Intel Core i7-6700 vs Intel Core i5-1240U

Intel Core i7-6700

The Intel Core i7-6700 is a high-end 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 3.4 up to 4.0 GHz (2 cores: 3.9 GHz, 4 cores: 3.7 GHz) and can execute up to 8 threads simultaneously thanks to Hyperthreading. Contrary to the Core i7-6700K, the i7-6700 does not have a free multiplier and can hardly be overclocked. 

Architecture

Intel uses Skylake to replace both Broadwell and Haswell and therefore once again uses one core design for all TDP classes. 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

Even though the Core i7-6700 has a slightly lower clock than the old i7-4790 (3.6 GHz - 4.0 GHz), the performance is slightly better compared to the Haswell predecessor. Another 7 % faster is the top model i7-6700K. Even the most demanding applications and games are no problem for the high-end CPU.

Graphics

Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel HD Graphics 530 with 24 EUs (Execution Units), which is clocked at 350 - 1150 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 i5-1240U

The Intel Core i5-1240U is a mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 2  performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 12 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.1 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 0.8 to 3.3 GHz on the efficient cluster. 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 12 MB L3 cache.  Compared to the similar Core i7-1260U, the 1240U offers lower clocked CPU cores, a slower iGPU, but the same "Enterprise" vPro management features.

Performance

Compared to the old 7 Watt Comet Lake-Y series (like the i7-10510Y), the performance should be clearly better thanks to the 10 cores and the improved architecture of the P-cores. Compared to the 15 W U-series (like the similar specified Core i5-1245U) the sustained performance will be clearly limited by the 9 Watt TDP. As always, the performance will also greatly depend on the cooling solution, especially for fanless laptops and tablets.

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficient cores for the best performance. For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). Quick Sync in version 8 is the same as in the Rocket Lake CPUs and supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 decode, JPEG, VP8 decode, VP9, HEVC, and AV1 decode in hardware. The CPU only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 0.9 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 9 W base power (TDP, PL1) and 29 W max. Turbo power (PL2) and the whole SoC is manufactured on a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.