Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) vs AMD EPYC 7542

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD EPYC 7542
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) AMD EPYC 7542

CPU comparison

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) or AMD EPYC 7542 - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) was released in Q4/2021.

The AMD EPYC 7542 has 32 cores with 64 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.40 GHz. The CPU supports up to GB of memory in 8 memory channels. The AMD EPYC 7542 was released in Q3/2019.
AMD Ryzen 5 (86) Family AMD EPYC (129)
AMD Aerith (Steam Deck) (1) CPU group AMD EPYC 7002 (24)
3 Generation 2
Aerith (Zen 2) Architecture Rome (Zen 2)
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz). The AMD EPYC 7542 has 32 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.90 GHz (3.40 GHz).

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic AMD EPYC 7542
4 Cores 32
8 Threads 64
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz Frequency 2.90 GHz
3.50 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 3.40 GHz
2.80 GHz Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 3.20 GHz

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic AMD EPYC 7542
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) GPU no iGPU
1.00 GHz GPU frequency --
1.60 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
-- GPU Generation --
7 nm Technology
2 Max. displays
8 Compute units --
512 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
8 GB Max. GPU Memory --
12 DirectX Version --

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) GPU no iGPU
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 No
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The AMD EPYC 7542 can connect up to GB of memory in 8 memory channels.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic AMD EPYC 7542
LPDDR5-5500 Memory DDR4-3200
16 GB Max. Memory
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 8 (Octa Channel)
88.0 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 51.2 GB/s
No ECC Yes
2.00 MB L2 Cache --
4.00 MB L3 Cache 128.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 4.0
8 PCIe lanes 128
7.9 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 252.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has a TDP of 15 W, that of the AMD EPYC 7542 is 225 W.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic AMD EPYC 7542
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 225 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
4 W TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has a 6.00 MB cache, while the AMD EPYC 7542 cache has a total of 128.00 MB.

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Characteristic AMD EPYC 7542
7 nm Technology 7 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3 ISA extensions SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
FF3 Socket SP3
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization AMD-V, SVM
Yes AES-NI Yes
SteamOS (Arch Linux) Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q4/2021 Release date Q3/2019
-- Release price 6000 $
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.8 stars (5 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the AMD EPYC 7542 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) (89%)
AMD EPYC 7542 (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) (22%)
AMD EPYC 7542 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
849 (84%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.40 GHz
1013 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
3592 (13%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz
26749 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1278 (93%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.40 GHz
1371 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4365 (30%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz
14416 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
57 (100%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
275 (100%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
975 (100%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4359 (100%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.40 GHz
397 (100%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz
1638 (100%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD EPYC 7542 AMD EPYC 7542
32C 64T @ 3.20 GHz
56727 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) AMD EPYC 7542
Valve Steam Deck Unknown

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