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Intel Core i5-6500 vs Intel Core i3-1220P vs Intel Core i5-6400

Intel Core i5-6500

► remove from comparison

The Intel Core i5-6500 is a mid-range quad-core desktop processor based on the Skylake architecture, which was announced in August 2015. The CPU, which is manufactured in a 14 nm process, runs at 3.2 - 3.6 GHz and does not support Hyperthreading (only 4 threads simultaneously).

Architecture

Intel uses Skylake to replace both Broadwell as well as Haswell and therefore uses one core design for all TDP classes between 4.5-45 Watts. Several improvements of the Skylake architecture include bigger Out-to-Order-Buffer, optimizations for pre-fetching as well as bigger gains by Hyperthreading. However, the changes are small for a "Tock" – a new micro architecture – in general, so the per-MHz performance is only between 5-10 % (compared to Haswell) or less than 5 % higher (compared to Broadwell), respectively.

Performance

The performance is similar to the old Core i5-3570K of the Sandy Bridge generation. Therefore, it should be sufficient even for demanding tasks.

Graphics

Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel HD Graphics 530 with 24 EUs (Execution Units), which is clocked at 350 - 1050 MHz. Compared to the HD Graphics 4600 (Haswell, 20 EUs), the performance is increased by around 25 percent. The overall GPU performance is still low-end, so modern games can, if at all, only be played smoothly with low settings.

Power Consumption

Intel specifies the TDP with 65 Watts.

Intel Core i3-1220P

► remove from comparison Intel i3-1220P

The Intel Core i3-1220P is a lower mid-range Alder Lake family SoC designed for use in ultra-light, ultra-thin laptops of the more affordable flavour. It was announced in early 2022 and it has 2 performance cores as opposed to the 6 cores of the top-of-the-line i7-1280P (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) mated to 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The i3's P-cores are Hyper-Threading-enabled for a total of 12 threads when combined with its E-cores. The clock speeds range from 1.5 GHz to 4.4 GHz for the performance cluster and 1.1 GHz to 3.3 GHz for the efficient cluster. The shortcomings of this processor as compared with the faster Core i5-1240P are many, including the significantly slower iGPU, lower CPU core count, lower clock speeds, complete lack of the vPro features.

Architecture

The i3 is a continuation of Intel's efforts to use the ARM-developed big.LITTLE technology for its own benefit. A single "little" Alder Lake core is supposed to be as fast as a Skylake core (as found in the venerable Core i7-6700HQ among other options) which is six years old at this point. All of Core i3-1220P's CPU cores enjoy access to 12 MB of L3 cache. The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to LPDDR5-5200, DDR5-4800, LPDDR4x-4267 or DDR4-3200; Intel suggests using no more than 64 GB of RAM, for reference. Just like the other 12th Gen Intel Core processors, this Core i3 comes with the Thread Director which is a new functionality designed to help Windows 11 decide which cores to use for what workload for best performance and efficiency possible. Hardware acceleration of AI algorithms is supported via GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). PCI-Express 5.0 support has not found its way into Alder Lake P processors, so users will have to be content with PCI-Express 4.0 for the time being. Four PCI-Express 4 lanes allow for a read/write rate of up to 7.9 GB/s, provided a suitably fast NVMe SSD is used.

Please note that this is not a user-replaceable CPU. It gets soldered permanently on to the motherboard (FCBGA1744 socket interface).

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 1220P as of October 2023, we have tested a laptop featuring the i5-1240U, a chip with nearly the same specs (2 P-cores mated to 8 E-cores, all running at the same clock speeds as what the 1220P has). Based on that, we expect the 1220P to be just slightly ahead of the Core i5-11400H, the Core i7-1265U and also the Ryzen 5 5600U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your system is.

Graphics

The built-in graphics adapter in the form of the 64 EU UHD Graphics running at up to 1.1 GHz is a slightly downgraded 80 EU Iris Xe. The latter can be found in many Alder Lake-P and Tiger Lake-UP3 processors, like a Core i5-1250P or a Core i5-1145G7, respectively. Despite the lower EU cluster count, this is still a fairly capable iGPU, loaded with modern features such as the AV1 video decoding capability and SUHD 4320p monitor support. The UHD Graphics will happily drive up to 4 monitors simultaneously, provided the laptop has the outputs required. Its gaming performance is unlikely to please the crowds, though, as it will be good for resolutions no higher than 1600x900 and Low settings only in most titles trleased in 2021 and 2022. Your mileage may vary depending on how high the Power Limits are and how capable the cooling solution of a laptop is. Fast RAM is a prerequisite for decent performance as well (the UHD Graphics has to make do with no dedicated video memory).

Power consumption

The i3's base power consumption (also known as the default TDP or Power Limit 1) is 28 W; its "minimum assured" power consumption sits at 20 W. In the meantime, the maximum Turbo power consumption (also known as the PL2) is not supposed to exceed 64 W.

This 12th generation Intel chip is built with Intel's fourth-gen 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of late 2022, energy efficiency. Expect the i3 to be significantly less power-hungry (and a lot easier to cool) than all other Alder Lake-P chips because of its lower core count.

Intel Core i5-6400

► remove from comparison

The Intel Core i5-6400 is a desktop class quad-core CPU. The additional 4 threads are not available to the CPU as it is missing the HyperThreading support. The i5-6400 is based on Skylake architecture and clocks within the 2.7 GHz to 3.3 GHz range. 

ModelIntel Core i5-6500Intel Core i3-1220PIntel Core i5-6400
CodenameSkylakeAlder Lake-PSkylake
SeriesIntel Core i5 (Desktop)Intel Alder Lake-PIntel Core i5 (Desktop)
Series: Core i5 (Desktop) Skylake
Intel Core i5-6600K3.5 - 3.9 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6500 « 3.2 - 3.6 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6600T2.7 - 3.5 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-64002.7 - 3.3 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6500T2.5 - 3.1 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6400T2.2 - 2.8 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1280P1.3 - 4.8 GHz14 / 20 cores24 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1270P1.6 - 4.8 GHz12 / 16 cores18 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1260P1.5 - 4.7 GHz12 / 16 cores18 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1250P1.2 - 4.4 GHz12 / 16 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1240P1.2 - 4.4 GHz12 / 16 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i3-1220P « 1.1 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6600K3.5 - 3.9 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-65003.2 - 3.6 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6600T2.7 - 3.5 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6400 « 2.7 - 3.3 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6500T2.5 - 3.1 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i5-6400T2.2 - 2.8 GHz4 / 4 cores6 MB L3
Clock3200 - 3600 MHz1100 - 4400 MHz2700 - 3300 MHz
L1 Cache256 KB928 KB256 KB
L2 Cache1 MB9.5 MB1 MB
L3 Cache6 MB12 MB6 MB
Cores / Threads4 / 410 / 124 / 4
TDP65 Watt28 Watt65 Watt
Technology14 nm10 nm14 nm
FeaturesDDR3(L)-1600/DDR4-2133 Memory Controller, AVX, AVX2, AES-NI, TSX-NI, Quick Sync, Virtualization, vProDDR4-3200/LPDDR4x-4266/DDR5-4800/LPDDR5-5200 RAM, PCIe 4, Thread Director, DL Boost, GNA, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, EIST, TM1, TM2, Hyper-Threading, Turbo, SST, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHADDR3(L)-1600/DDR4-2133 Memory Controller, AVX, AVX2, AES-NI, TSX-NI, Quick Sync, Virtualization, vPro
iGPUIntel HD Graphics 530 (350 - 1050 MHz)Intel UHD Graphics 64EUs (Alder Lake 12th Gen) ( - 1100 MHz)Intel HD Graphics 530 (350 - 950 MHz)
Architecturex86x86x86
$192 U.S.$187 U.S.
Announced
Manufacturerark.intel.comark.intel.comark.intel.com
max. Temp.100 °C
SocketBGA1744FCLGA1151

Benchmarks

Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64 Bit
100%
1 6500 +
min: 535     avg: 542     median: 541.5 (3%)     max: 548 Points
94%
1 6400 +
510 Points (3%)
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64 Bit
100%
1 6500 +
min: 142     avg: 146.5     median: 146.5 (41%)     max: 151 Points
91%
1 6400 +
134 Points (37%)
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64 Bit
100%
1 6500 +
6.4 Points (8%)
93%
1 6400 +
5.9 Points (8%)
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Single 64 Bit
100%
1 6500 +
1.7 Points (41%)
87%
1 6400 +
1.5 Points (36%)
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Single (32bit)
100%
1 6500 +
5746 Points (35%)
89%
1 6400 +
5088 Points (31%)
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Multi (32bit)
100%
1 6500 +
19577 Points (14%)
93%
1 6400 +
18297 Points (13%)
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 1024m *
100%
1 6500 +
331 s (4%)
101%
1 6400 +
327.1 s (4%)
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 32m *
100%
1 6500 +
10.6 s (2%)
101%
1 6400 +
10.5 s (2%)
WinRAR - WinRAR 4.0
100%
1 6500 +
3100 Points (5%)
X264 HD Benchmark 4.0 - x264 Pass 2
100%
1 6500 +
36.1 fps (12%)
94%
1 6400 +
33.9 fps (11%)
X264 HD Benchmark 4.0 - x264 Pass 1
100%
1 6500 +
174.5 fps (40%)
86%
1 6400 +
150.1 fps (35%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Serpent
100%
1 6500 +
0.3 GB/s (9%)
93%
1 6400 +
0.3 GB/s (8%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Twofish
100%
1 6500 +
0.5 GB/s (8%)
93%
1 6400 +
0.4 GB/s (8%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt AES
100%
1 6500 +
2.9 GB/s (8%)
93%
1 6400 +
2.7 GB/s (7%)
3DMark 06 - CPU - 3DMark 06 - CPU
100%
1 6500 +
6653 Points (14%)
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M *
100%
1 6500 +
10.4 s (2%)
87%
1 6400 +
12 s (3%)
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M *
100%
1 6500 +
23.5 s (1%)
85%
1 6400 +
27.6 s (1%)
Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 32M *
100%
1 6400 +
660 s (3%)
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Physics
100%
1 6500 +
6887 Points (17%)
91%
1 6400 +
6283 Points (15%)
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Physics
100%
1 6400 +
48092 Points (39%)
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme Physics
100%
1 6400 +
50839 Points (41%)
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Physics
100%
1 6400 +
53239 Points (44%)
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Physics
100%
1 6400 +
4894 Points (12%)
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Physics
100%
1 6400 +
6903 Points (12%)
Geekbench 6.4 - Geekbench 6.4 Single-Core
1971 Points (49%)
Geekbench 6.4 - Geekbench 6.4 Multi-Core
8056 Points (31%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.5 64 Bit Single-Core
1409 Points (55%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.5 64 Bit Multi-Core
6218 Points (11%)
Geekbench 3 - Geekbench 3 64 Bit Multi-Core
100%
1 6500 +
min: 11422     avg: 11749     median: 11749 (18%)     max: 12076 Points
Geekbench 3 - Geekbench 3 64 Bit Single-Core
100%
1 6500 +
min: 3768     avg: 3856     median: 3855.5 (58%)     max: 3943 Points
Sunspider - Sunspider 1.0 Total Score *
100%
1 6500 +
108 ms (1%)
130%
1 6400 +
82.9 ms (1%)
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
100%
1 6500 +
min: 34052     avg: 36488     median: 36488 (28%)     max: 38924 Points

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i5-6500 → 0% n=0

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i3-1220P → 0% n=0

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i5-6400 → 0% n=0

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
red legend - Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

v1.33
log 07. 05:20:47

#0 ran 0s before starting gpusingle class +0s ... 0s

#1 checking url part for id 7839 +0s ... 0s

#2 checking url part for id 14070 +0s ... 0s

#3 checking url part for id 9322 +0s ... 0s

#4 redirected to Ajax server, took 1751858447s time from redirect:0 +0s ... 0s

#5 did not recreate cache, as it is less than 5 days old! Created at Fri, 04 Jul 2025 05:20:26 +0200 +0s ... 0s

#6 composed specs +0.012s ... 0.012s

#7 did output specs +0s ... 0.012s

#8 getting avg benchmarks for device 7839 +0.001s ... 0.013s

#9 got single benchmarks 7839 +0.007s ... 0.02s

#10 getting avg benchmarks for device 14070 +0.001s ... 0.021s

#11 got single benchmarks 14070 +0.006s ... 0.027s

#12 getting avg benchmarks for device 9322 +0.001s ... 0.028s

#13 got single benchmarks 9322 +0.005s ... 0.034s

#14 got avg benchmarks for devices +0s ... 0.034s

#15 min, max, avg, median took s +0.021s ... 0.054s

#16 return log +0s ... 0.054s

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Benchmarks / Tech > Processor Comparison - Head 2 Head
Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)