Intel Core i3-8145U vs AMD Ryzen 7 3700U

Intel Core i3-8145U

The Intel Core i3-8145U is a power efficient dual-core SoC for notebooks and Ultrabooks based on the Whiskey Lake generation and will probably be announced in August 2018. Compared to the similar named Kaby Lake-R processors (e.g. Core i3-8130U), the Whiskey Lake CPUs are now produced in a further improved 14nm process (14nm++) and offer higher clock speeds. The architecture and features are the same. The i3-8145U offers e.g. high Turbo clock speeds of 3.9 GHz (versus 3.4 GHz of the i3-8130U) for a single core (3.7 GHz for 2 cores) but a slightly lower base clock of 2.1 versus 2.2 GHz. The integrated GPU is still named Intel UHD Graphics 620 and the dual-channel memory controller still supports the same RAM speeds as Kaby-Lake-R (DDR4-2400 / LPDDR3-2133). Thermal Velocity Boost is not supported (only in the Core i7-8565U).

The Whiskey Lake SoCs are used with a new PCH produced in 14nm that supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) and CNVi WiFi/BT parts.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake and Kaby Lake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. That means Whiskey Lake is a Kaby Lake chip manufactured in the improved 14nm++ process.

Performance

Due to the higher Turbo Boost (+12% single core), the Core i3-8145U should be faster than the old Core i3-8130U (Kaby Lake-R). The single core Turbo Boost is similar to the old high end model, the Core i7-7600U. However, the guaranteed base clock of 2.1 GHz is a lot lower (2.8 GHz for the i7-7600U) and also the 2-core Turbo is lower (3.7 versus 3.8 GHz). Therefore, the performance should be similar to the Core i7-7500U (Kaby Lake).

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Intel Gen 9.5) is untouched from the 8th Gen Kaby Lake chips. With fast dual-channel memory it can reach the performance of a dedicated GeForce 920M.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake and Whiskey Lake now also supports H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors announced in January should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in a further improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors (14nm++), the same as the 8th Gen Coffee Lake processors. Intel still specifies the TDP with 15 Watts, which is typical for ULV chips. Depending on the usage scenario, the TDP can vary between 7.5 (cTDP Down) and 25 Watts.

Warning: Above information is partly still based on rumors and leaks and may therefore change till release.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700U

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700U is a mobile SoC that was announced in January 2019. It combines four Zen+ cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.3 GHz to 4 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics adapter with 10 CUs (640 shaders) clocked at up to 1,400 MHz. Specified at 15 Watt TDP, the SoC is intended for thin mid-range laptops. In Chromebooks, AMD calles the APU AMD Ryzen 7 3700C, but with the exact same specifications (and performance).

The Picasso SoCs use the Zen+ microarchitecture with slight improvements that should lead to a 3% IPC (performance per clock) improvements.

The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. As the features of the Picasso APUs are the same compared to the Raven Ridge predecessors, we point to our Raven Ridge launch article.

Performance

The average 3700U in our database is a solid mid-range CPU as of early 2021, its multi-thread benchmark scores matching those of the Core i5-10310U and the Core i5-1035G7 (the Ryzen 5 PRO 3500U is found close nearby as well). This Ryzen 7 is good for more than just binge-watching Netflix and writing e-mails. Just do not expect it to be as fast as a Core i7-11800H.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and sufficiently high CPU power limits, the ThinkPad E595 is among the fastest laptops powered by the 3700U that we know of. It can be up to 50% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 7 series chip has a default TDP of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit). This can be changed by a laptop manufacturer to anything between 12 W and 35 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, that's a little too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

Last but not the least, the Ryzen 7 3700U is manufactured on a 12 nm process for lower-than-average, as of mid-2023, energy efficiency.