Intel Core m3-7Y30 vs Intel Core i7-1065G7

Intel Core m3-7Y30

The Intel Core m3-7Y30 is a very efficient dual-core SoC for tablets and passively cooled notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in the end of August 2016. The CPU consists of two processor cores clocked at 1.0-2.6 GHz (2-core Turbo not specified yet). Thanks to Hyper Threading, the processor can execute up to four threads simultaneously. The chips also includes the Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR3L/LPDDR3) as well as VP9 and H.265 video de- and encoder. It is still produced in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors. 

Architecture

Intel basically used the familiar micro architecture from the Skylake generation, so the per-MHz performance is identical. Only the Speed-Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of the voltages and clocks was improved, and the matured 14 nm process now also enables much higher frequencies and better efficiency than before. 

Performance

Since Intel basically removed the Core m5 and Core m7 series or included them into the higher i5 and i7 series, respectively, the m3-7Y30 is officially the last Core-m chip. Thanks to its high Turbo clock, the 7Y30 can sometimes keep up with the 15 Watt models for short peak load and single-thread scenarios, but the clocks will drop significantly under sustained workloads. The CPU is still suitable for many more demanding applications as well as multitasking. Thanks to the improved efficiency, the CPU can often even beat the Core m5 and m7 siblings from the previous Skylake generation.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU has 24 Execution Units (EUs) like the old HD Graphics 515 and runs with clocks between 300 and 900 MHz in combination with this processor. The performance heavily depends on the TDP limit as well as the memory configuration; with fast LPDDR3-1866 RAM in dual-channel mode, the GPU should sometimes be able to compete with the HD Graphics 520, but can also be much slower in other scenarios. Modern games from 2016 will, if at all, only run smoothly in the lowest settings.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now also supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14 nm process with FinFET transistors, so the power efficiency was once again improved significantly. The typical TDP for the Y-series is specified at 4.5 Watts, and can be adjusted in both directions depending on the usage scenario.

Intel Core i7-1065G7

The Intel Core i7-1065G7 is a power efficient quad-core SoC of the Ice Lake U product family designed for thin laptops and Ultrabooks. It was announced in May 2019 (Computex). The CPU has four Sunnycove processor cores (8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading) clocked at 1.3 (base) - 3.9 (single core Turbo) GHz. 2 cores can reach 3.8 GHz and all four 3.5 GHz using Turbo Boost. According to Intel the Sunnycove cores achieve 18% more IPCs (Instructions per Clock).

Other improvements for Ice Lake are the AI hardware acceleration and the partial integration of Thunderbolt and Wi-Fi 6 in the chip. The integrated DDR4 memory controller supports modules with up to 3200 MHz (and LPDDDR4 3733).

The biggest improvement of Ice Lake is the integrated Gen 11 graphics adapter called Iris Plus Graphics. The Core i7-1065G7 integrates the biggest G7 variant with 64 EUs clocked at 300 - 1100 MHz. The Iris Plus G7 should be twice as fast as the predecessors and best the AMD Vega 10 GPU from current Ryzen APUs.

Performance

The average 1065G7 in our database is most comparable to the AMD Ryzen 7 2700U and the Intel Core i5-8259U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This is a so-so result and a direct consequence of Intel's inability to make the best of its brand-new 10 nm node. The Core i7-10710U, a 10th generation processor built with an older 14 nm process, will easily rip a 1065G7 to pieces. That said, the 1065G7 will surely beat a 10710U in terms of energy efficiency.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and sufficiently high CPU power limits, the Galaxy Book Flex 15-NP950 is among the fastest laptops powered by the 1065G7 that we know of. It can be around 40% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Core i7 has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 15 W. Laptop makers are free to change that value to anything between 12 W and 25 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, that's a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The quad-core Intel CPU is built with Intel's second-gen 10 nm process (not 10 nm SuperFin or Intel 7) for average, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.