Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 vs Intel Core i5-6260U

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform (or SD7c Gen2) is a ARM based SoC for Windows laptops. It integrates two fast Kryo 495 Gold cores (based on the ARM Cortex-A76 architecture) at up to 2.55 GHz and six small Kryo 495 Silver cores (ARM Cortex-A55) for power efficiency. Compared to the previous generation, the clock speeds were slightly increased.

According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 can offer up to 60% better productivity performance per watt in Windows 10 compared to Gemini Lake Refresh chips such as the Intel Celeron N4020 and, to a good extent, the Pentium Silver N5030.

The integrated X15 LTE modem supports Cat.12 download (600 MBit/s) and Cat.13 upload speeds (150 MBit/s). Furthermore, Wifi-5 and Bluetooth 5.0 are integrated in the SoC. In addition to the Adreno 618 graphic card, the SoC also integrates a Hexagon 692 NPU.

The chip is produced in 8nm (compared to the more modern 7LPP process of the 8cx) and intended for the use in thin and light laptops without a fan.

Intel Core i5-6260U

The Intel Core i5-6260U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core SoC based on the Skylake architecture and has been launched in September 2015. The CPU can be found in ultrabooks as well as normal notebooks.. In addition to two CPU cores with Hyper-Threading clocked at 1.8 - 2.9 GHz (2 cores: max. 2.7 GHz), the chip also integrates an Iris Graphics 540 GPU with 64 MB of dedicated eDRAM memory and a dual-channel DDR4-2133/DDR3L-1600 memory controller. The SoC is manufactured using a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors.

Architecture

Skylake replaces both Haswell and Broadwell and brings the same microarchitecture in every TDP class from 4.5 to 45 W. The extensive improvements of the Skylake design include increased out-of-order buffers, optimized prefetching and branch prediction as well as additional performance gains through Hyper-Threading. Overall, however, performance per clock has been increased by only 5 to 10 percent (compared to Haswell) respectively under 5 percent (compard to Broadwell), which is quite modest for a new architecture ("Tock").

Furthermore, the organisation of the eDRAM cache has been modified. Instead of acting like a victim cache, which has to be adressed via the L3/LLC, the eDRAM can now be adressed directly by programms just like the main memory. The size is still 128 MB for the quad-core models (4C + GT4e), while the dual-core chips (2C + GT3e) only offer 64 MB.

Performance

According to the specified clock rates and the improved architecture, the Core i5-6260U should perform similar to the former Core i7-5500U/5550U (Broadwell, 15 W). Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as more demanding applications and multitasking.

Graphics

The integrated graphics unit called Iris Graphics 540 represents the "GT3e" version of the Skylake GPU (Intel Gen. 9). The 48 Execution Units, also called EUs, are clocked at 300 - 950 MHz and offer (thanks to the fast eDRAM cache) a performance sligthly above a dedicated GeForce 920M. Games of 2015 can thus be played smoothly in low or medium settings. For more information about performance and features, check our page for the Iris Graphics 540.

Power Consumption

Specified at a TDP of 15 W (including CPU, GPU and memory controller), the CPU is best suited for small notebooks and ultrabooks (11-inches and above). Optionally, the TDP can be lowered to 9.5 watts (cTDP down), reducing both heat dissipation and performance and allowing even more compact designs.