Intel Core i5-8279U vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i5-8279U CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
Intel Core i5-8279U Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus

CPU comparison

Intel Core i5-8279U or Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Intel Core i5-8279U has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.10 GHz. Up to 32 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-8279U was released in Q2/2019.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.96 GHz. The CPU supports up to 12 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus was released in Q4/2018.
Intel Core i5 (331) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (104)
Intel Core i 8000U (8) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 855/860 (3)
8 Generation 6
Coffee Lake U Architecture Kryo 485
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor Qualcomm Snapdragon 860

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i5-8279U is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz (4.10 GHz). The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.96 GHz.

Intel Core i5-8279U Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
4 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz (4.10 GHz) A-Core 2.96 GHz
1x Kryo 485 Prime
-- B-Core 2.42 GHz
3x Kryo 485 Gold
-- C-Core 1.80 GHz
4x Kryo 485 Silver

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.

Intel Core i5-8279U Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
-- AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
-- AI specifications Hexagon 690 @ 7 TOPS
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 640
0.30 GHz GPU frequency 0.25 GHz
1.15 GHz GPU (Turbo) 0.68 GHz
9.5 GPU Generation 5
14 nm Technology 7 nm
3 Max. displays 1
48 Compute units 4
384 Shader 384
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 GB Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
12 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.

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 640
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i5-8279U supports a maximum of 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus can connect up to 12 GB of memory in 4 memory channels.

Intel Core i5-8279U Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
DDR4-2400 Memory LPDDR4X-4266
32 GB Max. Memory 12 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
38.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 2.00 MB
6.00 MB L3 Cache 3.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version --
16 PCIe lanes --
15.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i5-8279U has a TDP of 28 W, that of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus is --.

Intel Core i5-8279U Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
28 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i5-8279U has a 6.00 MB cache, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus cache has a total of 5.00 MB.

Intel Core i5-8279U Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
14 nm Technology 7 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions --
BGA 1528 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems Android
Q2/2019 Release date Q4/2018
320 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Core i5-8279U to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.0 stars (5 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (1 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i5-8279U (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus (75%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i5-8279U (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus (59%)

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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 4.10 GHz
1035 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
731 (71%)

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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
3953 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
2632 (67%)

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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 4.10 GHz
1255 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
994 (79%)

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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
4382 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
2397 (55%)

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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 @ 1.15 GHz
883 (85%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
Qualcomm Adreno 640 @ 0.68 GHz
1037 (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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
7965 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
4389 (55%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 4.10 GHz
402 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
1702 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
0 (0%)

AnTuTu 9 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 9 benchmark is very well suited to measuring the performance of a smartphone. AnTuTu 9 is quite heavy on 3D graphics and can now also use the "Metal" graphics interface. In AnTuTu, memory and UX (user experience) are also tested by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu version 9 can compare any ARM CPU running on Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly comparable when benchmarked on different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 9 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The rating is made up of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the working memory, and the performance of the internal graphics.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
558430 (100%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
487155 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 4.10 GHz
171 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 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.
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz
782 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
0 (0%)

AI performance (NPU)

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
Intel Core i5-8279U Intel Core i5-8279U
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz
7 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i5-8279U Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus
Apple MacBook Pro 13 (2019) OnePlus 7T
OnePlus 7T Pro 5G
OnePlus 7 Pro
OnePlus 7T Pro
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro Premium Edition
Realme X2 Pro

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