[Device Reviews and Information] Jupit3r:
Performance: old processor that still rocks

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The unit I have on hand features an AMD Ryzen7-4800processor, which is a 7nm Zen2-based APU that has 8 CPU cores, 16 threads, as well as integrated Radeon Graphics GPU. There’s also 32GB DDR4 3200MHz dual-channel memory and a 500GB m.2 NVMe SSD in my unit. Although the Ryzen7-4800U is a mobile chip released more than 2 years ago, it is still mighty impressive, and benchmark scores told the story.

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These are the models I use for comparison, including some of the most popular machines out there.

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First, I ran Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The SER4 got a solid score in CPU multi-core, beating the M1 powered Apple MAC mini and both variants of the Intel NUC 11 Pro, but it fell a little short in terms of single core performance.

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In the older Cinebench R20 test, the SER4 easily outpaced the Intel NUC 11 Pros again in multi-core CPU performance.

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Comparing the SER4 to the Intel NUC 11 Pros using GeekBench 5 tells a similar story. Intel has AMD beaten in single-core performance but in multi-core performance, the AMD chip simply stomps the i7 into the dirt.

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PCMark 10 simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. we use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. The SER4 notched 5177 in the standard PCMark 10 test, ranking above both variants of the Intel NUC 11 Pro.

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In everyday use, the difference in single-core performance will go largely unnoticed, but if you decide to edit some high-resolution images or 4K videos, then the multi-core ability of the AMD chip will shine through.

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The m.2 NVMe SSD is not the fastest we’ve seen, but at nearly 2,000MB/s for reading data off the drive, this is still more than ideal for booting Windows and all your favorite productivity apps.

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The unit I received comes with two Crucial 16GB DDR4-3200MHz memory sticks. This dual-channel memory setup guarantees high overall bandwidth and throughput speed. In the AIDA64 cache & memory benchmark, the read, write and copy speeds of the 32GB memory are decent, the 95.6ns latency is not the best we’ve seen, but still solid. The performance of the integrated GPU also benefits greatly from dual-channel memory, as most of the numbers in the GPGPU test result look lovely.

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The AMD are known to offer better integrated GPUs than Intel, that’s why you often see Intel powered laptops relying heavily on GeForce MX series discrete GPU for gaming, while AMD chips can take care of gaming all on their own. The integrated Radeon Graphics GPU here isn’t powerful enough to make the SER4 a proper gaming or VR machine, but it is still reasonably capable. In 3DMark, the SER4 was returned 1,420 in Time Spy, 3,573 in Fire Strike, and 13,036 in Sky Diver.

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Running “Genshin Impact” at 1920 x 1080 and medium settings saw an average of 44fps, not great, but still generally smooth the whole time. “Spell Break” returned very similar results. Less graphics-intensive games such as LOL can run smoothly even at 4K and high settings.

“Conqueror’s Blade” tells a different story, though. At 1080P and medium settings, the average frame rate recorded by GamePP was only 22fps. It is still playable, but you probably will want to turn down the resolution, or settings, or both for better smoothness. Because when I switched to 720 and low graphics settings, the average frame rate was improved to 42fps.

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Those results mean the SER4 should be able to deal with reasonably intense graphic workloads without grinding to a halt. With that said, please bear in mind that the SER4 will not be enough if you want to game in the highest possible settings and still get a fair chance against other players.

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The SER4 can also be a solid HTPC if you want it to. It has no problem decoding any video formats I played on it, including a few 8K@60fps and 4K@120fps clips. Streaming 4K YouTube Videos in Chrome, this machine does not skip a bit, either.

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However, the SER4 did struggle a lit bit with 8K online streaming, as you can see in the screenshot that the CPU usage reached 100%, and I did notice some frame skip.

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The SER4’s performance hasn’t come at the expense of heat or economy. The power draw is only 5W at idle over the course of two hours. When running the AIDA64 stress test, the SER4 drew an indicated maximum of 38W. Even under stress the casing never became more than slightly warm to the touch and the fans were impressively quiet. The quoted noise levels 21.9dB at idle and 37.7dB with the fans at full chat tallied with the results from our sound monitor.

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Thanks to the efficient cooling, the SER4 is also extremely stable, it passed the 3DMark Time Spy Stress test with a very high mark.