Totally confused about desktop Radeon Vega integrated graphics

[Birdmilk]

I've just built a hard times PC. It has a Ryzen 5 5600G in it, with Vega 7 integrated graphics and obviously no dedicated graphics card (planning to add later). For whatever reason most of the websites don't state what Integrated graphics it has. Usually they just say Radeon Graphics. And this is my first build, so I was pretty overwhelmed by the benchmarks, compatibilities, tests, picking the config etc. So I've just realised that 5600G has Vega 7 graphics, while the 5700G has Vega 8. So I started feeling bad about my choice going with the 5600G and wanted to look up the difference between them. But my lord it is difficult to figure out what is going on.

 

So my questions are:

- What is going on with AMD's naming? Why is there a random Vega 11?

- Are they called Radeon Rx Vega or is that another lineup? (I have seen it many combinations)

- What is the main difference between those generations? If its only performance, is it significant?

- Are the numbers behind Radeon Vega xx represent anything, like i3 or b550?

- Is there a difference between these integrated gpus and the mobile ones like a 4500U apu has, even with the same name?

 

I tried to clear these things in my head but nobody is super interested in these APU-s as much as other components, so the info is also pretty limited or at least not that precise.

 

Thanks people!

[da na]

The number in the name is how many execution units (ROPs) the GPU has. Vega 3 has 3, Vega 7 has 7, Vega 8 has 8, Vega 11 has 11. 

RX Vega is the higher end Vegas (Vega 56, 64) AFAIK.

 

[YoungBlade]

11 minutes ago, Birdmilk said:

- What is going on with AMD's naming? Why is there a random Vega 11?

The Vega 11 isn't random. The 3400G and 2400G used Vega 11 graphics, which has 11 compute units compared to the 7 in the Vega 7 found on the 5600G. However, the older Vega 11 in the older APUs clocks much lower and lacks some performance optimizations, meaning that usually the 5600G's iGPU does better.

11 minutes ago, Birdmilk said:

- Are they called Radeon Rx Vega or is that another lineup? (I have seen it many combinations)

Radeon RX Vega is typically in reference to the Vega 56 and Vega 64, two graphics cards released by AMD in 2017 that used scaled up versions of the integrated Vega graphics.

11 minutes ago, Birdmilk said:

- What is the main difference between those generations? If its only performance, is it significant?

7 vs 8 vs 11 aren't generations. It's the number of compute units in the iGPU. Unless you mean a difference between the 3400G and 5600G, in which case, yes, there have been some iGPU optimizations and improvements between the Vega 11 in the 3400G and the Vega 7 in the 5600G that results in the 5600G's Vega 7 actually performing better in most games.

11 minutes ago, Birdmilk said:

- Are the numbers behind Radeon Vega xx represent anything, like i3 or b550?

It isn't like a model number, either. Instead, as said, the 7 represents the number of compute units.

11 minutes ago, Birdmilk said:

- Is there a difference between these integrated gpus and the mobile ones like a 4500U apu has, even with the same name?

The mobile ones can have different clock speeds due to the more limited power availability for mobile parts.

[Middcore]

Vega is just about the only line of graphics chips were the model name/number actually DOES mean something.

[YoungBlade]

1 hour ago, Middcore said:

Vega is just about the only line of graphics chips were the model name/number actually DOES mean something.

That's an interesting observation. AMD also did that with the FX CPUs: the lead number was the core count. So the 6300 was actually newer than the 8150, but had 6 cores instead of 8.

 

And yet, it also shows that the number is meaningless for consumers, because the Vega 7 in the 5600G usually outdoes the Vega 11 in the 3400G.

 

Maybe all GPUs should be named based on the 3D Mark Fire Strike score or something? But that would present its own issues...

[Mister Woof]

At least they aren't like Intel naming schemes

[Middcore]

1 hour ago, YoungBlade said:

That's an interesting observation. AMD also did that with the FX CPUs: the lead number was the core count. So the 6300 was actually newer than the 8150, but had 6 cores instead of 8.

 

And yet, it also shows that the number is meaningless for consumers, because the Vega 7 in the 5600G usually outdoes the Vega 11 in the 3400G.

 

In 2017 I wished AMD had used the naming scheme Ryzen 4, Ryzen 6, and Ryzen 8 to match the core count and (less importantly but in keeping with what seemed to amuse them) one-up Intel's Core series. Instead they aped 3/5/7 slavishly because they thought that's what the public "understood" I guess, as if it means something.