Intel Celeron N3060 vs Intel Core i7-7660U

Intel Celeron N3060

The Intel Celeron N3060 is a low-end dual-core SoC for notebooks, which has been presented in April 2015. It is clocked at 1.6 - 2.48 GHz and part of the Braswell platform. Thanks to its new 14 nanometer low-power process (P1273) with tri-gate transistors, energy efficiency has been significantly improved compared to its predecessor architecture Bay Trail (e.g. Celeron N2840). The N3060 is successor (refresh) to the Celeron N3050 and compared to it it offers a improved Turbo clock rate (2.48 vs 2.1 GHZ).

In addition to the CPU cores, the SoC offers a DirectX 11.2-capable GPU as well as a DDR3L Memory Controller (2x 64 bit, 25.6 GB/s).

Architecture

The processor cores are based on the Airmont architecture, which is basically a slightly modified shrink of the previous Silvermont core. While performance per clock has not been improved, the more efficient 14 nm process leads to a better utilization of the CPU Burst (alias Turbo Boost) and a therefore somewhat higher overall performance.

Performance

Depending on the cooling of the SoC, the Boost clock rate of 2.48 can be held for longer periods and therefore leading to a faster performance as the older Celeron N3050 that can only reach 2.16 GHz. Using Windows, the CPU is adequate for simple everyday tasks such as light Internet browsing or office applications, but not for complex software or modern games.

Graphics

The HD Graphics 400 (Braswell) is based on the Intel Gen8 architecture, which supports DirectX 11.2 and is also found in the Broadwell series (e.g. HD Graphics 5300). With 12 EUs (Execution Units) and a clock speed of up to 600 MHz, the GPU is almost twice as fast as the HD Graphics (Bay Trail), but still not powerful enough to handle modern 3D games. The GPU also supports 4K/H.265 video acceleration. Although featuring a different name, the GPU was not changed from the N3050 (named HD Graphics alone).

Power Consumption

The entire SoC is rated at an TDP of 6 watts (SDP 4 watts). Thus, the chip can be cooled passively.

Intel Core i7-7660U

The Intel Core i7-7660U is a fast dual-core SoC for notebooks and Ultrabooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. The CPU has two processor cores clocked at 2.5-4 GHz (two cores up to 3.8 GHz). The processor can execute up to four threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper Threading. It is also equipped with an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 GPU with 64 MB eDRAm, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR4) as well as VP9 and H.265 video decoding as well as encoding. The chip is still manufactured in a 14nm process with FinFET transistors.

Compared to the Core i7-7600U, the 7660 does have a higher single-core Turbo of 4 GHz (+100 MHz), but a lower dual-core Turbo (-100 MHz) and a lower base frequency (-300 MHz). However, the CPU part can also use the 64 MB eDRAM as L5 cache.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

At 2.5-4 GHz, the Core i7-7660U has a slightly lower frequency (except for the single-core Turbo) compared to the Core i7-7600U, but the CPU part can also use the 64 MB eDRAM, so the performance should be similar.

Graphics

The integrated Intel Iris Plus 640 Graphics is the GT3e model of the Kaby Lake GPU (Intel Gen. 9.5). It has 48 Execution Units running at 300-1050 MHz and the performance is comparable to a GeForce 920MX thanks to fast eDRAM cache. However, there aren't any significant improvements compared to the old Iris Pro 540, so modern games can often not be played smoothly or only at the lowest or medium settings, respectively.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby 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 an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors, which improves the efficiency even further. 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.