Apple A4 vs Intel Core i7-6870HQ

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Apple A4 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-6870HQ
Apple A4 Intel Core i7-6870HQ

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Apple A4 and the Intel Core i7-6870HQ and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Apple A4 1 core processor released in Q2/2010 with the Intel Core i7-6870HQ which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q1/2016.
Apple A series (22) Family Intel Core i7 (298)
Apple A4 (1) CPU group Intel Core i 6000H (15)
4 Generation 6
A4 Architecture Skylake H
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Apple A4 is a 1 core processor with a clock frequency of 0.80 GHz (1.00 GHz). The processor can compute 1 threads at the same time. The Intel Core i7-6870HQ clocks with 2.70 GHz (3.60 GHz), has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

Apple A4 Characteristic Intel Core i7-6870HQ
1 Cores 4
1 Threads 8
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
0.80 GHz Frequency 2.70 GHz
1.00 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 Core) 3.60 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) 3.20 GHz

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

Apple A4 Characteristic Intel Core i7-6870HQ
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

PowerVR SGX535 GPU Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580
GPU frequency 0.35 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.00 GHz
-- GPU Generation 9
65nm Technology 14 nm
1 Max. displays 3
2 Compute units 72
2 Shader 576
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
10.1 DirectX Version 12.0

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

PowerVR SGX535 GPU Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode
No Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode / Encode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to GB of memory in a maximum of 1 memory channels is supported by the Apple A4, while the Intel Core i7-6870HQ supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 34.1 GB/s enabled.

Apple A4 Characteristic Intel Core i7-6870HQ
LPDDR2-800 Memory DDR4-2133
Max. Memory 64 GB
1 (Single Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s
No ECC No
0.51 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 8.00 MB
-- PCIe version 3.0
-- PCIe lanes 20
-- PCIe Bandwidth 19.7 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Apple A4 has a TDP of --. The TDP of the Intel Core i7-6870HQ is 45 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Apple A4 Characteristic Intel Core i7-6870HQ
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 45 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 35 W
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Apple A4 has 0.51 MB cache and is manufactured in 45 nm. The cache of Intel Core i7-6870HQ is at 8.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 14 nm.

Apple A4 Characteristic Intel Core i7-6870HQ
45 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv7-A (32 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 1440
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
iOS Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q2/2010 Release date Q1/2016
-- Release price 434 $
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Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Apple A4 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.8 stars (5 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core i7-6870HQ to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:


Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A4 Apple A4
1C 1T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
903 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A4 Apple A4
1C 1T @ 0.80 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
4288 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Apple A4 Apple A4
1C 1T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
846 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Apple A4 Apple A4
1C 1T @ 0.80 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
3299 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Apple A4 Apple A4
1C 1T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
1096 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Apple A4 Apple A4
1C 1T @ 0.80 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
3679 (100%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Apple A4 Apple A4
PowerVR SGX535 @ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580 @ 1.00 GHz
1152 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Apple A4 Apple A4
1C 1T @ 0.80 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-6870HQ Intel Core i7-6870HQ
4C 8T @ 3.20 GHz
8236 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Apple A4 Intel Core i7-6870HQ
Apple iPhone 4 Unknown

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