Intel Core i5-7200U vs AMD Ryzen 3 5400U vs Intel Core i3-7167U

Intel Core i5-7200U

The Intel Core i5-7200U is a dual-core processor of the Kaby Lake architecture. It offers two CPU cores clocked at 2.5 - 3.1 GHz 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 is 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. Compared to the old Skylake based Core i5-6200U, the i5-7200U offers a 300 MHz higher clock speed.

AMD Ryzen 3 5400U

The AMD Ryzen 3 5400U is a processor for thin and light laptops based on the Cezanne generation. The R3 5400U integrates four of the eight cores based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture and is the slowest U-series processor of the Cezanne generation at launch. The cores are clocked at 2.6 (guaranteed base clock) to 4 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT / Hyperthreading (8 threads). The chip is manufactured in the modern 7 nm process at TSMC.

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.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 5400U as of August 2023, we are fairly confident the chip is a little faster than the Ryzen 3 5300U and its four Zen 2 cores running at clock speeds similar to what the 5400U has. Naturally, your mileage may vary depending on how competent the cooling solution of your laptop is and how high the CPU power limits are.

In addition to the four CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 6 integrated graphics card with 6 CUs and up to 1600 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 8 MB level 3 cache (same as the old 4800U) can be found on the chip.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 3 has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 15 W. Laptop manufacturers are free to change that value to anything between 10 W and 25 W if so desired, with clock speeds and performance changing correspondingly. Those values aren't low enough to allow for passively cooled designs.

This is a 7 nm chip; it thus has higher-than-average, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i3-7167U

The Intel Core i3-7167U is a 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 2.8 GHz (no Turbo Boost). 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.

The i3-7167U does not have a Turbo, only 3MB L3 cache and the slowest clocked Iris Plus GPU compared to the faster Core i5 and i7 models.

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 Core i3-7167U is a bit faster than the Core i5-6200U (up to 2.8 GHz, 15 Watts, no eDRAM) due to the missing Turbo. The CPU performance is therefore 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 300-1000 MHz (slowest Iris 650, fastest is 1100 MHz in the i7-7567U, for example) 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.