5th Gen Core i7 vs 4th or 3rd Gen Core i7 Performance

[pjg61]

I have a ThinkPad T530 with an i7-3720QM and was thinking of the new T550 or W550s.

My problem is that my i7-3720QM has a CPU benchmark of 8310 and the new i7-5600U has a CPU benchmark of only 4306.

Other than power saving features, from a pure performance point of view, this seems like a huge step downward. And, the new 5th gen i7s are only dual-core and there are no quad cores...

The W541 can come with an i7-4910MQ which has a high CPU benchmark.

What am I missing ??? All the new ultra-low voltage CPUs may give us great battery life but it seems to me that we have lost all high-performance computing...

Comments ?

[David (PassMark)]

The i7-3720QM was a 45W CPU.
The i7-5600U is a 15W CPU.

So the i7-3720QM uses up to 3 times as much electrical power. It is really a different class of CPU for a different market.

The i7-5600U is suited to thinner lighter laptops. With only 15W they might not even need a fan for cooling.

[pjg61]

Other than power saving features, from a pure performance point of view, this seems like a huge step downward.

As I mentioned in the original quote, other than power saving features, heat, etc,

from a pure PERFORMANCE point of view, the new CPUs appear to be half the speed of the old. In both the overall benchmark and single thread benchmark.

Am I missing something ???

[David (PassMark)]

Am I missing something ???

Yes, you aren't comparing apples to apples. They are different CPUs for different markets.

Maybe compare the Intel Core i7-4980HQ and the i7-3720QM if you want a step up, in terms of CPU processing power. It will be a step down in battery life however.

[pjg61]

Ok, so first point. The older processors are faster. Correct ?

Next, why am I not comparing the apples and apples ? These are all Intel's top line of mobile processors. 3rd gen, 4th gen, 5th gen. In the mobile world, Intel appears to be focusing on Low Voltage processors which consume less power, generate far less heat and therefore produce laptops with much longer battery life. But for those of us who want the fastest processor short of a desktop, we seem to be SOL with the 5th gen "U" processors... Right now, Intel doesn't seem to have any Quad Core mobile processors and I don't know if any are in the pipeline.

The fact that Lenovo's "W"Series (aka Workstation) now has a 5600U instead of a 4910MQ says alot. Big battery life but half the horsepower of before...

Again, in terms of performance only, are the new machines much slower from a CPU point of view that the old ???

[David (PassMark)]

first point. The older processors are faster. Correct ?

No, not correct. You can't make such a broad generalization.
The situation is more complex.

I am guessing U is for Ultrabooks. But clearly you aren't in the market for an Ultrabook. So this new range of CPUs isn't for you. Not every CPU range is going to match your requirements.

Maybe you should wait for the Intel Skylake CPU releases in a few months.
The Skylake-H and Skylake-S CPU ranges are probably more what you are looking for (35 - 45W).

[zaya8588]

Thanks for the info

No, not correct. You can't make such a broad generalization.
The situation is more complex.

I am guessing U is for Ultrabooks. But clearly you aren't in the market for an Ultrabook. So this new range of CPUs isn't for you. Not every CPU range is going to match your requirements.

Maybe you should wait for the Intel Skylake CPU releases in a few months.
The Skylake-H and Skylake-S CPU ranges are probably more what you are looking for (35 - 45W).

I just want to thank you for the info and ask a couple more questions. I was just in a Best Buy looking for a sleek laptop with good battery life, but I didn't want to lose performance in case I wanted to game on it and I had been out of the loop for a couple years and didn't realize their was 5th gen series out. Well, I figured there would be, but wasn't expecting just low performance, dual core, battery savers. it had such low benchmark scores compared to the 4700 mq and hq basics that I was seriously disappointed. Do you know if the Skylake CPUs are going to have quad core processors in some of their models? I am looking for one on a thin laptop, but I may very well have to settle for a 5th Gen U series I want something lightweight that last 5 or 6 hours, but has good performance. Do you know about any lightweight ultrabooks that would better fit my wants, cause I am not seeing any that fit?

[godfather]

I just want to thank you for the info and ask a couple more questions. I was just in a Best Buy looking for a sleek laptop with good battery life, but I didn't want to lose performance in case I wanted to game on it and I had been out of the loop for a couple years and didn't realize their was 5th gen series out. Well, I figured there would be, but wasn't expecting just low performance, dual core, battery savers. it had such low benchmark scores compared to the 4700 mq and hq basics that I was seriously disappointed. Do you know if the Skylake CPUs are going to have quad core processors in some of their models? I am looking for one on a thin laptop, but I may very well have to settle for a 5th Gen U series I want something lightweight that last 5 or 6 hours, but has good performance. Do you know about any lightweight ultrabooks that would better fit my wants, cause I am not seeing any that fit?

If your concern is gaming, then you're looking at the wrong performance benchmark. Basically, all modern CPUs are fast enough for any game. It's the GPU that you should be looking at. Almost all Intel CPUs have integrated GPUs that are not fast enough for modern video games. So what you'll need is a dedicated graphics card. The GT 750m is a popular one, found in many laptops. It'll do okay on most games. If you want something significantly faster, you'll need to buy a dedicated gaming laptop. They're usually heavy, and always expensive.

[David (PassMark)]

Yes, the video card is very important for gaming.
But at some point the CPU becomes a bottleneck as well. I wouldn't expect too much from the 15W CPUs.

Would almost be better off buying a cheap tablet for the portability & basic tasks, then a second desktop machine for gaming.

[makanmel]

I have a ThinkPad T530 with an i7-3720QM and was thinking of the new T550 or W550s.

My problem is that my i7-3720QM has a CPU benchmark of 8310 and the new i7-5600U has a CPU benchmark of only 4306.

Other than power saving features, from a pure performance point of view, this seems like a huge step downward. And, the new 5th gen i7s are only dual-core and there are no quad cores...

The W541 can come with an i7-4910MQ which has a high CPU benchmark.

What am I missing ??? All the new ultra-low voltage CPUs may give us great battery life but it seems to me that we have lost all high-performance computing...

Comments ?

One should consider the single thread rating as well. Many tasks cannot utilize more than one processor core. From this angle of view the difference between the two processors is not that big (1830 vs 1696 http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare....895&cmp[]=2456)