Intel Core i5-6500T vs AMD Ryzen 5 2500U

Intel Core i5-6500T

The Intel Core i5-6500T is a frugal quad-core desktop processor based on the Skylake architecture, which was announced in August 2015. The CPU, which is manufactured in a 14 nm process, runs at 2.5-3.1 GHz and does not support Hyperthreading (only 4 threads simultaneously).

Architecture

Intel uses Skylake to replace both Broadwell as well as Haswell and therefore uses one core design for all TDP classes between 4.5-45 Watts. Several improvements of the Skylake architecture include bigger Out-to-Order-Buffer, optimizations for pre-fetching as well as bigger gains by Hyperthreading. However, the changes are small for a "Tock" – a new micro architecture – in general, so the per-MHz performance is only between 5-10 % (compared to Haswell) or less than 5 % higher (compared to Broadwell), respectively.

Performance

The performance is a bit better compared to the old Sandy Bridge Core i5-2400 (3.1-3.4 GHz, no Hyperthreading either).

Graphics

Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel HD Graphics 530 with 24 EUs (Execution Units), which is clocked at 350 - 1100 MHz. Compared to the HD Graphics 4600 (Haswell, 20 EUs), the performance is increased by around 25 percent. The overall GPU performance is still low-end, so modern games can, if at all, only be played smoothly with low settings.

Power Consumption

Intel specifies the TDP with 35 Watts, so it can also be used in notebooks (although bigger ones).

AMD Ryzen 5 2500U

The AMD Ryzen 5 2500U is a mobile APU for thin and light laptops that was announced in October 2017. It includes four Zen cores clocked at 2 to 3.6 GHz and offers 4 MB L3-Cache. The integrated graphics card is called Radeon RX Vega 8 and offers 8 CUs (512 Shaders) clocked at up to 1100 MHz. The TDP is configurable between 12 and 25 Watt (15 Watt nominal). More information on Raven Ridge can be found in our launch article.