It's known that AMD's Zen 4 processors is one of the best CPUs around. Phoronix answers those who wonder if the mobile Zen 4 can compete with rivaling mobile chips such as Apple's M2 silicon. The Linux publication has compared two mobile Zen 4 processors against the Apple M2 under several Linux benchmarks.
The Ryzen Z1 Extreme is a high-performance Zen 4 processor that powers handheld gaming devices like the ROG Ally. The octa-core, 16-thread chip has a 5.1 GHz boost clock and a cTDP between 9W to 30W. The Ryzen 7 7840U, which resides inside Acer's Swift Edge 16, is another processor from AMD's Zen 4 camp, wielding a similar octa-core, 16-thread design with a 5.1 GHz boost clock. Unlike the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, the Ryzen 7 7840U has 28W, although the chip has a cTDP between 15W and 30W.
On the contrary, the M2, which powers the MacBook Air 2022, features an octa-core, Arm-based design with four performance "Avalanche" cores and four efficiency "Blizzard" cores. The Avalanche cores max out at 3.5 GHz, whereas the Blizzard cores can reach 2.4 GHz. It's worth remembering that the MacBook Air features a passive cooling solution, unlike the MacBook Pro. The ROG Ally and Swift Edge 16 come with active cooling solutions. More importantly, Phoronix tested the 8GB version of the MacBook Air 2022. The news outlet used Asahi Linux for testing the MacBook Air 2022, and while support is commendable, the project is pretty much a work in progress. Therefore, the M2 likely has untapped potential due to the lack of proper Linux support.
According to the geometric of the test results, AMD's Zen 4 processors wiped the floor with the Apple M2. With the balanced mode on the ROG Ally, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme delivered 28.7% higher performance than the Apple M2. The performance delta increased to 95.7% when Phoronix put the ROG Ally into performance mode. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 7840U outperformed the Apple M2 by 75.8%.
The Ryzen Z1 Extreme and Ryzen 7 7840U showed good performance-per-watt in the benchmarks. Sadly, a PowerCap/RAPL or HWMON driver for the Apple M2 doesn't exist, so Phoronix could not log the silicon's real-time power consumption metrics with Linux. Many would agree it would be interesting to see the Apple M2's power efficiency compared to the Zen 4. True, Phoronix could evaluate the AC power from the wall, but it doesn't provide a precise measurement.
Phoronix's testing satisfies the curiosity of those who want to see a fight between Zen 4 vs. Apple M2. Some may argue that it's not an apples-to-apples comparison since there are too many variables, such as the difference in cooling and that the Apple M2 was running on Asahi Linux instead of the native macOS, which is better optimized for the M2 silicon.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
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PlaneInTheSky Ridiculous clickbait article.Reply
At least put the fact it was tested on Asahi Linux in the damn title.
Asahi Linux's GPU driver for Apple silicon is literally a few months old. Last time I tried it I couldn't even get USB to work.
What the hell does a Rog Ally or AMD even have to do with Asahi Linux, why would anyone even make that comparison. Of course it runs better, it has AMD support in the freaking kernel. -
Alvar "Miles" Udell It's a clickbait title from TH, but the original article clearly states the comparison was only done because forum members requested it, and Apple M GPU support under Linux was still very much a work in progress so the results should be interpreted in context.Reply -
phitinh81 Reply
Salty ? Phoronix only tested CPU general purpose compute . As fair & square as it can be. Linux is the perfect middle ground to make comparison. At face value, Apple silicon's just overhype & overprice pieces of hardware.PlaneInTheSky said:Ridiculous clickbait article.
At least put the fact it was tested on Asahi Linux in the damn title.
Asahi Linux's GPU driver for Apple silicon is literally a few months old. Last time I tried it I couldn't even get USB to work.
What the hell does a Rog Ally or AMD even have to do with Asahi Linux, why would anyone even make that comparison. Of course it runs better, it has AMD support in the freaking kernel. -
vinay2070 Oh Really? Lets have a comparision once the laptops featuring similar chips with Higher TDPs are out in overeall scenarios. Would definitely like to see AMD win here both in performance and power consumption.Reply -
syadnom This is a crap article, completely misleading.Reply
Running native linux with good driver support and compiled for target CPU vs running an alpha release with nearly no drivers functioning with software compiled for generic arm64 on an 8 performance core ryzen vs a 4 performance core M2.
Many of these tests run happily on macos so the alpha linux environment is especially misleading.
A couple stand out as exceptionally bad, like the wireguard test where the macos implementation can push out over 500Mbps on the M1 and 700 on the M2 (my personal machines, daily drivers).
John the ripper is also a <Mod Edit> show. I actually use this on macos (macos/m* compiled) because it's faster on my MBP16 M2 Max (8 performance cores) than on my i7 13700 desktop.
The video encoding... wow. m2 x265 on macos absolutely destroys the ryzen per core. I'm not talking video toolbox/ hardware, just CPU. The examples in Asahi are an order of magnitude slower than on macos.
This is maybe the worst article I've seen on TH or Phoronix. -
vinay2070 Reply
Welcome to the new Tomshardware!syadnom said:This is a crap article, completely misleading.
Running native linux with good driver support and compiled for target CPU vs running an alpha release ... -
jilive Ummm ... folks, Serve The Home also says that the latest AMD Ryzen laptop chips beat the M2 and M2 Pro.Reply
https://www.servethehome.com/minisforum-um790-pro-review-big-upgrade-to-a-small-amd-system/4/And they aren't alone, not by a long shot. Tons of actual tech enthusiast sites, instead of the big mainstream "tech" sites, say the same.
You folks need to realize that the American media is filled with people who use Apple products exclusively. They use iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, iMacs and even obscure stuff like the Apple TV and HomePod. The competition routinely beats their preferred Apple products but you never hear them report it. When ChromeOS outsold macOS from 4Q2019 - 2Q2022? They never acknowledged it. The latest MediaTek and Qualcomm flagship CPUs outperforming the latest iPhone chips, especially in graphics? Not a word. When Alder Lake Intel Core i7 and i9 beat the M1 Ultra and M2 Pro? They shifted the goal posts to power efficiency and - I am not making this up - performance when on battery.
Can't wait until September-October when 14th gen Intel chips launch. Their 3rd gen integrated graphics and 2nd gen efficiency cores will FINALLY force this crowd to acknowledge without caveats that 14th gen Intel is better than anything that the M1 and M2 can offer. Of course the M3 will come out soon after and allow them to get right back to playing their games but it won't last long ... AMD's Ryzen 8 will be right around the corner. -
NeoMorpheus Well…Reply
One, as much as i like AMD, Phoronix clearly stated that its incomplete because Ahai Linux is reverse engineering apple code, because apple doesn’t give a f… about Linux.
Two, its a shame that such good SOC are at the hands of apple, since as stated above, will never get proper support/drivers for amy other OS.
Three, which means, EOL and ot will be e-waste.
Four, corporations rabid fanbois (like the ones from apple and ngreedia) are exhausting.
Five, shame on you toms. But then again, todays media and Tubers are all the same. -
palladin9479 Umm guys ... this is a CPU test not a GPU or storage one, there absolutely doesn't need to be any special drivers involved, just the applications compiled for the native ISA's of the CPU's being tested.Reply
An x86 CPU crushing an ARM CPU is nothing new, they do it all the time because x86 processors tend to be designed for performance while ARM is usually designed for power efficiency. Apple's M2 only looked good early on because they were the first to have access to a new TSMC processing node and therefor got to harvest those benefits while everyone else was stuck on the older nodes. Apple paid a ridiculous amount of money to TSMC for that privilege then controlled what media outlets were allowed to say.
And holy cow the Apple faithful are salty as heck... -
KaihatsuJai Absolutely howling here.Reply
Mac fans whining about clickbait, obvious whatabouters.
Topic is M2 is old hat, stay focused.