Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 vs Intel Core i5-6300U

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 i5-6300U

The Intel Core i5-6300U 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 2.4 - 3.0 GHz (2 cores: max. 2.9 GHz), the chip also integrates an HD Graphics 520 GPU 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").

Performance

According to the specified clock rates and the improved architecture, the Core i5-6300U should perform similar to (or slightly above) the former Core i7-5500U (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 HD Graphics 520 represents the "GT2" version of the Skylake GPU (Intel Gen. 9). The 24 Execution Units, also called EUs, are clocked at 300 - 1000 MHz and offer a performance somewhere in range of a dedicated GeForce 820M. Games of 2015 can thus be played smoothly in low settings. For more information about performance and features, check our page for the HD Graphics 520.

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 7.5 watts (cTDP down), reducing both heat dissipation and performance and allowing even more compact designs.