Intel Core i5-3320M vs Intel Core i5-4260U vs Intel Core i5-4200H

The Intel Core i5-4260U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor for ultrabooks launched in Q2 2014. It is based on the Haswell architecture and is manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyper-Threading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel, leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 1.4 GHz, but can dynamically increase clock rates with Turbo Boost up to 2.7 GHz for 1 active core or 2.4 GHz for 2 active cores (i5-4250U: 1.3 - 2.6 GHz).

Architecture

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving performance per clock by almost 10 percent. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

Performance

The performance of the Core i5-4260U is similar to the old and slightly higher clocked Core i5-3427U. However, when using new instruction sets such as AVX2 the performance can be significantly better. Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as more demanding applications.

Graphics

The integrated HD Graphics 5000 offers 40 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 200 - 1000 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it significantly faster than the HD Graphics 4000. However, the performance is often limited by the memory bandwidth and just slightly above the HD 4400 (20 EUs).

Power Consumption

The i5-4260U is rated at a TDP of 15 W including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited for small ultrabooks 11-inches or greater.

The Intel Core i5-4200H is a fast dual-core processor for laptops launched in Q4 2013. It is based on the Haswell architecture and is manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyper-Threading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 2.8 GHz but can dynamically increase clock rates with Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz for 1 active core and 3.3 GHz for 2 active cores.

Architecture

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

Performance

Due to these changes, the performance per clock has been improved by almost 10 percent compared to Ivy Bridge. Therefore, the i5-4200H is slightly faster than the former top model i7-3520M and roughly on par with the Core i5-4330M.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 400 MHz up to 1150 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it about 30 % faster than a similarly clocked HD 4000.

Power Consumption

The i5-4200H is rated at a very high TDP of 47 W including the graphics card, memory controller and VRMs. This TDP range is typical of mobile quad-core processors. Therefore, the CPU is suited for laptops 15-inches or greater.