual-core version of Bristol Ridge) and integrates two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit) clocked between 2.5 - 2.9 GHz. It also includes a Radeon R4 GPU, probably with 192 shaders at 655 MHz, as well as a single-channel DDR4-2133 memory controller, H.265 video engine and chipset with all I/O ports.

Architecture

Stoney Ridge is the successor of the Carrizo architecture and the design is almost identical. Thanks to optimized manufacturing processes and more aggressive Boost behavior, however, the clocks are a bit higher at the same power consumption. The memory controller now also supports DDR4-RAM, in this case up to 2133 MHz. Stoney Ridge is the designation for the smaller dual-core and single-core chip, while Bristol Ridge is the bigger quad-core chip with dual-channel memory controller. More technical details are available in the following articles:

• AMD's Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge Architecture
• AMD: Bristol Ridge APUs announced

Performance

Because of the significantly lower clock range, the A6-9220 should be noticeably slower than the A9-9410. In the Cinebench R15 Multi benchmark e.g. it was around 15% slower in our benchmarks (see below). The single core benchmarks were quite similar overall.

Graphics Card

The integrated Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge) GPU is probably similar to the R5 with 192 active shader units (3 compute cores), but a reduced clock of just 655 instead of 800 MHz. More details about the GPU are available in the linked articles above. 

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A6-9220 with 15 Watts, but it can be configured between 10-15 Watts. This means the APU is a good choice for thin and light notebooks.

AMD A4-9120C

The AMD A4-9120C is an entry-level chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for Chromebooks and entry level laptops (7th APU generation from 2016), which was announced early 2019. It is based on the similar named A4-9120 from 2016 but with a reduced TDP (6 versus 15 Watt) and reduced clock speeds of 1.6 - 2.4 GHz (compared to 2.2 - 2.5 GHz). Both CPUs integrate two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit).

It also includes a Radeon R4 GPU with 192 shaders at 600 MHz, as well as a single-channel DDR4-2133 memory controller, H.265 video engine and chipset with all I/O ports.

Architecture

Stoney Ridge is the successor of the Carrizo architecture and the design is almost identical. Thanks to optimized manufacturing processes and more aggressive Boost behavior, however, the clocks are a bit higher at the same power consumption. The memory controller now also supports DDR4-RAM, in this case up to 2133 MHz. Stoney Ridge is the designation for the smaller dual-core and single-core chip, while Bristol Ridge is the bigger quad-core chip with dual-channel memory controller. More technical details are available in the following articles:

• AMD's Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge Architecture
• AMD: Bristol Ridge APUs announced

Performance

Because of the significantly lower clock speed, the A4-9120C should be noticeably slower than the old A4-9120. AMD compares the A4-9120C with the Celeron N3350 in ChromeOS and sees a significant performance advantage for the A4. The efficiency however should be clearly worse as the A4-9120C is still manufactured in 28nm.

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A4-9120C with 6 Watts which should enable thin and light Chromebooks (even fanless).

AMD A6-9210

The AMD A6-9210 is an entry-level chip from the Stoney-Ridge APU series for notebooks (7th APU generation), which was announced mid 2016. At its launch, the A6-9210 is the mid-range Stoney Ridge processor (dual-core version of Bristol Ridge) and integrates two CPU cores (one Excavator module with 2 integer and on FP unit) clocked between 2.4-2.8 GHz. It also includes a Radeon R4 GPU, probably with 192 shaders at 600 MHz, as well as a single-channel DDR4-2133 memory controller, H.265 video engine and chipset with all I/O ports.

Architecture

Stoney Ridge is the successor of the Carrizo architecture and the design is almost identical. Thanks to optimized manufacturing processes and more aggressive Boost behavior, however, the clocks are a bit higher at the same power consumption. The memory controller now also supports DDR4-RAM, in this case up to 2133 MHz. Stoney Ridge is the designation for the smaller dual-core and single-core chip, while Bristol Ridge is the bigger quad-core chip with dual-channel memory controller. More technical details are available in the following articles:

• AMD's Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge Architecture
• AMD: Bristol Ridge APUs announced

Performance

Because of the significantly lower clock range, the A6-9210 should be noticeably slower than the A9-9410.

Graphics Card

The integrated Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge) GPU is probably similar to the R5 with 192 active shader units (3 compute cores), but a reduced clock of just 600 instead of 800 MHz. More details about the GPU are available in the linked articles above. 

Power Consumption

AMD specifies the TDP of the A6-9210 with 15 Watts, but it can be configured between 10-15 Watts. This means the APU is a good choice for thin and light notebooks.