AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 vs Intel Core Ultra 7 355: More Threads vs Faster Graphics

The AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 and Intel Core Ultra 7 355 are designed for thin laptops with hardware AI acceleration. Both processors have eight physical cores and an NPU with a performance of around 50 TOPS, but are built on different principles.

AMD offers eight cores and 16 threads, making it noticeably faster in multi-threaded tasks. Intel is limited to eight threads but provides more powerful integrated graphics and a platform with PCIe 5.0 and Thunderbolt 4.

Key Differences

Ryzen AI 7 450 combines four full-sized Zen 5 cores and four compact Zen 5c cores. All eight support SMT, allowing the processor to execute 16 threads simultaneously. Its standard TDP is 28 W, with laptop manufacturers able to configure power in the range of 15 to 54 W.

Core Ultra 7 355 features four powerful Cougar Cove cores and four low-power Darkmont cores. This model doesn't have regular E-cores, nor does it support Hyper-Threading. Its base power is 25 W, and its maximum Turbo Power is 55 W.

Geekbench 6 in Specific Laptops

The performance results of mobile processors depend on cooling, power limits, memory, and firmware settings. Therefore, instead of a single averaged figure, we will consider several series devices.

The table uses published Geekbench 6 results for specific laptop models. This is not a direct test under the same conditions, but the sample allows us to see the typical level and range of figures.

Single-Core Performance

The average score for Ryzen AI 7 450 is around 2,908 points, compared to 2,667 for Core Ultra 7 355. AMD has an advantage of about 9%.

This difference is not due to a particularly successful laptop. All four Ryzen devices score higher than the best Intel result in this sample. The higher maximum frequency and powerful Zen 5 cores give AMD an edge in browsing, office applications, photo processing, and other lightly parallelized tasks.

Multi-Core Performance

In Multi-Core, Ryzen AI 7 450 scores around 13,780 points on average, while Core Ultra 7 355 scores 11,290. AMD's advantage increases to approximately 22%.

The main reason is the support for 16 threads. Intel also has eight physical cores, but four of them belong to the low-power LP E-core class, and simultaneous execution of two threads on one core is not supported.

Ryzen AI 7 450 is significantly preferable for:

• Compiling large projects;
• Rendering;
• Video encoding;
• Virtual machines;
• Intensive multitasking.

However, the table shows the impact of specific laptops. The IdeaPad Pro 5 scores 14,624 points, while the more compact HP OmniBook X Flip scores 13,151. The difference between them exceeds 11%, although the same processor is used.

Integrated Graphics

According to available results, the integrated graphics of Core Ultra 7 355 is faster. Laptops with Intel Graphics and four Xe-cores score about 2,900-2,980 points in 3DMark Time Spy Graphics. The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 with Ryzen AI 7 450 and Radeon 860M scored 2,365 points. Intel's advantage in these devices is approximately 23-26%.

The Radeon 860M has eight compute units and operates at a frequency of up to 3.1 GHz, while Intel specifies four Xe-cores at up to 2.5 GHz. It is not possible to directly compare the number of units: graphics architectures differ, and Intel makes more effective use of available resources.

Both graphics systems are suitable for less demanding games and work without a discrete graphics card, but the Core Ultra 7 355 has a higher performance headroom. For heavier games, it will still be necessary to lower the resolution and graphics quality.

It should be noted that currently only a limited set of tests for the Ryzen AI 7 450 is available. In other processors, the Radeon 860M can come close to 3,000 points, so the implementation of memory and power limits of specific laptops remains important. However, in the tested devices, the advantage lies with Intel.

NPU and Local AI

The difference in NPU performance is minimal:

• Ryzen AI 7 450 - up to 50 TOPS;
• Core Ultra 7 355 - up to 49 TOPS.

Both processors meet the requirements for Copilot+ PC. There is no sense in overpaying just for a difference of 1 TOPS: practical speed depends on the support of specific applications, drivers, and used models.

Platform and Interfaces

The Core Ultra 7 355 supports PCIe 5.0, with up to 12 PCI Express lanes and Thunderbolt 4. Intel has also added hardware decoding for H.266, while both platforms support the more common H.264, H.265, and AV1 codecs.

Ryzen AI 7 450 is limited to PCIe 4.0 but has 16 available lanes and two native USB4 ports with speeds of up to 40 Gbps. AMD's platform also supports faster LPDDR5X-8533 and up to 256 GB of RAM.

For most thin laptops, the difference between PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 will remain unnoticeable. More important is the set of physical ports, which is determined by the device manufacturer.

Which Processor to Choose

Ryzen AI 7 450 is better suited for CPU tasks. It is roughly 9% faster in single-threaded and 22% faster in multi-threaded Geekbench 6. The support for 16 threads makes it a stronger solution for development, editing, rendering, and working with virtual machines.

Core Ultra 7 355 is better in integrated graphics. In available results, its Intel Graphics outperforms the Radeon 860M in the laptop with Ryzen AI 7 450 by about a quarter. Intel also offers PCIe 5.0 and Thunderbolt 4.

In terms of NPU performance, there is near parity between the processors. Therefore, the choice comes down to priorities: Ryzen is faster as a CPU, while Core Ultra offers stronger integrated graphics and a modern platform.

Conclusion

AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 wins most of the comparison due to its eight cores and 16 threads. It is faster under both single-core and multi-core loads, with the advantage particularly noticeable in multi-threaded mode.

Intel Core Ultra 7 355 lags behind in CPU computational performance but compensates with faster integrated graphics. For work tasks and multitasking, the Ryzen AI 7 450 is preferable, while for a thin laptop without a discrete graphics card, the Core Ultra 7 355 may be a more balanced choice.