Intel Core i3-5005U vs Intel Processor N95 vs Intel Core i3-N305

Intel Core i3-5005U

The Intel Core i3-5005U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor based on the Broadwell architecture, which has been launched in January 2015. In addition to two CPU cores with Hyper-Threading clocked at 2.0 GHz (no Turbo), the chip also integrates an HD Graphics 5500 GPU and a dual-channel DDR3(L)-1600 memory controller. The Core i3 is manufactured in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors.

Architecture

Broadwell represents the "Tick" in Intel's Tick-Tock model, which means a shrink of its predecessor Haswell. The new 14 nm manufacturing process with three-dimensional FinFET transistors allows not only improvements in energy efficiency, but also a significantly smaller die size fit for more compact packages and devices.

Further advantages result from the revised microarchitecture of Broadwell. Due to its improved branch prediction, bigger buffer sizes (1500 instead of 1000 entries in the L2 TLB) and other tweaks, the performance per clock has been increased by more than 5 percent over its predecessor. There are also some new instruction set extensions designed for cryptographic applications.

Performance

Thanks to its improved architecture and the slightly higher clock rate, the Core i3-5005U ends up 5 - 10 percent faster than the Core i3-4025U (1.9 GHz, Haswell). Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as more demanding applications and multitasking.

Graphics

The integrated HD Graphics 5500 offers 24 Execution Units (EUs), however only 23 EUs (clocked at 300 - 850 MHz) are active in this case. Similar to the CPU core, the GPU architecture (Intel Gen 8) has been thoroughly revised for improved performance-per-clock. Therefore, the HD Graphics 5500 is able to beat the HD Graphics 4400 (20 EUs) as well as the HD Graphics 5000 (40 EUs), both part of the Haswell generation. Nevertheless, most games as of 2015 will be playable only in low settings.

Broadwell is the first Intel chip to fully support DirectX 11.2 as well as OpenCL 1.3/2.0 and OpenGL 4.3. Video will output natively via DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a. However, the new HDMI 2.0 standard is not supported.

Power Consumption

The i3-5005U is rated at a TDP of 15 W (10 W cTDP Down) including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited even for small ultrabooks 11-inches and greater.

Intel Processor N95

The Intel Processor N95 (sometimes also called Celeron N95 or Pentium N95) is an entry-level mobile CPU for thin and light laptops from the Alder Lake-N series. It was announced in early 2023 and offers no performance cores and 4 of the 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The chip does not support HyperThreading and clocks with up to 3.4 GHz. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 6 MB L3-cache. Compared to the similar Processor N100, the N95 offers a slightly higher TDP and therefore maybe a slightly improved sustained performance.

Performance

The average N95 in our database is in the same league as the Pentium 7505 and the Core i3-1115G4, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. That's not a great result, to put it mildly.

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.

Features

The Alder Lake-N chips only support single channel memory with up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 or LPDDR5-4800. The chip also supports Quick Sync and AV1 decoding (most likely same engine as in Alder Lake). Furthermore, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 are partly integrated (but no Thunderbolt). External chips can be connected via PCIe Gen3 x9 (via the PCH).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offers only 16 of the 32 EUs (Execution Units) operating at only 1200 MHz. Due to the single channel memory, low clock speeds, and low shader count, the gaming performance of the iGPU is very limited.

Power consumption

The N95 has a base power consumption of 12 W (compared to the 6 W of the N100) and is therefore well suited for thin and light systems. The CPU is built with a further improved 10nm SuperFin process at Intel (called Intel 7).

Intel Core i3-N305

The Intel Core i3-N305 is an entry-level mobile CPU for thin and light laptops from the Alder Lake-N series. It was announced in early 2023 and offers no performance cores and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The chip does not support HyperThreading and clocks with up to 3.8 GHz. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 6 MB L3-cache.

Performance

We have not tested a single system built around the N305, as of September 2023. Expect the chip to be 50% to 100% faster than the N95 (4 cores, 4 threads, up to 3.4 GHz).

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solutuion of your system is.

Features

The Alder Lake-N chips only support single channel memory with up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 or LPDDR5-4800. The chip also supports Quick Sync and AV1 decoding (most likely same engine as in Alder Lake). Furthermore, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 are partly integrated (but no Thunderbolt). External chips can be connected via PCIe Gen3 x9 (via the PCH).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offersall 32 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.25 GHz. In addition to the single channel memory, the gaming performance is very limited of the iGPU.

Power consumption

The i3 has a base power consumption of 15 W and can be configured down to 9 W. The CPU is built with a further improved 10nm SuperFin process at Intel (called Intel 7).