Intel Core i7-10810U vs Intel Celeron 5205U vs Intel Core i5-10210U

Intel Core i7-10810U

The Intel Core i7-10810U is a power efficient hexa-core SoC for notebooks based on the Comet Lake (CML-U) generation and appeared in March 2020. Compared to the similar Whiskey Lake processors (e.g. Core i5-8665U), the only difference is support for higher memory speeds (DDR4-2666 vs 2400) and two additional cores in the top model. The processor cores are clocked between 1.1 and 4.9 GHz. Thanks to HyperThreading 12 threads can be used. More information on Comet Lake and all the models and articles on it can be found here.

The CPU supports professional management features vPro (as a difference to the i7-10710U).

Thanks to the two additional cores and the high clock rates, the processor performance of the i7-10710U is very good for its class. It should outperform the top Whiskey Lake and also Ice Lake processors if the cooling and TDP settings are not limiting.

The integrated graphics card however is still the same as in the previous generations. It should be still called Intel HD Graphics 620 and clock from 300 - 1150 MHz in the i7. Furthermore, the SoC integrates a VP9 and H.265 de- and encoder and an integrated dual channel DDR4-2666 / LPDDR4x 2933 / LPDDR3-2133 memory controller.

The chip is still produced on the 14nm++ process as Whiskey Lake. The TDP (PL1) is specified at 15 Watts but can be varied from 12.5 to 25 Watt from the manufacturer (cTDP up/down) resulting in different performance (especially Turbo durations). To provide the full performance, Intel proposes a short power peak of 90 W (PL4) for the i7 and therefore 8 W more than the quad-core CML-U CPUs and a whopping 19 W more than Whiskey Lake. Therefore, some slim laptops with 15W CML-U CPUs wont offer the i7 as they cant provide enough power and cooling to get full performance out of the 6 cores.

Intel Celeron 5205U

The Intel Celeron 5205U is a power efficient entry-level dual-core SoC for notebooks based on the Comet Lake (CML-U) generation and was announced in October 2019. Compared to the similar Whiskey Lake Celeron 4205U processors, the difference is the higher clock speed (+100 MHz) and support for faster memory. The processor cores are clocked at only 1.9 GHz (no Turbo) and don't support SMT / HyperThreading (so only 2 threads). More information on Comet Lake and all the models and articles on it can be found here.

The integrated graphics adapter is still the same as in the previous generations. It is called only Intel UHD Graphics but is still the same Intel UHD Graphics 610 like in the Pentium 4205U. Furthermore, the SoC integrates a VP9 and H.265 de- and encoder and an integrated dual channel LPDDR3-2133/DDR4-2400 memory controller (compared to DDR4-2666 in the faster and costlier Core i3/i5/i7 processors).

Performance

While we have not tested a single system powered by the 5205U as of August 2023, it's safe to expect the chip to be about half as fast as the Core i3-10110U (Comet Lake, 2 cores, 4 threads, up to 4.1 GHz). Which is nothing to write home about, really, as of mid 2022.

Power consumption

This Celeron has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 15 W. Intel officialy allows laptop manufacturers to reduce that value somewhat, 12.5 W being the lower limit, resulting in lower clock speeds and lower performance. Unlike most Comet Lake family processors, Celeron 5205U is fairly likely to actually stick to that limitation as its cores are not Boost-enabled.

Last but not the least, this CPU is manufactured on an old, as of late 2022, 14 nm Intel process making for subpar energy efficiency.

Intel Core i5-10210U

The Intel Core i5-10210U is a power efficient quad-core SoC for notebooks based on the Comet Lake (CML-U) generation and was announced in August 2019. Compared to the similar Whiskey Lake processors (e.g. Core i5-8665U), the only difference is support for higher memory speeds (up to LPDDR4-2933 vs DDR4-2400) and two additional cores in the top model (not in this i5). The processor cores are clocked between 1.6 and 4.2 GHz (all 4 cores 3.9 GHz max). Thanks to Hyper-Threading 8 threads can be used. Compared to the faster i5-10510U, the level 3 cache was reduced from 8 to 6 MB. More information on Comet Lake and all the models and articles on it can be found here.

The integrated graphics adapter however is still the same as in the previous generations. It's still called Intel UHD Graphics 620 and clocked from 300 - 1100 MHz in the i5. Furthermore, the SoC integrates a VP9 and H.265 de- and encoder.

Performance

The average 10210U in our database is just as fast as the AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, the Intel Core i7-8565U and the Intel Core i5-1035G1 are, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. While the i5 is not a performance monster, it sails through basic day-to-day workloads with little effort.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term power limit of 30 W, the Frost Canyon NUC (NUC10i5FNK) is among the fastest systems powered by the 10210U that we know of. It can be more than twice as fast in CPU-bound workloads as the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Core i5 series chip has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 15 W, a value that laptop makers are free to change to anything between 10 W and 25 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. By going for the lowest value, it is possible to build a passively cooled system around the i5. Please note that Comet Lake-U processors can briefly consume as much as 80 W or even 90 W when under heavy loads.

The Core i5-10210U is built with one of the old 14 nm Intel processes for very low, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.