Intel Core i3-N300 vs Intel Core i7-1065G7 vs Intel Core i3-N305

Intel Core i3-N300

The Intel Core i3-N305 is an entry-level mobile CPU for thin and light laptops from the Alder Lake-N series. It was announced in early 2023 and offers no performance cores and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The chip does not support HyperThreading and clocks with up to 3.8 GHz (single core, 3 GHz all core Turbo). The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 6 MB L3-cache. 

Performance

The performance depends on the cooling and TDP settings and should be somewhere similar to the old  Alder Lake Pentium 8500 (1 performance core, 4 efficiency cores, max. 4.4 GHz and 8 MB L3-cache). The multi-threaded performance should be quite good with the 8 cores but will suffer due to the low TDP. Single thread performance will suffer due to the missing P-cores and relatively low boost clock speeds.

Features

The Alder Lake-N chips only support single channel memory with up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 or LPDDR5-4800. The chip also supports Quick Sync and AV1 decoding (most likely same engine as in Alder Lake). Furthermore, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 are partly integrated (but no Thunderbolt). External chips can be connected via PCIe Gen3 x9 (via the PCH).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offersall 32 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.25 GHz. In addition to the single channel memory, the gaming performance is very limited of the iGPU.

Power consumption

The i3 has a base power consumption of 7 W and is therefore even suited for fanless cooling. The CPU is built with a further improved 10nm SuperFin process at Intel (called Intel 7).

Intel Core i7-1065G7

The Intel Core i7-1065G7 is a power efficient quad-core SoC of the Ice Lake U product family designed for thin laptops and Ultrabooks. It was announced in May 2019 (Computex). The CPU has four Sunnycove processor cores (8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading) clocked at 1.3 (base) - 3.9 (single core Turbo) GHz. 2 cores can reach 3.8 GHz and all four 3.5 GHz using Turbo Boost. According to Intel the Sunnycove cores achieve 18% more IPCs (Instructions per Clock).

Other improvements for Ice Lake are the AI hardware acceleration and the partial integration of Thunderbolt and Wi-Fi 6 in the chip. The integrated DDR4 memory controller supports modules with up to 3200 MHz (and LPDDDR4 3733).

The biggest improvement of Ice Lake is the integrated Gen 11 graphics adapter called Iris Plus Graphics. The Core i7-1065G7 integrates the biggest G7 variant with 64 EUs clocked at 300 - 1100 MHz. The Iris Plus G7 should be twice as fast as the predecessors and best the AMD Vega 10 GPU from current Ryzen APUs.

Performance

The average 1065G7 in our database is most comparable to the AMD Ryzen 7 2700U and the Intel Core i5-8259U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This is a so-so result and a direct consequence of Intel's inability to make the best of its brand-new 10 nm node. The Core i7-10710U, a 10th generation processor built with an older 14 nm process, will easily rip a 1065G7 to pieces. That said, the 1065G7 will surely beat a 10710U in terms of energy efficiency.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and sufficiently high CPU power limits, the Galaxy Book Flex 15-NP950 is among the fastest laptops powered by the 1065G7 that we know of. It can be around 40% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Core i7 has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 15 W. Laptop makers are free to change that value to anything between 12 W and 25 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, that's a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The quad-core Intel CPU is built with Intel's second-gen 10 nm process (not 10 nm SuperFin or Intel 7) for average, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i3-N305

The Intel Core i3-N305 is an entry-level mobile CPU for thin and light laptops from the Alder Lake-N series. It was announced in early 2023 and offers no performance cores and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The chip does not support HyperThreading and clocks with up to 3.8 GHz. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 6 MB L3-cache.

Performance

We have not tested a single system built around the N305, as of September 2023. Expect the chip to be 50% to 100% faster than the N95 (4 cores, 4 threads, up to 3.4 GHz).

Your mileage may vary depending on how high the CPU power limits are and how competent the cooling solutuion of your system is.

Features

The Alder Lake-N chips only support single channel memory with up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 or LPDDR5-4800. The chip also supports Quick Sync and AV1 decoding (most likely same engine as in Alder Lake). Furthermore, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 are partly integrated (but no Thunderbolt). External chips can be connected via PCIe Gen3 x9 (via the PCH).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offersall 32 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.25 GHz. In addition to the single channel memory, the gaming performance is very limited of the iGPU.

Power consumption

The i3 has a base power consumption of 15 W and can be configured down to 9 W. The CPU is built with a further improved 10nm SuperFin process at Intel (called Intel 7).