Intel Pentium 8505 vs MediaTek Dimensity 6020 vs UNISOC T820

Intel Pentium 8505

The Intel Pentium 8505 is an entry-level mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers one performance core (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 4 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 6 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.2 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 0.9 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 8 MB L3-cache. Compared to the faster Core i3-1215U, the Pentium offers one less P-core.

Performance

This is a fairly unpopular CPU, if the fact that we have not tested a single system built around it as of August 2023 is any indication. That said, we have tested a few systems featuring the Core i3-1215U, a chip with the same clock speeds and the same 4 E-cores but with 2 P-cores instead of 1. Based on that, expect the 8505 to be 10% to 20% behind the Ryzen 3 5300U and the Core i7-1185G7, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned.

Your mileage may vary depending on how competent the cooling solution of your laptop is and how high the CPU power limits are.

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 adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 48 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.1 GHz.

Power consumption

The Pentium has a Base power consumption of 15 W, with 55 W being its maximum Intel-recommended Turbo power consumption. These values are fairly high; passive cooling solutions aren't really an option here.

The CPU is built with Intel's 3rd generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.

MediaTek Dimensity 6020

The Mediatek Dimensity 6020 is a lower mid-range SoC with an integrated 5G modem. It includes two fast ARM Cortex-A76 cores at up to 2.2 GHz and six power efficient Cortex-A55 cores at up to 2 GHz (Octa-Core with Heterogeneous Multi-Processing). The specifications are similar to the old Dimensity 700 SoC.

Furthermore, the chip integrates a 2 core ARM Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, a Wi-fi 5 modem, a LPDDR4x-2133 memory controller, a AI processing unit (APU 3.0) and video de- and encoding.

The Dimensity 6020 is manufactured in the older 7nm process like the Dimensity 700.

UNISOC T820

The Unisoc T820 (former Spreadtrum) is a mid range SoC for Android based smartphones and tablets. It integrates an octa-core CPU with three clusters. One fast ARM Cortex-A76 clocked at up to 2.7 GHz, three more A76 performance cores clocked at up to 2.3 GHz and a power efficiency cluster of four ARM-Cortex-A55 cores with up to 2.1 GHz. The integrated memory controller supports LPDDR4/4X with up to 2133 MHz (2x 16 Bit). The integrated ISP supports two main cameras and two subsidiary cameras (up to 108 MPix). The integrated graphics card is an ARM Mali-G57 MC4 (4 cores) at up to 850 MHz. Unisoc also specifies that the T820 offers hardware AI acceleration with up to 8.0 TOPS peak performance of the NPU.

The chip is manufactured in the modern 6nm EUV process.