Intel Core i9-11950H vs AMD Ryzen 5 2600H vs AMD Ryzen 7 2700U

Intel Core i9-11950H

The Intel Core i9-11950H is a high end octa core SoC for laptops and mobile workstations. It is based on the Tiger Lake H45 generation and was announced in mid 2021. It integrates eight Willow Cove processor cores (16 threads thanks to HyperThreading). The base clock speed depends on the TDP setting and at 45 Watt is at 2.6 GHz. The single core boost speed can reach up to 5 GHz (ITBM 3.0, also two cores), all cores can reach up to 4.5 GHz. The CPU offers 24 MB level 3 cache and supports DDR4-3200 memory. Compared to the i9-11980HK, the 11950H offers professional management features like Intel vPro, SIPP or TXT.

Thanks to the new Tiger Lake architecture, the i9-11980HK should be significantly faster than the old Intel Core i9-10980HK (Comet Lake-H, 2.4 - 5.3 GHz, 16 MB L3) in single and multi threaded performance and similar to the Ryzen 9 5980HX (Zen 3, 3.3 - 4.8 GHz, 16 MB L3). Therefore, the i9 should be one of the fastest laptop CPUs in 2021 and well suited for even very demanding tasks.

The SoC also included the improved Xe graphics card called UHD graphics with all 32 EUs.

Furthermore, Tiger Lake SoCs add PCIe 4 support (20 lanes in the H45 series), AI hardware acceleration, and the partial integration of Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6E in the chip.

The chip is produced on the improved 10nm process (called 10nm SuperFin) at Intel, which should be comparable to the 7nm process at TSMC (e.g. Ryzen 4000 series). The default TDP is rated at 45 W, at 65 Watt the base clock speed increases to 3.3 GHz (cTDP up).

All articles on Tiger Lake can be found on our Tiger Lake architecture hub.

AMD Ryzen 5 2600H

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600H is a mobile SoC that was announced late 2018. It is intended for mid-sized to big laptops and combines four Zen cores (8 threads) clocked at 3.2 (base) - 3.6 GHz (boost) with a Radeon RX Vega 8 Mobile graphics card with 8 CUs (512 Shaders, unverified). The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-3200 memory.

Compared to the older Ryzen 5 2500U for slim and light laptops, the 2600H offers a higher TDP (45 Watt versus 15 Watt), higher clocked memory, a higher base clock (3.3 versus 2 GHz) and a faster integrated GPU.

More information on Raven Ridge can be found in our launch article.

The performance should be slightly better than the Ryzen 5 2600U due to the higher TDP and base clock speed. Especially longer loads should profit from this. Due to the high TDP (configurable from 35 - 54 Watt), the Ryzen 7 2600H is best suited for bigger laptops.

AMD Ryzen 7 2700U

The AMD Ryzen 7 2700U is a mobile SoC that was announced in October 2017. It combines four Zen cores (8 threads) clocked at 2.2 - 3.8 GHz with a Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics card with 10 CUs (640 Shaders) clocked at up to 1300 MHz. The TDP can be configured by the laptop manufacturer between 12 to 25 Watt (15 Watt nominal) and therefore the APU is also suited for thin and light laptops. The integrated dual-channel memory controller supports up to DDR4-2400 memory. More information on Raven Ridge can be found in our launch article.

The performance of the Zen CPU cores should be better than a high end Kaby-Lake-Refresh Quad-Core CPU (e.g. the Core i7-8650U) according to AMD. Therefore, the Ryzen 7 2700U is suited for all applications.