Intel Core i5-1038NG7 vs Intel Core m3-7Y32

Intel Core i5-1038NG7

The Intel Core i5-1038NG7 or Core i5-1038G7 is a quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Ice-Lake-U generation that was announced in Mai 2020 in the refreshed MacBook Pro 13. It integrates four Sunnycove processor cores (8 threads thanks to HyperThreading) clocked at 2 (base) - 3.8 (single core Turbo) GHz. According to Intel the Sunnycove cores achieve 18% more IPCs (Instructions per Clock) and therefore the CPU performance should be similar to the higher clocked Whiskey-Lake and Coffee-Lake predecessors (e.g. Core i7-8559U, 2.7 - 4.5 GHz). The Core i5-1038G7 is the second fastest 28W model of the Ice Lake family after the Core i7-1068G7.

The biggest improvement for Ice-Lake is the integrated Gen 11 graphics card called Iris Plus Graphics. The Core i5-1035G7 integrates the biggest G7 variant with 64 CUs clocked at 300 - 1100? MHz. The Iris Plus G7 should be twice as fast as the predecessors and best the AMD Vega 10 GPU in current Ryzen APUs.

Other improvements for Ice Lake are the AI hardware acceleration and the partial integration of Thunderbolt and Wifi 6 in the chip. The integrated DDR4 memory controller supports modules with up to 3200 MHz (and LPDDDR4 3733).

The Core i5-1038G7 is produced in the new  10nm process at Intel that should offer a comparable performance to the 7nm process at TSMC. The TDP is specified at 28 Watts and therefore the CPU is best used in small multimedia laptops from 13-inch upwards (e.g. like a MacBook Pro 13).

Intel Core m3-7Y32

The Intel Core m3-7Y32 is a very efficient dual-core SoC for tablets and passively cooled notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced early 2017. It is the more or less the successor to the in 2016 introduced Core m3-7Y30 that offers 400 MHz less Turbo Boost clock speed. Thanks to Hyper Threading, the processor can execute up to four threads simultaneously. The chips also includes the Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR3L/LPDDR3) as well as VP9 and H.265 video de- and encoder. It is still produced in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors. 

Architecture

Intel basically used the familiar micro architecture from the Skylake generation, so the per-MHz performance is identical. Only the Speed-Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of the voltages and clocks was improved, and the matured 14 nm process now also enables much higher frequencies and better efficiency than before. 

Performance

Since Intel basically removed the Core m5 and Core m7 series or included them into the higher i5 and i7 series, respectively, the m3-7Y32 is officially the last Core-m chip (together with the former m3-7Y30). Thanks to its high Turbo clock, the 7Y32 can sometimes keep up with the 15 Watt models for short peak load and single-thread scenarios, but the clocks will drop significantly under sustained workloads. The CPU is still suitable for many more demanding applications as well as multitasking. Thanks to the improved efficiency, the CPU can often even beat the Core m5 and m7 siblings from the previous Skylake generation.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU has 24 Execution Units (EUs) like the old HD Graphics 515 and runs with clocks between 300 and 900 MHz in combination with this processor. The performance heavily depends on the TDP limit as well as the memory configuration; with fast LPDDR3-1866 RAM in dual-channel mode, the GPU should sometimes be able to compete with the HD Graphics 520, but can also be much slower in other scenarios. Modern games from 2016 will, if at all, only run smoothly in the lowest settings.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now also supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14 nm process with FinFET transistors, so the power efficiency was once again improved significantly. The typical TDP for the Y-series is specified at 4.5 Watts, and can be adjusted in both directions depending on the usage scenario.