Intel Core i7-11850H vs Intel Core i5-7287U

Intel Core i7-11850H

The Intel Core i7-11800H is a high end octa core SoC for gaming laptops and mobile workstations. It is based on the Tiger Lake H45 generation and will be announced in mid 2021. It integrates eight Willow Cove processor cores (16 threads thanks to HyperThreading). The base clock speed depends on the TDP setting and at 45 Watt is at 2.4 GHz. The single core boost speed can reach up to 4.6 GHz, all cores can reach up to 4.2 GHz. The CPU offers 24 MB level 3 cache and supports DDR4-3200 memory. Compared to the slower clocked i7-11800H, the 11850H offers professional management features like Intel vPro, SIPP or TXT.

Thanks to the new Tiger Lake architecture, the i9-11850H should be similar or faster than the old Intel Core i9-10875H (Comet Lake-H, 2.3 - 5.1 GHz, 16 MB L3) in single and multi threaded performance and similar to the Ryzen 9 5800H (Zen 3, 3.2 - 4.4 GHz, 16 MB L3). Therefore, the i7 is well suited for even very demanding tasks.

The SoC also includes the improved Xe graphics card called UHD graphics with all 32 EUs.

Furthermore, Tiger Lake SoCs add PCIe 4 support (20 lanes in the H45 series), AI hardware acceleration, and the partial integration of Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6E in the chip.

The chip is produced on the improved 10nm process (called 10nm SuperFin) at Intel, which should be comparable to the 7nm process at TSMC (e.g. Ryzen 4000 series). The default TDP is rated at 45 W at 2.4 GHz base speed, at 35 Watt the base clock speed decreases to 2 GHz (cTDP down).

All articles on Tiger Lake can be found on our Tiger Lake architecture hub.

Intel Core i5-7287U

The Intel Core i5-7287U is a fast dual-core SoC for notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. The CPU has two processor cores clocked at 3.3-3.7 GHz (two cores also up to 3.7 GHz). The processor can execute up to four threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper Threading. It is also equipped with an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 GPU with 64 MB eDRAM, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR4) as well as VP9 and H.265 video decoding as well as encoding. The chip is still manufactured in a 14nm process with FinFET transistors.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

The performance of the 28-Watt CPU should be on par with the Core i7-7560U (2.4-3.8 GHz, also 64 MB eDRAM, 15 Watts), where the Turbo Boost is usually shorter compared to the 7287U due to the lower TDP. This means the i5 is still one of the faster dual-core processors and should be sufficient for most scenarios. Some games might still require a real quad-core processor and therefore nit run perfectly on the dual-core processor, despite Hyper Threading.

Graphics

The integrated Intel Iris Plus 650 Graphics is the GT3e model of the Kaby Lake GPU (Intel Gen. 9.5). It has 48 Execution Units running at 300-1100 MHz and the performance is comparable to a GeForce 920MX thanks to fast eDRAM cache. However, there aren't any significant improvements compared to the old Iris Pro 550, so modern games can often not be played smoothly or only at the lowest or medium settings, respectively.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby lake now also supports H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors announced in January should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors, which improves the efficiency even further. Intel specifies the TDP with 28 Watts, which can be reduced to 23 Watts (cTDP Down) depending on the usage scenario. The TDP is pretty high compared to the common 15-Watt TDP for dual-core processors, but allows a better utilization of CPU and GPU Turbo.