Intel Core m3-8100Y vs Intel Pentium Silver N6000 vs Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y
Intel Core m3-8100Y
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Core m3-8100Y is a very efficient dual-core SoC for tablets and passively cooled notebooks based on the Amber Lake generation and will be announced around August 2018. The CPU consists of two processor cores clocked at 1.1 - 3.4 GHz. 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. Compared to the Kaby Lake-Y predecessors (e.g. Core m3-7Y32), Amber Lake uses the same architecture produced in the improved 14nm+ FinFET process (no 14nm++) but offers higher clock speeds at an increased TDP rating.
Architecture
Intel basically used the familiar micro architecture from the Skylake / Kaby Lake generation, so the per-MHz performance is identical.
Performance
The performance of the Y series is highly depending on the cooling solution of the laptop / tablet and the TDP settings for sustained load. Therefore, the differences between a Core m3 and a i7 may be rather slim, if the thermals are very limited. The high Turbo clock speeds in Amber Lake should however lead to a very good single thread performance for short bursts.
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 950 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 and Amber 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 the old 14 nm+ process with FinFET transistors. The typical TDP for the Amber Lake Y-series is specified at 5 Watts (previous generations were 4.5 Watt), and can be adjusted in both directions depending on the usage scenario.
Intel Pentium Silver N6000
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Pentium Silver N6000 is a quad-core SoC of the Jasper Lake series that is primarily intended for inexpensive notebooks and was announced in early 2021. The four Tremont CPU cores clock between 1.1 and 3.3 GHz (single core Burst) and offer no HyperThreading (SMT). The N6000 uses 1.5 MB L2 and 4 MB L3 cache. The chip is manufactured on the first-gen 10 nm Intel process, the same process as Ice Lake.
Architecture
The processor architecture is called Tremont and a complete redesign compared to the old Golmont Plus cores in the predecessor. According to Intel, the single thread performance of a core could be improved by 30% on average (10 - 80% in all tests of SPECint and SPECfp).
Features
In addition to the four CPU cores, the SoC integrates a 32 EU Intel UHD Graphics GPU clocked from 350 - 850 MHz and a dual-channel DDR4 / quad-channel LPDDR4x memory controller (up to 16 GB and 2933 MHz). The chip now also partly integrates Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+), 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes, 14 USB 2.0/ 3.2 ports and two SATA 6.0 ports. The package got bigger and measures 35 x 24 mm (compared to 25 x 24 mm for the N5030 e.g.). The SoC is directly soldered to the mainboard (BGA) and can't be easily replaced.
Performance
The average N6000 in our database proves to be an OK entry-level processor, as of late 2022, its multi-thread benchmark scores nearly matching those of the AMD Ryzen 3 3200U. Yes, the chip is a whole lot slower than the latest Ryzen 3 and Core i3 processors, but it will at least let you run your day-to-day apps without annoying slowdowns.
The Asus Vivobook 13 Slate is among the fastest systems built around the N6000 that we know of, thanks to the long-term CPU power limit of 10 W. It can be more than 20% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.
Power consumption
Like nearly all other N-class Intel processors, the Pentium N6000 has a default TDP of 6 W (also known as the long-term power limit). This is low and thus good enough for passively cooled tablets, laptops, mini-PCs.
The SoC is built with Intel's 2nd generation 10 nm process (not 10 nm SuperFin or Intel 7) for low, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.
Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y is an energy-efficient, dual-core SoC designed for use in Windows tablets and passively cooled laptops. The Pentium is based on the old Amber Lake architecture that was initially introduced in 2018. The CPU was unveiled in Q1 2021; it is, in fact, not very different from Intel Core m3-8100Y, the only difference between the two being the slightly slower iGPU model (23 EU UHD Graphics 615 vs 24 EU UHD Graphics 615).
The two CPU cores run at 1.1 GHz to 3.4 GHz and are Hyper-Threading-enabled for 4 processing threads in total.
Architecture
Amber Lake family products are not known to have many improvements compared to the previous Kaby Lake and Skylake processors. They all share nearly the same per-MHz performance and nearly the same set of capabilities. Amber Lake processors do, however, have slightly higher clock speeds in comparison to their immediate predecessors.
Pentium 6500Y has a built-in dual-channel DDR3L-1600/LPDDR3-1866 memory controller as well as several PCI-Express 3.0 lanes for connecting graphics cards, SSDs and other devices. 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.
Please note this is not a user-replaceable CPU. It is supposed to get soldered permanently on to the motherboard (BGA1515 socket interface).
Performance
While we have not tested a single system built around the 6500Y as of August 2023, we have tested at least one laptop featuring the Core i3-10100Y, a chip that's just a little faster (Amber Lake, 2 cores, 4 threads, up to 3.9 GHz). Based on that, we expect the 6500Y to trail behind the AMD 3020e and the AMD 3050e just slightly. In other words, this is a very slow chip, as of mid 2023.
Graphics
The Intel UHD Graphics 615 normally has 24 Execution Units at its disposal but, for reason unbeknownst to us, just 23 EUs are active in the case of this Pentium. The graphics adapter is not much different from the HD Graphics 615 as found in 7th Gen Y-class Intel Core processors. As such, it has no support for SUHD 4320p monitors, nor can it HW-decode AV1, the latest video codec. Just the more usual VP9, AVC and HEVC are supported.
The UHD Graphics runs at 300 MHz to 900 MHz. This is not a GPU that a gamer would be happy with; very poor 3D performance is to be expected because of the thermal constraints (both Core m3-8100Y and Pentium 6500Y were created with thin tablets and ultra-thin laptops in mind) as well as the rather low TDP of the SoC. Most games will not be playable even if set to Lowest quality preset at 720p resolution. The least graphically intensive titles, like Farming Simulator 19, will pose no problem for the iGPU, though.
Power consumption
The chip is manufactured on one of the old 14 nm Intel processes for fairly unimpressive, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.
The Pentium 6500Y has a default TDP of 5 W (also known as the long-term power limit), half a watt higher than its immediate predecessors; despite the difference, a value this low makes the Pentium more than suitable for use in ultra-thin, passively cooled laptops, tablets, mini-PCs. The default TDP can be reduced slightly (with 3.5 W being the lowest Intel-recommended value) or increased (up to 7 W are possible) by laptop makers if needed, with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result.
Model | Intel Core m3-8100Y | Intel Pentium Silver N6000 | Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series | Intel Amber Lake | Intel Jasper Lake | Intel Amber Lake | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codename | Amber Lake-Y | Jasper Lake | Amber Lake-Y | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series: Amber Lake Amber Lake-Y |
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Clock | 1100 - 3400 MHz | 1100 - 3300 MHz | 1100 - 3400 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L1 Cache | 128 KB | 128 KB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L2 Cache | 512 KB | 1.5 MB | 512 KB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L3 Cache | 4 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cores / Threads | 2 / 4 | 4 / 4 | 2 / 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP | 5 Watt | 6 Watt | 5 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology | 14 nm | 10 nm | 14 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
max. Temp. | 100 °C | 105 °C | 100 °C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Socket | BGA | BGA1338 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | Dual-Channel DDR3L-1600/LPDDR3-1866 Memory Controller, HyperThreading, AVX, AVX2, Quick Sync, Virtualization, AES-NI, vPro, TXT | DDR4-2933/LPDDR4x-2933 RAM, PCIe 3 x 8, GNA, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SMEP, SMAP, EIST, TM1, TM2, Turbo, SST, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA | DDR3L-1600/LPDDR3-1866 RAM, PCIe 3, 4 GT/s bus, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, VMX, SMEP, SMAP, MPX, EIST, TM1, TM2, Hyper-Threading, Turbo, SST, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SGX | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
iGPU | Intel UHD Graphics 615 (300 - 950 MHz) | Intel UHD Graphics (Jasper Lake 32 EU) (350 - 850 MHz) | Intel UHD Graphics 615 (300 - 900 MHz) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | x86 | x86 | x86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
$281 U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | ark.intel.com | ark.intel.com | ark.intel.com |