Hello. I just bought a new Lenovo Z575 laptop and I have a few questions regarding the processor. It is the A4-3300M APU with Radeon HD 6480G graphics. After doing some research, I have found two different variants on the graphics portion. One being a Radeon HD 6480G (which is what I have) and the other being a Radeon HD 6480M. I guess my ultimate question is, what is the difference between these two? I did a little bit of research and it seems that G variant has manufacturer (Lenovo, HP, etc.) specific drivers and catalyst program that can not be updated through AMD's website and the M variant does NOT have manufacturer specific drivers and catalyst program and CAN be updated through AMD's site. Is this correct?

Lastly, I have read that this processors main operating speed is 1.9 GHz (which is what it displays on the "view basic information about your computer page" on Windows) and it has the ability to go up to 2.5 GHz (I believe its called TurboCore). Is there any guarantee that I know this processor will go up to 2.5 GHz if need be (like visual proof)? I ask this because I have looked at many different places in windows (and in the BIOS as well but didn't find anything in there) and all I find is 1.9...I have not seen a 2.5 number anywhere. Also, I recently ran the new 3DMark 11 test as a basic/free user (which performed very poorly by the way) and I noticed on the results page it showed the processor clock speed at 1.9. You would think a thorough stress test such as this would cause the TurboCore to kick in.

Any information would be greatly appreciated to help settle these concerns for me. Thank you.

Edited: 08/17/2011 at 10:08 PM by murderwasthebass

I believe that the Radeon HD 6480M is a discrete graphics, and Radeon HD 6480G is an on-chip graphics. I suspect that the latest version of Catalyst drivers will work with both of them, although vendor-specific version may include additional stuff, like extra drivers, customizations and/or unneeded software.

On dual-core processors, Turbo Core is activated only when the second core is idle. Try to run single-threaded program, like SuperPi, while watching CPU-z.

Gennadiy

OK. Thank you for the great information. I will look more into the Radeon graphics and see what more I may find. As for the processor portion, here are my findings.

I ran SuperPi together with CPU-z and ran the 32M test on SuperPi (without knowing the standard for this test was 1M...lol) and while it was running, every once in a GREAT WHILE, intermittently, the clock speed would jump to 2495-2557 (once for a brief second it even jumped to 3845 but it was only once) but for the most part stayed around 1897-1917. This test took me 33 minutes and 27 seconds...lol. Then I ran the 1M test 3 different times and each time I ran it, the clock speed stayed right around the 2495-2557 range. My time for this test was 34 seconds. I then monitored CPU-z without SuperPi running and it stayed at the 1897-1917 range.

The processor will leave Turbo Core mode if it exceeds the maximum power (35 Watt) and maximum temperature limits. I suspect the CPU overheats in Turbo Core mode when you run SuperPi 32M, and it falls back to stock frequency.

Gennadiy

Hey guys. I emailed AMD on the graphics portion and got an answer from them. Here is their reply:

"Thank you for contacting AMD. The letter difference is to help identify how the GPU is installed in the system. The M version is a graphics card embedded into a laptop's motherboard where the G version is built into the APU itself."

Just wanted to update this and let you guys know. Pretty much on the money, gshv. Thanks for the info on the processor portion as well!