Intel Core i3-8130U vs AMD Ryzen 7 2800H

Intel Core i3-8130U

The Intel Core i3-8130U is a power efficient dual-core SoC for notebooks and Ultrabooks (most likely) based on the Kaby Lake Refresh generation (and not Coffee Lake). It was announced in February 2018. Compared to its direct predecessor, the Core i3-7130U, the 8130U offers Turbo Boost for an increased single thread performance. The GPU is now named Intel UHD Graphics 620 but otherwise identical to the Intel HD Graphics 620. The integrated memory controller supports DDR4-2400 / LPDDR3-2133 and dual channel memory.

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

Clocked at 2.2 to 3.4 GHz, the Core i3-8130U offers a much better single core performance than the Core i3-7130U (2.7 GHz, no Turbo). Therefore, the overall performance should be comparable to the older Core i5-7260U (also 2.2 - 3.4 GHz). The Core i5-8250U offers four processor cores and therefore offers a much better multi-threaded performance.

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Intel Gen 9.5) is untouched from the 8th Gen Kaby Lake chips. In the Core i3-8130U it is rather low clocked with 1 GHz compared to the 1.1 GHz in Core i7 models. With fast dual-channel memory it can reach the performance of a dedicated GeForce 920M.

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 most likely manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors (14nm+), the same as the 7th Gen Kaby Lake processors. Intel still specifies the TDP with 15 Watts, which is typical for ULV chips. According to Intel it can be configured to 10 Watt at 800 MHz (cTDP-down).

AMD Ryzen 7 2800H

The AMD Ryzen 7 2800H is a mobile SoC that was announced late 2018. It is intended for mid-sized to big laptops and combines four Zen cores (8 threads) clocked at 3.3 (base) - 3.8 GHz (boost) with a Radeon RX Vega 11 Mobile graphics card with 11 CUs (704 Shaders). The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-3200 memory.

Compared to the older Ryzen 7 2700U for slim and light laptops, the 2800H offers a higher TDP (45 Watt versus 15 Watt), higher clocked memory, a higher base clock (3.4 versus 2.2 GHz), and a faster integrated GPU.

More information on Raven Ridge can be found in our launch article.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 2800H as of August 2023, it's safe to expect the chip to be 10% to 15% faster than Ryzen 3 1200, as far as multi-thread performance is concerned.

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

Power consumption

This Ryzen 7 has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 45 W, a value that laptop manufacturers are free to change to anything between 35 W and 54 W with clock speeds and performance changing correspondingly. All the values are rather high, making a high-performance cooling solution with two or three fans pretty much a necessity.

The CPU is built on an old, as of late 2022, 14 nm process for subpar energy efficiency.