Intel Core i7-7820HQ vs Intel Core i5-9300HF

Intel Core i7-7820HQ

The Intel Core i7-7820HQ is a fast quad-core processor for notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. It is the second fastest model of the consumer series at the time of the announcement. Only the i7-7920HQ and Xeon E3-1535M v6 are faster. Besides four cores including Hyper-Threading support running at 2.9 - 3.9 GHz (4 cores up to 3.5 GHz, 2 cores up to 3.7 GHz), the processor is also equipped with the HD Graphics 630 GPU as well as a dual-channel memory controller (DDR3L-1600/DDR4-2400). It is manufactured in a 14nm process with FinFET transistors.

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

Due to the higher clock speeds, the performance of the i7-7820HQ is slightly faster than the old Skylake top model Core i7-6920HQ (2.9 - 3.8 GHz). The performance is sufficient even for very demanding tasks and on par with powerful desktop quad-core processors.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 630 has 24 Execution Units (similar to previous HD Graphics 530) running at 350 - 1100 MHz. The performance depends a lot on the memory configuration; it should be comparable to a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 920M in combination with fast DDR4-2133 dual-channel memory.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors, which were 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 still specifies the TDP with 45 Watts, but it can also be reduced to 35 Watts by the notebook manufacturers (cTDP down). This will obviously affect the performance, because the Turbo Boost cannot be maintained for longer periods.

Intel Core i5-9300HF

The Intel Core i5-9300H is a fast processor for laptops with four cores based on the Coffee Lake architecture (2019 Refresh, CFL-HR). The processor clocks at between 2.4 and 4.1 GHz (4 with 4 cores) and can execute up to eight threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading. According to Intel, the CPU is manufactured in an improved 14nm (14nm++) process. Compared to the predecessor, the Core i5-8300H from 2018, the 9300H is clocked slightly higher (+100 MHz CPU).

Compared to the Core i5-9300H, the integrated graphics card in the 9300HF is deactivated.

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

The Intel Core i5-9300HF should perform similar as the older Core i7-7920HQ (3.1 - 4.1 GHz). The faster Coffee Lake CPUs, like the Core i7-8750H/9750H offers two additional cores and is therefore up to 50% faster in multithreaded benchmarks. Still, the performance of the i5-9300HF should be sufficient for even demanding applications and games. Compared to the Core i5-9300H (see for benchmarks), the performance should be identical.

Power Consumption

Intel specifies the TDP with 45 watts and therefore the i5 is only suited for big laptops with good cooling solutions. Using cTDP-down, the CPU can also be configured to 35 Watt resulting in a reduced performance.