Intel Core i7-10750H vs Intel Core i9-9880H

Intel Core i7-10750H

The Intel Core i7-10750H is a fast 45 W processor designed for use in larger, beefier laptops. The Comet Lake-H family CPU was launched in mid-2020. It features six cores (twelve threads) running at 2.6 GHz Boosting up to 5 GHz (single-core Boost). The likely all-core Boost frequency is 4.3 GHz. Most of the specs are the same as the 10750H’s direct predecessor, the i7-9750H. The newer model has two advantages over its predecessor in that its Boost frequency is higher and the memory controller can now officially host memory clocked at 2,933 MHz, an upgrade over the 2,666 MHz limitation of the outgoing model.

Architecture

Comet Lake is a yet another revision of the dated Skylake architecture (not unlike the previous Coffee Lake, Whiskey Lake, Kaby Lake families) for similar feature set and performance-per-MHz figures. Core i7-10750H is manufactured on the third-gen 14 nm Intel process that is undeniably inferior to TSMC's 7 nm process, the one AMD’s Ryzen 4000 series laptop-grade processors are manufactured on.

The hexa-core CPU is compatible with up to 128 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2933 RAM and has support for PCI-Express 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 but not the professional features (vPro, TXT, SIPP) as found in the case of Core i7-10850H.

Both the CPU cores and the iGPU have access to 12 MB of L3 cache. Four PCI-Express 3.0 lanes allow for read/write rates of up to 3.9 GB/s provided a suitably fast NVMe SSD is used.

The 10750H gets soldered permanently on to the motherboard (BGA1440 socket interface) and is thus pretty much impossible to replace.

Performance

Multi-thread performance is most similar to the Core i5-10500H, the Core i5-11400H and also the Ryzen 7 4700U. While perhaps not the best bang for the buck, the i7 is fast enough for any task, gaming included, as of late 2021.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 75 W, the ThinkPad P15 Gen 1-20ST000DGE is among the fastest laptops built around the 10750H that we know of. It can be about 80% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Graphics

We've known the Intel UHD Graphics 630 iGPU for a while. This is the same iGPU the Core i7-9750H and Core i7-8750H processors had. In this i7, the 24 EU iGPU is clocked at 350 MHz to 1,150 MHz.

Intel UHD Graphics 630 will let you connect up to 3 monitors with resolutions of up to 4096x2304@60. The built-in video decoder will happily handle AVC, HEVC, VP9 and other popular video codecs (AV1 is not supported though). This is not a gaming GPU as it is not fast enough to handle most AAA titles released in 2020. At 720p, Escape from Tarkov runs at just 17 fps (low quality preset), to give you an example. As the iGPU has no VRAM of its own, it is paramount that it is mated to fast system RAM.

Power consumption

This Core i7 series chip is built with one of the old 14 nm Intel processes leading to subpar, as of early 2022, energy efficiency.

The Core i7-10750H has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 45 W; laptop makers are free to reduce the value somewhat, 35 W being the lower limit, allowing for leaner designs at the cost of performance. Either way, a quality cooling solution is a must.

Intel Core i9-9880H

The Intel Core i9-9880H is a high-end processor for laptops with eight cores based on the Coffee Lake architecture (2019 refresh, CFL-HR). The processor clocks at between 2.3 - 4.8 GHz (4.1 GHz with 8 cores) and can execute up to sixteen threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading. The 4.8 GHz can only be reached using the "Thermal Velocity Boost" which allows one core to boost to 4.8 GHz (+200 MHz) as long as the CPU temperature is below 50°C. Multiple cores can be boosted +100 MHz below 50°C (not verified). Compared to the predecessor, the Core i9-8950HK, the 9980H is based on the same architecture but offers 2 more cores.

According to Intel, the CPU is manufactured in an improved 14nm (14nm++) process. The i9-8950HK is the fastest model of the Coffee-Lake-H series at the time of announcement and offers an unlocked multiplier for overclocking of the CPU.

The Coffee Lake architecture is similar to Kaby Lake and differs only in the amount of cores (now six cores for the high end versions) and the improved 14nm process (14nm++ according to Intel).

Performance

Due to the two additional cores, performance has increased by almost 33% compared to a similar clocked predecessor and even up to 100% compared to older Kaby-Lake quad-cores. Single thread performance however only improved slightly and the multi-core performance is heavily depending on the cooling.

Graphics

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 iGPU is supposed to offer a slightly higher performance as its clock rate has been increased by 50 MHz. The architecture is identical to that of the Intel HD Graphics 630. We do expect a performance improvement, but as a low-end solution it will probably only display current games smoothly at reduced details - if at all.

Power Consumption

Intel specifies the TDP with 45 watts and therefore the i9 is only suited for big laptops with good cooling solutions.