Intel Core i3-2312M vs Intel Core i5-10210Y

Intel Core i3-2312M

The Intel Core i3-2310M is a dual core processor for laptops. It is based on the Sandy Bridge architecture and offers Hyperthreading to handle 4 threads at once (for a better usage of the pipeline). Compared to the faster Core i5, the i3 does not offer the Turbo Boost technique for the CPU part and is therefore clocked at 2.1 GHz (max). In difference to the similar Core i3-2310M, the 2312M can be upgraded to the Core i3-2393M which has a 400 MHz higher core frequency and a 1 MB larger last level cache than the Core i3-2312M.

Intel Core i5-10210Y

The Intel Core i5-10210Y is a extremely power efficient quad-core SoC for small laptops and tablets based on the Comet Lake (CML-Y) generation and was announced in August 2019. Compared to the similar Amber Lake processors (e.g. Core i7-8500Y), the only difference are two additional cores in the top models (except i3-10110Y). The processor cores are clocked between 1 and 4 GHz (all 4 cores 2.7 GHz max). Thanks to HyperThreading 8 threads can be used. Compared to the faster i7-10510Y, the level 3 cache is reduced to 6 MB and the clock rates are lower. The similar Core i5-10310Y offers 100 MHz higher clock speed, but the minimal configurable TDP is 1 W higher.

More information on Comet Lake and all the models and articles on it can be found here.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 10210Y as of August 2023, it's realistic to expect the chip to be about half as fast as the Core i5-10210U (Comet Lake, 4 cores, 8 threads, up to 4.2 GHz) in multi-thread workloads. Those 4 cores of the 10210Y are slated to be very much constrained by the low TDP target leading to high DPC latencies no matter the day of the week and generally unresponsive system behaviour.

The integrated graphics adapter is still the same as in the previous generations. It should be still called Intel UHD Graphics 615 and clock from 300 - 1050 MHz in the i5. Furthermore, the SoC integrates a VP9 and H.265 de- and encoder.

The chip is now produced in the 14nm++ process (Amber Lake Y was 14nm+) but not 10nm like Ice Lake Y. The TDP is specified at 7 Watts but can be varied from 4.5 to 9 Watt from the manufacturer (cTDP up/down) resulting in different performance (especially Turbo durations). Set to 4.5 W TDP passive cooling should be possible.