AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS "Renoir" in the test

– Pre-orders are already possible, now the test embargo for "Renoir" alias Ryzen 4000 for notebooks has also been dropped. In the test, the 8-core Ryzen 9 4900HS CPU in the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 shines with very high performance at the Ryzen 7-2700X level with significantly lower energy consumption. Intel Core doesn't come with it.

Overview of the AMD Ryzen 4000 "Renoir"

Since its launch at CES 2020 in January, “Renoir” has been the defining topic at AMD. Behind it is the so important and long-awaited attack in the notebook market with cutting-edge technologies. First and foremost, these are the Zen 2 processor cores from the 7 nm production known from Ryzen (Threadripper) 3000, in the notebook they are paired with a Vega type GPU.

BitcoinMinersHashrate has recently reported several times on the technical basis behind AMD Ryzen 4000 Renoir, at this point it is representative of the large overview Ryzen 4000U / H "Renoir": The technology behind AMD's first 7 nm APU explained referenced, which illuminates all the basics in detail.

The facts finally count in this test, because BitcoinMinersHashrate has Renoir in the test – if not as originally planned. As a result of the corona virus, the platform is not only a little late, but instead of a 15-watt U version announced in February, an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with the new efficient top model Ryzen 9 4900HS was also made available.

The special feature of the HS compared to the H variant is the TDP of 35 instead of 45 watts. The addition "S" stands for slim for particularly thin notebooks. HS processors are CPUs that are intended for high-performance but still thin notebooks. There is a deduction for this in the TDP, which should hardly make itself felt in everyday life, unless extreme scenarios are used. There will be an HS model of every H variant.

Intel's H-CPUs officially always operate with a 45 watt TDP, but manufacturers can also go below or above them in profiles. How Asus does the ROG Zephyrus G14 is also clarified in the test.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 at a glance

The ROG Zephyrus G14 is one of Asus' new high-performance work and gaming notebooks in a thin format. With a maximum height of 17.9 millimeters, this is possible without any problems and the 14-inch model is also convincing at a weight of only 1.6 kilograms. The workmanship is very good, only the on-off switch with fingerprint sensor has minor flaws: it sits a bit crooked and shows large gaps. But that doesn't change the fact that AMD's mobile CPUs with the ROG Zephyrus G14 are entering completely new spheres.

For the test, AMD and Asus provided one of the top models in the series for 2,000 euros and up. This is evident not only in the fastest Ryzen 9 solution, but also in the additional equipment, which is impressive with 16 GB DDR4-3200 RAM and 1 TB SSD via PCIe 3.0. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q (65 watts max.) Provides more graphics performance. It is interesting and not immediately understandable why Asus only connects the SSD with PCIe 3.0 x2. This is sufficient for the built-in Intel SSD 660p with QLC-NAND, but the faster NVMe SSDs on the market are slowed down.

The full HD display built into the test sample is particularly convincing in the apartment, but without having already measured it, it appears somewhat dark. The keyboard with lighting shows known weaknesses, because while the somewhat uneven illumination is forgivable, depending on the viewing angle, it can ensure that the cold bluish-white light on the silver keys does not reveal anything at all. In the end, it is ultimately even better to switch off the keyboard lighting and let the keys shine with the brightness of the display: black on silver provides a much better contrast.

Asus offers customers a wide selection of equipment options for the ROG Zephyrus G14, which affect the CPU, RAM, SSD storage space as well as the GPU and the display. The variety of connections is always identical. Interestingly, the test sample uses a combination that (maybe only in Germany?) Will not be available to buy, because in retail Asus always combines the GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q with a QHD display.

Asus will bring the following variants to the market:

On the following page, BitcoinMinersHashrate initially tested the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with a focus on the built-in processor. Due to the short test period and the predominant move of the editors to the home office, not all of the goals could be achieved. A software problem consumed more valuable time. And yet the measured values ​​already give a very good impression of what AMD Ryzen 4000 "Renoir" can do.

On the next page: test results