What can you tell from processor names??

Spiffeye · October 19, 2016

I'm looking into picking up a new laptop, and I can't find any reliable benchmarks for one of the cpu's I've narrowed it down to.

I'm wondering if there's any way to tell anything about the cpus performance-wise, just from their names. After all, they are both notebook i3's.

i3-7100u vs i3-5010u

Thanks in advance

Aniallation · October 19, 2016

Between those two, the main thing to bring to your attention is the first number and how it denotes generation, the 7100U being Kaby Lake as opposed to the 5010U being the older Broadwell.

In notebook processors, the higher/newer the generation the better, as they are continually improving power consumption and internal graphics performance. Considering Skylake (6000 series) was a big step up in efficiency in ULV notebook processors from Broadwell, Kaby Lake expands further on that.

I'd go for the 7100U if it's not a gigantic price increase.

NumLock21 · October 19, 2016

Look at Intel's ark site.

Mira Yurizaki · October 19, 2016

2 minutes ago, Spiffeye said:

I'm looking into picking up a new laptop, and I can't find any reliable benchmarks for one of the cpu's I've narrowed it down to.

I'm wondering if there's any way to tell anything about the cpus performance-wise, just from their names. After all, they are both notebook i3's.

i3-7100u vs i3-5010u

Thanks in advance

You can tell the generation number, its performance tier, and target market. In this case I can tell you that the i3-7100U is a Kaby Lake, low voltage, dual-core processor and the i3-5010U is a Broadwell, low voltage, dual core processor.

I can pull out an explanation I had from somewhere for Intel's parts;

Spoiler

An example part can look like this:

Core i7-6700HQ

The parts in bold are what’s most important to look at. Right off this tells me it’s a high-end processor in its class (i7), that’s of the 6th generation “Core” processor, and HQ means it mobile, quad-core part.

In general, the higher the “i” number and generation number, the more it performs and features it has. The letters are a different story, but Intel is consistent with them (this isn’t a comprehensive, it just has the ones you’re most likely going to encounter):

[No Letter] - A desktop class part with no special features.
H - Mobile part (Officially it means "high performance graphics" but it's only found on mobile parts)
K - Multipler is unlocked, allowing for easier overclocking.
M - Mobile part.
Q - Quad core mobile part. Note: This can trip you up if you aren’t careful. If you think a Core i7 is always a quad core part, you’ll be in for a surprise if you get a laptop with a Core i7-6500U as it’s a dual-core part.
R - Contains the Iris Pro GPU
S - Low power desktop part. Seems to be fallen out of use in Skylake (6th generation), due to the no letter desktop part having the same power rating as the S part.
T - Lower power desktop part.
U - Low power part, usually for Ultrabooks or 2-in-1's
X - Extreme part, the highest-end on the consumer spectrum.
Y - Ultra low power part, usually for tablets

The 700 is what Intel refers to as the “SKU” number. This breaks down further and worse, can be confusing. The number in the hundreds digit (7) is yet another tier level, the higher the better. However, the tens and ones digits have no clear pattern. A higher number can mean worse specs in one lineup, while a lower number can mean worse specs in another. The difference is usually too small to be appreciable.

In other words, determining what you’re getting in an Intel processor requires research. Intel does catalog everything, so a Google search will get you what you want.