Broadwell vs. Haswell – Duel of the ULV Processors

For the original German article, see here.
Even if Intel plays it close to the chest: The presentation of the Broadwell ULV processors in January apparently did not conform to the original schedule. Probably difficulties with the 14 nm process caused the multiple-month delay of the new generation. Now, the successor to the old Haswell architecture is finally available - and the expectations of the buyers are particularly high after the agonizingly long wait.
Since we have already covered the technical specifics of Broadwell in a previous article, we will turn to the performance of selected models and compare it to their Haswell counterparts here. Unavoidably, we had to use notebooks from different series and manufacturers, which might have some impact on the results. Therefore, we will try to pick the results of the fastest devices from our database.
Model Overview
First, let's have a general view of the product range: Alike in Haswell, Intel categorizes the Broadwell CPUs in the Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 series (we ignore the Pentium and Celeron series here) depending on price, performance, and feature set. While all models feature Hyper-Threading, which allows parallel processing of four threads, only the more expensive Core i5 and Core i7 models have a CPU Turbo. In addition, the high-end Core i7 series boasts a bigger L3 cache, which does not have a big impact on performance, though.
If you compare certain Broadwell and Haswell models directly, the significantly higher base clock is striking. Thanks to the 14 nm process Broadwell chips require less energy at the same clock rate. The TDP, which remained 15 Watt in the ULV class, less often limits the clock rate. This can also be seen in the dual-core Turbo, which increased by 100 to 200 MHz in many models. It is interesting that it is the other way round for the one-core Turbo. Likely, the manufacturer uses slightly lower frequencies than previously for efficiency reasons.
Benchmarks
CPU Performance
Apart from per-MHz performance, which is about 5% higher in Broadwell, two questions are particularly interesting for the performance in the following CPU benchmarks: What is the maximum Turbo clock? How high can the clock rate be so that the power consumption remains just under 15 Watt?
It is important to differentiate this since it takes about 30 seconds until the TDP restriction kicks in - ULV chips are also allowed to take 20 Watt and more for a short time. Thus, the maximum Turbo has an impact on how well the CPU copes with short load peaks, while the answer to the second question gives information about the permanently available performance. Cinebench example (Multi): Depending on the quality of the chip, Haswell processors have to reduce the clock rate to about 2.6 GHz at the end of the test, while Broadwell keep clocking at about 2.8 GHz in the same scenario (provided the Turbo Boost scope of a particular notebook allows such frequencies at all). The TDP problem does not influence single-thread benchmarks, since even the power consumption of the fastest models remains under 15 Watt, anyway.
As a result, the high-clocked Broadwell models perform especially well in long-lasting tests with full load on both cores. Apart from Cinebench this is, for example, also true for our x264 benchmark. On average, the new i7-5600U top model is just under 13% faster than the i7-4600U. The difference between the i7-5200U and i5-4200U is similarly big, while the i5-5300U only outperforms the i5-4300U by about 9%. In contrast, the single-thread performance remained almost the same. Increases of above 5% are exceptions in all pairings.
You could call the Core i3-5005U the secret star of the complete line-up: With 2.0 GHz it clocks 300 MHz higher than the old Core i3-4005U, which leads to a notable performance gain of significantly above 20%.
Verdict: In terms of CPU, the Core i3 models of the Broadwell generation are particularly attractive since their relative performance gain compared to Haswell is highest. In view of the price-performance ratio, the Core i5-5200U strikes a reasonable balance.
TrueCrypt | |
AES Mean 100MB (sort by value) | |
Intel Core i7-5600U | |
Intel Core i7-4600U | |
Intel Core i7-5500U | |
Intel Core i7-4510U | |
Intel Core i7-4510U | |
Intel Core i7-4500U | |
Intel Core i5-5300U | |
Intel Core i5-4310U | |
Intel Core i5-4300U | |
Intel Core i5-4210U | |
Intel Core i5-4200U | |
Intel Core i3-5005U | |
Intel Core i3-4005U | |
Twofish Mean 100MB (sort by value) | |
Intel Core i7-5600U | |
Intel Core i7-4600U | |
Intel Core i7-5500U | |
Intel Core i7-4510U | |
Intel Core i7-4510U | |
Intel Core i7-4500U | |
Intel Core i5-5300U | |
Intel Core i5-4310U | |
Intel Core i5-4300U | |
Intel Core i5-4210U | |
Intel Core i5-4200U | |
Intel Core i3-5005U | |
Intel Core i3-4005U | |
Serpent Mean 100MB (sort by value) | |
Intel Core i7-5600U | |
Intel Core i7-4600U | |
Intel Core i7-5500U | |
Intel Core i7-4510U | |
Intel Core i7-4510U | |
Intel Core i7-4500U | |
Intel Core i5-5300U | |
Intel Core i5-4310U | |
Intel Core i5-4300U | |
Intel Core i5-4210U | |
Intel Core i5-4200U | |
Intel Core i3-5005U | |
Intel Core i3-4005U |
* ... smaller is better
GPU Performance
Just like Haswell ULV processors, Broadwell ULV processors also come with three different graphics solutions: a low-end model for Celeron and Pentium models (GT1, 12 EUs), a standard model for the Core series (GT2, 24 EUs) and a high-end model for selected i5 and i7 models (GT3, 48 EUs). So far, we could only test the mid-range GT2 model, HD Graphics 5500, in detail, which features exactly 20% more shader units than the older HD Graphics 4400 (20 EUs). In addition, Intel applied many changes to the architecture and slightly decreased the clock rates, which makes a theoretical estimation of the performance more difficult.
However, meaningful benchmarks of integrated graphics units also have their pitfalls in practice: processor performance, L3 cache, RAM connection and throttling can have a big impact on the results. Therefore, we tried to select as many devices and benchmarks as possible to get a representative impression.
With the same RAM configuration, the HD Graphics 5500 is just under 20% faster than the HD Graphics 4400. Since the difference between single and dual-channel connection alone affects performance by about 20 to 25%, an HD 5500 with only one RAM module cannot completely reach the performance of an HD 4400 with two DIMMs. In view of the long development period, the GPU is a little disappointing. In 2013, Haswell came closer to dedicated low-end solutions than Broadwell today.
Verdict: The RAM connection has a much bigger impact on performance than the processor model. Maximum frame rates are only possible with fast dual-channel RAM. The absolute performance is modest in any case: Even a GeForce 820M proves to be faster in many cases.
3DMark | |
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i7-5600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4500U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Single-Channel) | |
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i7-5600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4500U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Single-Channel) |
F1 2014 | |
1024x768 Ultra Low Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i7-5600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i7-5600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
1920x1080 High Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i7-5600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) |
Fifa 15 | |
1280x720 Low Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 High Preset AA:2x MS (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) |
Sims 4 | |
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) |
GRID: Autosport | |
1024x768 Ultra Low Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
1920x1080 High Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5200U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) |
Total War: Rome II | |
1024x768 Low Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Single-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Single-Channel) | |
1366x768 High Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Single-Channel) |
Dota 2 | |
1024x768 Low / Off, Render Quality: 40 % (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i7-5600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4500U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Single-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium / On, Render Quality: 70 % (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i7-5600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4500U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4600U; Single-Channel) |
Counter-Strike: GO | |
1024x768 (Very) Low (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 High AA:2x MS AF:4x (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) |
Diablo III | |
1024x768 Low / off (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4500U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium / low (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4500U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 High AA:on (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Dual-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i7-4500U; Dual-Channel) |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | |
1280x720 Low Preset (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) | |
1366x768 Medium Preset AA:4x (sort by value) | |
HD 5500 (i5-5300U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 5500 (i3-5005U; Single-Channel) | |
HD 4400 (i5-4200U; Dual-Channel) |
Other new features, prospects, and purchase advice
Broadwell is a so-called "Tick" in Intel's Tick-Tock model and so only a slightly revised new edition of the predecessor with shrinking of the process technology. Therefore, profound innovations were not to be expected anyway. The most interesting new features are DirectX 11.2 support of the GPU, improved support of 4K displays (3840x2160 pixels @ 60 Hz via DisplayPort) as well as (partly) hardware-accelerated playback of H.265 videos. Unfortunately, a more efficient fixed function decoder for EVC, HDMI 2.0 and a DDR4 memory controller is first to be expected in Skylake. According to the latest rumors, the Broadwell successor generation should be available midyear and bring further improvements of CPU and GPU. So, the lifetime of many Broadwell models would already end after about 6 months.
However, this is still a long way to go. Let's remain in the here and now. Those currently needing a new notebook will often face the question whether an affordable discontinued model based on Haswell might be the better alternative. It is hardly possible to give a general answer. Especially older Core i5 models tend to be attractive since they deliver more performance than a new Core i3 notebook with a Broadwell chip. However, a Broadwell i5 usually outperforms a Haswell i7 and should be preferred at the same price. In addition, the lower power consumption while idle and during partial load is a pro of the new generation. This is reflected in slightly longer battery runtimes, according to our experiences in previous tests.