Intel Core 5 210H vs. AMD Ryzen AI 5 330: Budget performance battle

Not everyone needs or can afford the fastest PCs or processors. Users on tighter budgets can look a step below the Core Ultra 7 or Ryzen AI 7 H-series to the Core 5 or Ryzen AI 5 H-series while still getting sufficient performance for their daily routines. If you had to choose one, however, then the Intel option will likely offer the best bang for the buck.

As shown by our benchmarks below, the Core 5 210H outperforms the Ryzen AI 5 330 by roughly 50 percent when it comes to raw multi-threaded operations and between 10 to 30 percent for integrated graphics performance. The data is pulled using the same Lenovo Ideapad Slim 5 16 model which can be configured with either Intel or AMD CPUs for a fairer comparison.

The main drawbacks to the faster performance of the Intel is that power consumption is slightly higher and it lacks an integrated NPU. When running Prime95, for example, the Intel model would draw 68 W or almost 50 percent more than on the AMD model running the same test. Thus, performance-per-watt isn't necessarily higher even if raw performance is noticeably greater. Fortunately, battery life is still quite long at over 11 hours of web browsing despite the higher power demands when running demanding loads.

Users who can exploit the integrated NPU on the Ryzen AI 5 330 may also prefer it over the Core 5 210H. The Raptor Lake-H family of processors lacks an integrated NPU meaning poorer support for AI-driven features like Co-Pilot+ and local AI-enhanced photo editing.

Additional benchmarks and comparisons can be found on our review of the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 16 here.