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AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile

AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile: Review of Integrated Graphics Solution for Budget Systems

April 2025

Introduction: The Role of Vega 8 Mobile in the Modern Market

The AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile is an integrated graphics core that continues to be popular in budget laptops and compact PCs. Despite the emergence of newer APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) models from AMD, such as the Ryzen 7000 and 8000 series, Vega 8 maintains its relevance due to its balance of price, energy efficiency, and adequate performance for basic tasks. In this article, we will discuss what makes this graphics solution noteworthy, who it is suitable for, and how it stands against competitors.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Architecture: Vega 8 is based on the GCN 5.0 (Vega) microarchitecture, which debuted back in 2017. Despite its age, optimizations from AMD and support for modern APIs (DirectX 12, Vulkan) allow it to remain competitive.

Manufacturing Process: Vega 8 chips are produced using 7nm technology, ensuring low power consumption and a compact size, which is particularly important for mobile devices.

Unique Features:

- FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR): Support for AMD's upscaling technology that increases FPS in games through dynamic resolution (available modes are Quality, Balanced, and Performance).

- Radeon Chill: Power consumption optimization through dynamic frame rate limiting based on user activity.

- FreeSync: Adaptive synchronization to eliminate screen tearing.

Limitations:

- No hardware support for ray tracing (RT Cores).

- FSR performs worse than NVIDIA's DLSS due to the lack of neural network-based upscaling.

2. Memory: Type, Capacity, and Impact on Performance

Memory Type: Vega 8 Mobile uses system RAM (DDR4 or LPDDR4X). Unlike discrete GPUs with dedicated VRAM (e.g., GDDR6), this imposes bandwidth limitations.

Capacity: Up to 2 GB of allocated memory (configurable through BIOS/UEFI), but in practice, the graphics card can utilize up to 50% of the RAM. For comfortable operation, a minimum of 16 GB of system memory is recommended.

Bandwidth:

- In dual-channel mode (a requirement for Vega 8), the speed reaches ~38.4–51.2 GB/s (depending on RAM frequency: 2400–3200 MHz).

- Single-channel configurations reduce performance by 30–40%.

Tip: For gaming and professional tasks, choose laptops with dual-channel memory and frequencies of 3200 MHz or higher.

3. Gaming Performance: What to Expect in 2025?

Vega 8 Mobile is aimed at 1080p gaming on low to medium settings. Here are examples of average FPS in popular titles (tested on Ryzen 5 5600U, 16 GB DDR4-3200):

- CS2: 60–75 FPS (low settings).

- Fortnite: 45–55 FPS (medium settings + FSR Performance).

- Apex Legends: 40–50 FPS (low settings).

- Cyberpunk 2077: 25–30 FPS (low + FSR Ultra Performance).

Supported Resolutions:

- 1080p: Optimal for the majority of games.

- 1440p and 4K: Only for less demanding titles (e.g., Dota 2, Minecraft) or with active FSR.

Ray Tracing: No hardware support. Software methods (e.g., via DirectX Raytracing) can drop FPS to 10–15 frames, making them ineffective.

4. Professional Tasks: Capabilities Beyond Gaming

Vega 8 handles basic professional tasks, but serious work will require a discrete graphics card.

- Video Editing: Editing in DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro is possible at resolutions up to 1080p. Rendering slows down when using effects.

- 3D Modeling: Blender and AutoCAD function, but complex scenes need optimization. OpenCL is supported, but not CUDA.

- Scientific Calculations: Suitable for educational projects (MATLAB, Python) but not for large-scale simulations.

Tip: For professional tasks, it is better to choose a laptop with an NVIDIA GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon 780M.

5. Power Consumption and Thermal Output

TDP: Processors with Vega 8 Mobile (e.g., Ryzen 5 5500U) have a TDP of 15–25 W, with around ~10–15 W allocated to the graphics.

Cooling:

- Passive cooling: Sufficient for office tasks.

- Active cooling (fan): Necessary for gaming and prolonged loads.

Case Recommendations:

- For mini-PCs: Cases with ventilation holes (e.g., InWin Chopin).

- For laptops: Models with copper heat pipes and dual fans (e.g., Lenovo IdeaPad 5).

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon 780M (RDNA 3):

- 50–70% faster in games.

- Supports hardware ray tracing.

- Price of laptops: from $700.

NVIDIA GeForce MX550:

- Better optimized for gaming (+20% FPS).

- Supports DLSS, but lacks RT.

- Price: laptops starting at $650.

Intel Iris Xe (96 EU):

- Comparable performance in DX12 but worse in Vulkan.

- Cheaper (laptops starting at $500).

Conclusion: Vega 8 Mobile falls short compared to modern alternatives but excels in the budget segment (devices from $400).

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply: For PCs with APU, a PSU rated at 300–400 W is sufficient (e.g., be quiet! System Power 10).

Compatibility:

- Platforms: AM4 (desktop PCs), FP6 (mobile).

- PCIe 3.0 support is essential.

Drivers:

- Use AMD Adrenalin Edition 2025.

- Avoid beta versions to prevent potential errors in OpenCL.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Low device prices (laptops from $400).

- Energy efficiency.

- Support for modern APIs and FSR.

Cons:

- Limited gaming performance.

- Dependence on RAM speed.

- No hardware Ray Tracing.

9. Final Conclusion: Who is Vega 8 Mobile Suitable For?

This graphics solution is ideal for those seeking a budget option for:

- Office work and studying.

- Light gaming (CS2, Fortnite, indie projects).

- Multimedia tasks (watching 4K video, basic editing).

In 2025, Vega 8 Mobile remains relevant in the segment of devices under $500, but for demanding tasks, it’s worth considering options with RDNA 3 or NVIDIA RTX 2050.

Prices are current as of April 2025. They apply to new devices in retail outlets in the USA.

Basic

Label Name

AMD

Platform

Integrated

Launch Date

January 2021

Model Name

Radeon Vega 8 Mobile

Generation

Cezanne

Base Clock

300MHz

Boost Clock

2000MHz

Bus Interface

IGP

Transistors

9,800 million

Compute Units

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

7 nm

Architecture

GCN 5.1

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

System Shared

Memory Type

System Shared

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

System Shared

Memory Clock

SystemShared

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

System Dependent

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

16.00 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

64.00 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

4.096 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

128.0 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

2.007 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

512

TDP

45W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.2

OpenCL Version

2.1

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_1)

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.4

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.