AMD Ryzen 9 5950X vs Intel Core i7-7660U vs Intel Core i5-7287U

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a high-end 16-core, hyperthreaded (SMT) Vermeer Series desktop processor. With 32 threads, the new flagship offers as many threads as the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. Introduced on October 8, 2020, the Ryzen 9 5950X is the fastest 16-core processor and is specified at 105 watts TDP.

The Ryzen 9 5950X runs at 3.4 GHz to 4.9 GHz (single core). Wen all 16 cores are loaded, up to 4.5 GHz are still possible.

The internal structure of the processor has not changed fundamentally at first glance. The CCX structure has changed a bit compared to Zen 2, because now a CCX consists of up to 8 CPU cores. So each individual core can access the complete L3 cache (32 MByte). Furthermore the CCX modules are connected to each other via the same I/O die, which we already know from Zen2. According to AMD, the Infinity fabric should now reach clock rates of up to 2 Ghz, which in turn allows a RAM clock of 4,000 MHz without performance loss.

Performance

The average 5950X in our database matches the Core i9-12900K, the Core i9-12900HX and also the Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX in multi-thread performance, making this Ryzen a great processor for pretty much any task imaginable as of mid 2022.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 9 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 105 W. It will, however, happily consume much more than that as long as the cooling solution is able to handle the heat - even before one starts considering the possibility of overclocking the thing.

The Ryzen 9 5950X is built with TSMC's 7 nm process for average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.

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.

Intel Core i5-7287U

The Intel Core i5-7287U is a fast dual-core SoC for notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. The CPU has two processor cores clocked at 3.3-3.7 GHz (two cores also 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 650 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.

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

The performance of the 28-Watt CPU should be on par with the Core i7-7560U (2.4-3.8 GHz, also 64 MB eDRAM, 15 Watts), where the Turbo Boost is usually shorter compared to the 7287U due to the lower TDP. This means the i5 is still one of the faster dual-core processors and should be sufficient for most scenarios. Some games might still require a real quad-core processor and therefore nit run perfectly on the dual-core processor, despite Hyper Threading.

Graphics

The integrated Intel Iris Plus 650 Graphics is the GT3e model of the Kaby Lake GPU (Intel Gen. 9.5). It has 48 Execution Units running at 300-1100 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 550, 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 specifies the TDP with 28 Watts, which can be reduced to 23 Watts (cTDP Down) depending on the usage scenario. The TDP is pretty high compared to the common 15-Watt TDP for dual-core processors, but allows a better utilization of CPU and GPU Turbo.