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Intel Core i5-520M vs Intel Core i7-2820QM

Intel Core i5-520M

► remove from comparison Intel 520M

The Intel Core i5-520M is a dual core CPU for laptops and clocks (due to the Turbo Mode) from 2.4 to 2.93 GHz. Each core is based on the Nehalem (Westmere) micro-architecture. Hyperthreading enables the Dual Core CPU to handle 4 threads at once (for a better usage of the pipeline). Compared to the faster Core i7-620M, the 520M features only 3 MB Level 3 Cache and a lower clock speed (CPU and GPU).

A feature of the new Core i5-520M is the integrated graphics card called GMA HD and memory controller. Both are on a separate die that is still manufactured in 45nm whereas the CPU die is already manufactured in the new 32nm process.

The performance of the i5 520M is on average faster than a Core 2 Duo T9500 and due to the Turbo Boost, single threaded applications run even better. Therefore, the Core i5-520M is as fast as high clocked Core 2 Duo CPUs and should handle most gaming and multimedia tasks well.

The 32nm cpu cores of the Westmere generation can also process some new instructions to accelerate AES encryptions.

The integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD (GMA HD) graphics card is known to be clocked up to 500-766 MHz and should be clearly faster than the old GMA 4500MHD. A GeForce 9400M (ION) should still be a faster (especially as Nvidia and ATI cards have a better driver support than Intel up to now). According to rumors, the GMA core will also use the Turbo Mode regulate the clock speed.

The power consumption of 35 Watt TDP (max.) counts for the whole package and therefore it is clearly better than the 35 Watt TDP of the Core 2 Duo T-series (CPU alone). Due to the Turbo Boost, the Core i5 more likely uses the TDP under load than the older Core 2 Duo CPUs. Without any load, the i5 uses noticable less power.

Intel Core i7-2820QM

► remove from comparison Intel 2820QM

The Intel Core i7-2820QM is a fast high-end quad core processor for laptops. At the time of announcement (Jan. 2011) it was the fastest 45 Watt processor. It is based on the Sandy Bridge architecture and offers Hyperthreading to handle 8 threads at once (for a better usage of the pipeline). Compared to the previous Clarksdale quad-cores, the i7-2820QM is now manufactured in 32nm and offers an integrated graphics card and AES functions. Compared to the slower clocked 2720QM, the 2820QM offers more level 3 cache (8 vs. 6MB).

Sandy Bridge is the evolutionary successor of the Arrandale architecture. The most noteable improvements are the new 256Bit AVX instructions, the improved Turbo Boost and the integration of the graphics card into the 32nm CPU core. Furthermore, the integrated memory controller was improved and supports up to 8 GB DDR3-1333.

The i7-2820QM offers an integrated graphics card (Intel HD Graphics 3000) which proved to be clearly faster than the old Intel HD Graphics in the Arrandale CPUs and on a level with entry level dedicated graphics cards like the GeForce 310M. The HD Graphics 3000 also supports Turbo Boost and clocks between 650 MHz and 1300 MHz. As the graphics card shares the fast last level cache, the processor is a bit slower with activated GPU.

The performance of the Core i7-2820QM is noticeable better (e.g. Cinebench versions) than the previous generation Core i7-940XM quad core. Therefore, the performance should be sufficient for modern 3D games and demanding applications. Thanks to the fast Turbo Boost 2.0 even single threaded applications run very fast. The detailed benchmark results of the 2820QM can be found in the lower section of this page.

The relative high TDP rating of the 2820QM of 45 Watt enables the usage of the quad core only in 15" laptops and up. However, compared to the previous generation of quad-cores, the TDP improved, as the integrated GPU is now included.

ModelIntel Core i5-520MIntel Core i7-2820QM
SeriesIntel Core i5Intel Core i7
CodenameArrandaleSandy Bridge
Series: Core i7 Sandy Bridge
Intel Core i5-580M compare2.67 - 3.33 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-560M compare2.67 - 3.2 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-480M compare2.67 - 2.93 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-540M compare2.53 - 3.07 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-460M compare2.53 - 2.8 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-520M « 2.4 - 2.93 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-450M compare2.4 - 2.66 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-430M compare2.26 - 2.53 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-560UM compare1.33 - 2.13 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-470UM compare1.33 - 1.87 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-540UM compare1.2 - 2 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-520UM compare1.06 - 1.87 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i5-430UM compare1.2 - 1.73 GHz2 / 4 cores3 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2960XM compare2.7 - 3.7 GHz4 / 8 cores8 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2860QM compare2.5 - 3.6 GHz4 / 8 cores8 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2920XM compare2.5 - 3.5 GHz4 / 8 cores8 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2760QM compare2.4 - 3.5 GHz4 / 8 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2820QM « 2.3 - 3.4 GHz4 / 8 cores8 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2720QM compare2.2 - 3.3 GHz4 / 8 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2675QM compare2.2 - 3.1 GHz4 / 8 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2670QM compare2.2 - 3.1 GHz4 / 8 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2635QM compare2 - 2.9 GHz4 / 8 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2630QM compare2 - 2.9 GHz4 / 8 cores6 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2640M compare2.8 - 3.5 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2620M compare2.7 - 3.4 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2649M compare2.3 - 3.2 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2629M compare2.1 - 3 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2677M compare1.8 - 2.9 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2637M compare1.7 - 2.8 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2657M compare1.6 - 2.7 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Intel Core i7-2617M compare1.5 - 2.6 GHz2 / 4 cores4 MB L3
Clock2400 - 2933 MHz2300 - 3400 MHz
FSB2500
L1 Cache128 KB256 KB
L2 Cache512 KB1 MB
L3 Cache3 MB8 MB
Cores / Threads2 / 44 / 8
TDP35 Watt45 Watt
Transistors382+177 Million995 Million
Technology32 nm32 nm
Die Size81+114 mm2216 mm2
max. Temp.105 °C100 °C
SocketBGA1288, PGA988FCBGA1224, FCPGA988
FeaturesTurbo Boost, Hyper Threading, Enhanced Speedstep, integrierte GMA HD 733MHz,HD Graphics 3000 (650-1300MHz), DDR-1066/1333/1600 Memory Controller, HyperThreading, AVX, Quick Sync, Virtualization
Architecturex86x86
$225 U.S.$568 U.S.
Announced
Manufacturerark.intel.comark.intel.com
iGPUIntel HD Graphics 3000 (650 - 1300 MHz)

Benchmarks

Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64 Bit
100%
520M +
min: 1.97     avg: 2.1     median: 2.2 (3%)     max: 2.19 Points
min: 4.41     avg: 5.2     median: 5.5 (7%)     max: 5.81 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Single (32bit)
100%
520M +
min: 2789     avg: 3017     median: 3046 (18%)     max: 3102 Points
min: 4200     avg: 4274     median: 4249.5 (26%)     max: 4365 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Multi (32bit)
100%
520M +
min: 6114     avg: 6661     median: 6753 (5%)     max: 6925 Points
min: 12641     avg: 14782     median: 15043.5 (11%)     max: 16105 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Multi (64bit)
100%
520M +
min: 7129     avg: 8022     median: 8165 (6%)     max: 8342 Points
min: 16327     avg: 18631     median: 19316 (13%)     max: 20393 Points
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Single (64bit)
100%
520M +
min: 1799     avg: 3636     median: 3732 (5%)     max: 3957 Points
min: 5232     avg: 5368     median: 5372 (7%)     max: 5468 Points
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 1024m *
100%
520M +
min: 599     avg: 814     median: 623.5 (7%)     max: 1428 s
min: 281     avg: 366.3     median: 360.2 (4%)     max: 458.6 s
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 32m *
100%
520M +
min: 19     avg: 26.6     median: 20 (4%)     max: 44.63 s
min: 8.27     avg: 10.7     median: 10 (2%)     max: 13.64 s
3DMark 06 - CPU - 3DMark 06 - CPU
100%
520M +
min: 2602     avg: 2728     median: 2728.5 (6%)     max: 2817 Points
min: 4427     avg: 5486     median: 5818.5 (12%)     max: 5923 Points
min: 11     avg: 11.2     median: 11 (2%)     max: 11.6 s
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 2M *
100%
520M +
min: 36     avg: 38.4     median: 38 (2%)     max: 44 s
min: 23.1     avg: 29.7     median: 25 (1%)     max: 54 s
min: 618     avg: 628     median: 625 (3%)     max: 644 s
SiSoft Sandra Dhrystone (MIPS) - SiSoft Sandra Dhrystone (MIPS)
100%
520M +
min: 31600     avg: 34553     median: 33240 (16%)     max: 39000 MIPS
min: 83000     avg: 90497     median: 87000 (41%)     max: 101490 MIPS
SiSoft Sandra Whetstone (MFLOPS) - SiSoft Sandra Whetstone (MFLOPS)
100%
520M +
min: 25360     avg: 28514     median: 28250 (22%)     max: 35320 MFLOPS
min: 23590     avg: 53623     median: 66280 (51%)     max: 71000 MFLOPS
PCMark 05 - PCMark 05 - Standard
100%
520M +
8082 Points (17%)
13842 Points (29%)
Windows 7 Experience Index - Win7 CPU
100%
520M +
min: 5.2     avg: 6.6     median: 6.7 (86%)     max: 6.8 Points
min: 7.4     avg: 7.5     median: 7.5 (96%)     max: 7.5 Points
3DMark Vantage - 3DM Vant. Perf. CPU no Physx
100%
520M +
min: 7304     avg: 7540     median: 7560 (7%)     max: 7658 Points
min: 16115     avg: 18441     median: 18520 (16%)     max: 20526 Points
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Physics
100%
1 2820QM +
min: 5165     avg: 6335     median: 6724 (18%)     max: 7245 Points

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i5-520M → 100% n=16

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i7-2820QM → 171% n=16

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

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v1.28
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Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)