Intel Core i7-7500U vs Intel Core i7-13850HX

Intel Core i7-7500U

The Intel Core i7-7500U is a dual-core processor of the Kaby Lake architecture. It offers two CPU cores clocked at 2.7 - 3.5 GHz and integrates HyperThreading to work with up to 4 threads at once. The architectural differences are rather small compared to the Skylake generation, therefore the performance per MHz is very similar. The SoC includes a dual channel DDR4 memory controller and Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics card (clocked at 300 - 1050 MHz). It is manufactured in an improved 14nm FinFET process (14nm+) at Intel. Compared to the old Skylake Core i7-6500U (2.5 - 3.1 GHz), the i7-7500U clock speed is up to 400 MHz higher.

Intel Core i7-13850HX

The Intel Core i7-13850HX is a fast high-end mobile processor of the Raptor Lake series. Is was announced in early 2023 and offers combined 20 cores and 28 threads. Eight fast Raptor Cove performance cores (P-cores) with Hyper-Threading and eight Gracemont efficiency cores without HyperThreading. The 13850HX supports the full enterprise set of vPro management features.

The eight P-Cores are clocked from 2.1 GHz (base) up to 5.3 GHz (single core boost, all cores up to 4.7 GHz). The twelfe E-Cores clock between 1.5 (base) and 3.8 GHz (boost).

Compared to Alder Lake, Raptor Lake offers improved P-Cores (Raptor Cove micro-architecture) with bigger Caches and more E-Cores (same Gracemont micro-architecture). Furthermore, the chip supports faster DDR5 memory (up to 5600 MHz for the 13850HX).

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 13850HX as of August 2023, we fully expect the chip to be at least a couple pecentage points faster than the i9-12900HX, a CPU featuring eight P-cores and eight E-cores that run at nearly the same clock speeds as what the 13850HX has. Just how wide the performance delta will be will depend a lot on how competent the laptop's cooling solution is, and how high the CPU power limits are.

Power consumption

The chip's "minimum assured" power consumption sits at 45 W. Its Intel-recommended "Maximum Turbo" power consumption is 157 W while the Base power consumption is supposed to be around 55 W. Most laptop makers will probably go for a value much higher than 55 W to extract as much performance out of the chip as possible.

This Core i7 series processor is built with Intel's 4th generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for average, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.