AMD Ryzen 5 5600U vs Intel Core i3-7020U vs Intel Core i7-7560U

AMD Ryzen 5 5600U

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600U, not to be confused with Intel's Core i7-5600U, is a fairly fast Cezanne family processor designed for use in thinner, lighter laptops. The R5 5600U integrates six of the eight cores based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture and is the third fastest U-series processor at launch. The cores are clocked at 2.3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.2 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT for a total of 12 threads. The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process.

The new Zen 3 microarchitecture offers a significantly higher IPC (instructions per clock) compared to Zen 2. For desktop processors AMD claims 19 percent on average and in applications reviews showed around 12% gains at the same clock speed.

In addition to the six CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 7 integrated graphics card with 7 CUs at up to 1800 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 16 MB level 3 cache (up from 8 MB at the 4800U) can be found on the chip.

Performance

This Ryzen 5 series chip is a solid mid-range CPU, as of early 2022. Its multi-thread benchmark scores nearly match those of the Intel Core i5-11400H (a much more power-hungry hexa-core chip designed for use in gaming laptops). While not nearly as fast as 12th generation Alder Lake-P processors, the 5600U should be good enough for the vast majority of users.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 30 W, the IdeaPad 5 Pro 14ACN6 is among the fastest laptops powered by the 5600U that we know of. It can be more than 30% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 5 has a default TDP of 15 W, a value that laptop makers are allowed to change to anything between 10 W and 25 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. By going for the lowest value possible, it is possible to build a passively cooled system around this chip. Most laptop makers, however, will do the opposite to maximize performance.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600U is built with TSMC's 7 nm manufacturing process for average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i3-7020U

The Intel Core i3-7020U is a dual-core processor of the Kaby Lake architecture. It offers two CPU cores clocked at 2.3 GHz (without Turbo Boost) and integrates HyperThreading to work with up to 4 threads at once. The architectural differences are rather small compared to the Skylake generation, therefore the performance per MHz should be very similar. The SoC includes a dual channel DDR4 memory controller and Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics card (clocked at 300 - 1000 MHz). It is manufactured in an improved 14nm FinFET process at Intel. Compare to the old i3-7100U, the newer i3-7020U is clocked 100 MHz lower (CPU cores) and therefore the current entry level model for the Core i3 line. The similar Pentium Gold 4415U offers less Cache (2 versus 3 MB) and a slower GPU.

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.

Intel Core i7-7560U

The Intel Core i7-7560U 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 2.4-3.8 GHz (two cores up to 3.7 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 i7-7500U, the 7560 does have a higher single-core Turbo of 3.8 GHz (+300 MHz) and a higher dual-core Turbo (+200 MHz). The base frequency is lower (-300 MHz), but 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 2.4-3.8 GHz, the Core i7-7560U 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.