Intel Core vs. AMD Ryzen: Laptop CPU Performance Comparison
If you come across TWO laptops that have the same specs except for the CPU, you may want to know which of the two CPUs is , at least in theory, faster.
The best way to do this is by looking for benchmarks that test EACH laptop running YOUR application/game. However, the chances of finding a video testing these two exact same models is very very slim.
The best you can do is try to get an idea by looking at CPU benchmarks.
Benchmarks: Measuring CPU performance
Benchmarks will test a CPU performance by running scripts (in other words giving the CPU a task to complete). Systems (laptops or PCs) that complete the task faster will get a higher score.
You can then use these results to get an idea of the relative performance of two CPUs.
Now you don’t have to run these benchmarks yourself. Thousands of users submit their scores online and the average is calculated.
Ex: Say 5000 users submitted their scores for a laptop with a Core i5 8250U and the average score was 1540.
PassMark BenchMark Scores
For this post, we will limit ourselves to passmark benchmark scores. These are the most popular benchmark scores and the benchmarks with the highest amount of submitted data.The passmark benchmarks (test) only focuses on testing the CPU’s performance or at least it tries to. It tries to ignore RAM, graphics card, storage and any other components on a laptop.
Quoting from their website.
“PassMark runs heavy mathematical calculations that stress the CPU’s performance at compression, encryption, and physics-related tasks.”
Though these are mathematical calculations, the results can be applied for any CPU-related task such as:
- Data Science
- Compiling code
- Virtual machine performance.
- Spreadsheet calculations
- Photo & Video Editing effects, functions and rendering
- Final 3D Work Rendering
- Gaming
Single-Thread vs Multi-Core Benchmarks
Note that passmark benchmarks results are given in two parts: single-thread and multi-thread results.
Depending on the game/application/task you want to increase performance on, you should focus on either single-threaded or multi-threaded results.
Likewise, some games are more multi-threaded than others. Ex: LoL is single-threaded and CoD is very multi-threaded.
Core i3 vs Ryzen 3
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Lowest Speed | Highest | Cache |
| Core i3 7100U | 2 | 4 | — | 2.4 | 3MB |
| Core i3 8130U | 2 | 4 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 4MB |
| Core i3 10110U | 2 | 4 | 2.1 | 4.1 | 4MB |
| Core i3 115G4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4.1 | 6MB |
| Core i3 1215U | 6 | 8 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 10MB |
| Core i3 1315U | 6 | 8 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 10MB |
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Base | Turbo | Cache |
| Ryzen 3 3200U | 2 | 4 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 4MB |
| Ryzen 3 3250U | 2 | 4 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 5MB |
| Ryzen 3 4300U | 4 | 4 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 6MB |
| Ryzen 3 5300U | 4 | 8 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 6MB |
| Ryzen 3 7330U | 4 | 8 | 2.3 | 4.3 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 3 7320U | 4 | 8 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 6MB |
Single-Thread Benchmarks
Some observations you can see right away:
- Both the 12th and 13th gen Core i3 laptop CPUs are faster than the latest generation Ryzen 3 CPU.
- The Core i3 11th gen laptop CPU outperforms a 7th generation Ryzen 3 CPU as well.
- There doesn’t seem to be much performance gain between 4th,5th and 7th gen Ryzen 3 CPUs except for the Ryzen 3 7330U model which is significantly faster than previous generations and variants.
- The Ryzen 3 720U is only slightly faster than 4th and 5th gen Ryzen 3 CPUs.
Multi-Thread Benchmarks
The multi-thread benchmarks show save for the latest Core i3 CPUs, Ryzen 3 CPUs pretty much dominate:
- 4th gen Ryzen 3 laptop CPUs score higher than 11th and 10th gen Core i3 CPUs.
- 7th gen Ryzen 3 CPUs have almost the same performance as 12th Core i3 CPUs.
- Interestingly, the Ryzen 3 7320U did not outperform the Ryzen 3 5300U in the multi-thread benchmarks.
Core i5 vs Ryzen 5
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Base(GHz) | Boost(GHz) | Cache |
| Core i5 7200U | 2 | 4 | — | 2.5 | 3MB |
| Core i5 8265U | 4 | 8 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 6MB |
| Core i5 10210U | 4 | 8 | 1.6 | 4.2 | 6MB |
| Core i5 1135G7 | 4 | 8 | 2.4 | 4.2 | 8MB |
| Core i5 1235U | 10 | 12 | 1.3 | 4.4 | 12MB |
| Core i5 1335U | 10 | 12 | 1.3 | 4.6 | 12MB |
| Core i5 8300H | 4 | 8 | 2.3 | 4 | 8MB |
| Core i5 9300H | 4 | 8 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 8MB |
| Core i5 10300H | 4 | 8 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 8MB |
| Core i5 11400H | 6 | 12 | 2.2 | 4.5 | 12MB |
| Core i5 12450H | 8 | 12 | 2 | 4.4 | 12MB |
| Core i5 13420H | 8 | 12 | 1.9 | 4.6 | 12MB |
| Core i5 14450HX | 10 | 16 | 2 | 4.8 | 20MB |
| Core i5 Ultra 5 125U | 10 | 12 | 1.2 | 4.7 | 12MB |
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Base (GHz) | Boost (GHz) | Cache |
| Ryzen 5 3500U | 4 | 8 | 2.1 | 3.7 | 4MB |
| Ryzen 5 3550H | 4 | 8 | 2.1 | 3.7 | 4MB |
| Ryzen 5 4600U | 6 | 12 | 2.1 | 4 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 5 4600H | 6 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 5 5500U | 6 | 12 | 2.1 | 4 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 5 5600U | 6 | 12 | 2.3 | 4.2 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 5600H | 6 | 12 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 6600U | 6 | 12 | 2.9 | 4.5 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 6600H | 6 | 12 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 7520U | 4 | 8 | 2.8 | 4.3 | 6MB |
| Ryzen 5 7530U | 6 | 12 | 2.9 | 4.4 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 7535HS | 6 | 12 | 3.3 | 4.55 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 7540U | 6 | 12 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 7545U | 6 | 12 | 3 | 4.7 | 16MB |
Single-Thread Benchmarks
- With the exception of the 14th generation Core i5 (“H” for High Performance), the Ryzen 5 7450U (“U” for low power) outperforms every other Core i5 CPU in single thread benchmarks.
- Likewise a Ryzen 5 6600H does not perform better than a low power “U” CPU (Ex: Core i5 1235U).
- Core i5 1335U ( “U” for low power) outperforms high performance “H” CPUs like the Core i5 13240H.
- Be very careful here. Although it does outperform it in these benchmarks. Performance when gaming will be much higher with the Core i5 13250H because it will be able to sustain high clock rates for LONGER periods of time.
Note that these benchmarks do not include 8th generation Ryzen 5 CPUs which would be the equivalent of Core i5 14450HX as they have not been released yet on laptops.
Multi-Thread Benchmarks
- Currently as of Nov 2024, there’s not been a release of a laptop with an 8th gen Ryzen 5 CPU thus the 14th gen Core i5 currently dominates all CPUs in this graph.
- Multi-thread performance is about the same for the Ryzen 5 6600H and Core i5 13420H.
- The Ryzen 5 6600H also has the same performance as the commonly found Ryzen 5 7535HS (slightly higher).
- Ryzen 5 6600U (low voltage) outperforms the Core i5 1335U (low voltage).
- For the most part, Ryzen 5 CPUs outperform equivalent generation Intel Core i5 CPUs.
- Note that the 7th gen Ryzen 5 7545U is a very low voltage CPU used on very portable ultrabooks thus performance will be much much lower than similar CPUs used on other laptops which run on higher power. It’s not a good benchmark to measure the relative performance of 7th gen Ryzen 5 CPUs.
Core i7 vs Ryzen 7
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Base (GHz) | Boost (GHz) | Cache |
| Core i7 7600U | 2 | 4 | — | 2.8 | 4MB |
| Core i7 8565U | 4 | 8 | 1.8 | 4.6 | 8MB |
| Core i7 1065G7 | 4 | 8 | 1.3 | 3.9 | 8MB |
| Core i7 1165G7 | 4 | 8 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 12MB |
| Core i7 1260P | 12 | 16 | 2.1 | 4.7 | 18MB |
| Core i7 1355U | 10 | 12 | 1.2 | 5 | 12MB |
| Core i7 7820HQ | 4 | 8 | 2.9 | 3.9 | 8MB |
| Core i7 8750H | 6 | 12 | 2.2 | 4.1 | 9MB |
| Core i7 9750H | 6 | 12 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 12MB |
| Core i7 10750H | 6 | 12 | 2.6 | 5 | 12MB |
| Core i7 11800H | 8 | 16 | 2.3 | 4.6 | 24MB |
| Core i7 12700H | 14 | 20 | 1.7 | 4.7 | 24MB |
| Core i7 13700H | 14 | 20 | 1.9 | 5 | 24MB |
| Core i7 14700HX | 20 | 28 | 1.9 | 5.4 | 30MB |
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Base (GHz) | Boost (GHz) | Cache |
| Ryzen 7 3700U | 4 | 8 | 2.3 | 4 | 6MB |
| Ryzen 7 3750H | 4 | 8 | 2.3 | 4 | 6MB |
| Ryzen 7 4700U | 8 | 8 | 2 | 4.1 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 7 4800U | 8 | 16 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 12MB |
| Ryzen 7 4800H | 8 | 16 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 12MB |
| Ryzen 7 5700U | 8 | 16 | 1.8 | 4.3 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 7 5800U | 8 | 16 | 1.9 | 4.4 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 7 5800H | 8 | 16 | 3.2 | 4.4 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 7 5800HS | 8 | 16 | 2.8 | 4.3 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 7 6800U | 8 | 16 | 2.7 | 4.7 | 20MB |
| Ryzen 7 6800H | 8 | 16 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 20MB |
| Ryzen 7 6800HS | 8 | 16 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 20MB |
| Ryzen 7 7730U | 8 | 16 | 2 | 4.5 | 12MB |
| Ryzen 7 7745HX | 6 | 12 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 32MB |
| Ryzen 7 7840U | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 5.1 | 24MB |
| Ryzen 7 8840U | 8 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 7 8845HS | 8 | 16 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 32MB |
Single-Thread Benchmarks
- Note that the most powerful Core i7 14700HX found on laptops as of Nov 2024 performs just as well as the slightly older 7th generation Ryzen 7 CPU.
- The 8th generation Ryzen 7 8845HS does not perform as well as the Ryzen 7 7745HX.
- This result MAY not be accurate as there’s only been a few months since the 8th gen Ryzen 7 has been released on LAPTOPS.
Multi-Thread Benchmarks
-
- Overall the Core i7 CPUs have better multicore performance than the equivalent Ryzen 7 CPUs.
- For example, a 14th gen Core i7 “H” CPU will outperform the equivalent 7th gen Ryzen 7 7745HX.
- There’s not enough data to draw conclusions from the Ryzen 7 8845HS.
- Current benchmarks show that its multicore performance is weaker than the 7th gen Ryzen 7 7745HX.
- Current benchmarks show that the Core i7 13700H outperforms all other Ryzen CPUs in multithreaded calculations
- Overall the Core i7 CPUs have better multicore performance than the equivalent Ryzen 7 CPUs.
Core i9 vs Ryzen 9
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Base (GHz) | Boost (GHz) | Cache |
| Core i9-8950HK | 6 | 12 | 2.9 | 4.8 | 12MB |
| Core i9-9980HK | 8 | 16 | 2.4 | 5 | 16MB |
| Core i9-10980HK | 8 | 16 | 2.4 | 5.3 | 16MB |
| Core i9-11900H | 8 | 16 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 24MB |
| Core i9-12900H | 14 | 20 | 2.5 | 5 | 24MB |
| Core i9-13900HX | 24 | 32 | 1.9 | 5.4 | 36MB |
| Core i9-14900HX | 24 | 32 | 2.3 | 5.4 | 36MB |
| Ultra 9 185H | 16 | 24 | 2.1 | 5 | 30MB |
| CPU | Cores | Threads | Base (GHz) | Boost (GHz) | Cache |
| Ryzen 9 4900H | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 9 4900HS | 8 | 16 | 3 | 4.3 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 9 5900H | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 9 5900HX | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 9 5900HS | 8 | 16 | 3 | 4.6 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 9 5980HX | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 4.8 | 20MB |
| Ryzen 9 6900HX | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 20MB |
| Ryzen 9 6900HS | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 20MB |
| Ryzen 9 6980HX | 8 | 16 | 3.3 | 5 | 20MB |
| Ryzen 9 7845HX | 12 | 24 | 3.7 | 5.2 | 32MB |
| Ryzen 9 7945HX | 16 | 32 | 2.5 | 5.4 | 64MB |
| Ryzen 9 8945HS | 12 | 24 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 32MB |
Single-Thread Benchmnarks
- The latest 13th and 14th gen Intel Core i9 CPUs outperform every other Ryzen 9 CPU in the single thread benchmarks.
- Only the Ryzen 9 7945HX CPU is significantly faster than the Core i9 12900HX and close to the Core i9 13900HX.
- It is likely that as the dataset of Ryzen 9 8945HS gets larger, the performance will get closer to the Core i9 14900HX.
Multi-Thread Benchmnarks
- The Ryzen 9 7945HX completely blows the Core i9 14900HX and all other Core i9 CPUs out of the water in multithreaded benchmarks.
- There’s not enough data for the upcoming 8th generation Ryzen 9 CPU but it is safe to assume the performance difference will be much much bigger.
- Core i9 14900HX, Core i9 13900HX and Ryzen 9 7845HX have almost the same performance.
- There’s a MASSIVE performance difference between the older CPUs ( 12th gen Intel Core i9 & 6th gen Ryzen 9 ) to the latest 13th, 14th gen Intel Core i9 and 7th gen Ryzen 9 CPUs.
Author Profile
- I am physicist and electrical engineer. My knowledge in computer software and hardware stems for my years spent doing research in optics and photonics devices and running simulations through various programming languages. My goal was to work for the quantum computing research team at IBM but Im now working with Astrophysical Simulations through Python. Most of the science related posts are written by me, the rest have different authors but I edited the final versions to fit the site's format.
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