Intel Core i5-8250U vs AMD Ryzen 7 3700U

Intel Core i5-8250U

The Intel Core i5-8250U is a power efficient quad-core SoC for notebooks and Ultrabooks based on the Kaby Lake Refresh generation and was announced in August 2017. Contrary to its direct predecessor the Core i5-7200U, which were still dual-cores, the i7-8250U is equipped with four cores but at a lower base frequency of 1.6 GHz. The Turbo Boost can go up to 3,4 GHz and therefore also offer good short term single core speeds. 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

According to Intel, the new quad core models are up to 40% faster than their dual core predecessors. Due to the reduced TDP and the same 14nm+ process, the long term performance and throttling behavior will be interesting and depending on the laptop design. Therefore, the older 35 Watt quad-core models should be faster in applications that demand longer CPU loads.

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Intel Gen 9.5) is untouched from the 8th Gen Kaby Lake chips. 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 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. Depending on the usage scenario, the TDP can vary between 7.5 (cTDP Down) and 25 Watts.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700U

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700U is a mobile SoC that was announced in January 2019. It combines four Zen+ cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.3 GHz to 4 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics adapter with 10 CUs (640 shaders) clocked at up to 1,400 MHz. Specified at 15 Watt TDP, the SoC is intended for thin mid-range laptops. In Chromebooks, AMD calles the APU AMD Ryzen 7 3700C, but with the exact same specifications (and performance).

The Picasso SoCs use the Zen+ microarchitecture with slight improvements that should lead to a 3% IPC (performance per clock) improvements.

The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. As the features of the Picasso APUs are the same compared to the Raven Ridge predecessors, we point to our Raven Ridge launch article.

Performance

The average 3700U in our database is a solid mid-range CPU as of early 2021, its multi-thread benchmark scores matching those of the Core i5-10310U and the Core i5-1035G7 (the Ryzen 5 PRO 3500U is found close nearby as well). This Ryzen 7 is good for more than just binge-watching Netflix and writing e-mails. Just do not expect it to be as fast as a Core i7-11800H.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and sufficiently high CPU power limits, the ThinkPad E595 is among the fastest laptops powered by the 3700U that we know of. It can be up to 50% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 7 series chip has a default TDP of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit). This can be changed by a laptop manufacturer to anything between 12 W and 35 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, that's a little too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

Last but not the least, the Ryzen 7 3700U is manufactured on a 12 nm process for lower-than-average, as of mid-2023, energy efficiency.