Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 vs Intel Core i7-5600U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-5600U
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Intel Core i7-5600U

CPU comparison

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 or Intel Core i7-5600U - 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.40 GHz. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 was released in Q3/2016.

The Intel Core i7-5600U has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-5600U was released in Q1/2015.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (102) Family Intel Core i7 (293)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (3) CPU group Intel Core i 5000U (16)
3 Generation 5
Kryo Architecture Broadwell U
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor Intel Core i7-6600U

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz. The Intel Core i7-5600U has 2 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.60 GHz (3.20 GHz).

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Characteristic Intel Core i7-5600U
4 Cores 2
4 Threads 4
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz
2x Kryo
A-Core 2.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
1.60 GHz
2x Kryo
B-Core --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

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. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Characteristic Intel Core i7-5600U
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware --
Hexagon 680 AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

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.

Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU Intel HD Graphics 5500
0.62 GHz GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
0.62 GHz GPU (Turbo) 0.95 GHz
5 GPU Generation 8
14 nm Technology 14 nm
0 Max. displays 3
-- Compute units 24
256 Shader 192
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 16 GB
11,1 DirectX Version 11.2

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.

Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU Intel HD Graphics 5500
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP9 No
Decode Codec VP8 Decode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode Codec JPEG Decode

Memory & PCIe

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 supports a maximum of 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-5600U can connect up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Characteristic Intel Core i7-5600U
LPDDR4-3733 Memory DDR3-1600
8 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
14.9 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 4.00 MB
-- PCIe version 2.0
-- PCIe lanes 12
-- PCIe Bandwidth 6.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 has a TDP of --, that of the Intel Core i7-5600U is 15 W.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Characteristic Intel Core i7-5600U
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 has a 0.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i7-5600U cache has a total of 4.00 MB.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Characteristic Intel Core i7-5600U
14 nm Technology 14 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Socket BGA 1168
None Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
Android Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q3/2016 Release date Q1/2015
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
341 (49%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
699 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
864 (48%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz
1796 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
370 (37%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
1009 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
752 (38%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz
2004 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
Qualcomm Adreno 530 @ 0.62 GHz
476 (100%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
Intel HD Graphics 5500 @ 0.95 GHz
365 (77%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
1594 (53%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz
3008 (100%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
305 (100%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz
632 (100%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 2.60 GHz
912 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
131 (100%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U
2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz
329 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Intel Core i7-5600U
Unknown Unknown

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