Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 vs Intel Core i5-8250U

Last updated: 2023-11-07

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1		Intel Core i5-8250U
CPU comparison Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 or Intel Core i5-8250U - 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 Microsoft SQ1 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.00 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 8 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 was released in Q3/2019. The Intel Core i5-8250U has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.40 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-8250U was released in Q3/2017.

Qualcomm Snapdragon (102)	Family	Intel Core i5 (331)
Qualcomm Snapdragon SQ1/SQ2 (2)	CPU group	Intel Core i 8000U (KL) (7)
1	Generation	8
Kryo 495	Architecture	Kaby Lake U Refresh
Mobile	Segment	Mobile
--	Predecessor	--
--	Successor	--

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.00 GHz. The Intel Core i5-8250U has 4 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 1.60 GHz (3.40 GHz).
Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8250U
8	Cores	4
8	Threads	8
hybrid (big.LITTLE)	Core architecture	normal
No	Hyperthreading	Yes
No	Overclocking ?	No
3.00 GHz 4x Kryo 495 Gold	A-Core	1.60 GHz (3.40 GHz)
1.80 GHz 4x Kryo 495 Silver	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 Microsoft SQ1	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8250U
--	AI hardware	--
--	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 685	GPU	Intel UHD Graphics 620
0.25 GHz	GPU frequency	0.30 GHz
0.65 GHz	GPU (Turbo)	1.10 GHz
5	GPU Generation	9.5
7 nm	Technology	14 nm
2	Max. displays	3
8	Compute units	24
1536	Shader	192
No	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
4 GB	Max. GPU Memory	16 GB
12.0	DirectX Version	12

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 685	GPU	Intel UHD Graphics 620
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	Codec VP9	Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode	Codec VP8	Decode / Encode
No	Codec AV1	No
Decode	Codec AVC	Decode / Encode
Decode	Codec VC-1	Decode
Decode / Encode	Codec JPEG	Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe The Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory in 8 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-8250U can connect up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8250U
LPDDR4X-4266	Memory	DDR4-2400
16 GB	Max. Memory	32 GB
8 (Octa Channel)	Memory channels	2 (Dual Channel)
34.1 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	38.4 GB/s
No	ECC	No
--	L2 Cache	--
2.00 MB	L3 Cache	6.00 MB
--	PCIe version	3.0
--	PCIe lanes	12
--	PCIe Bandwidth	11.8 GB/s
Thermal Management The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 has a TDP of 7 W, that of the Intel Core i5-8250U is 15 W.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8250U
7 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	15 W
--	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
--	TDP down	--
--	Tjunction max.	--
Technical details The Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 has a 2.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i5-8250U cache has a total of 6.00 MB.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1	Characteristic	Intel Core i5-8250U
7 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 1356
None	Virtualization	VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No	AES-NI	Yes
Android, Windows 10 (ARM)	Operating systems	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q3/2019	Release date	Q3/2017
--	Release price	385 $

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Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz buy now on Amazon and save! Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 1.60 GHz (3.40 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks

Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 (96%)

Intel Core i5-8250U (100%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks

Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 (95%)

Intel Core i5-8250U (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.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	724 (96%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 3.40 GHz	753 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	2808 (95%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	2956 (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 Microsoft SQ1 Qualcomm Adreno 685 @ 0.65 GHz	2030 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U Intel UHD Graphics 620 @ 1.10 GHz	422 (21%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	45 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 3.40 GHz	0 (0%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	200 (100%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 3.40 GHz	0 (0%)

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.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 3.40 GHz	897 (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.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	3118 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 3.40 GHz	1127 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	3311 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 3.40 GHz	348 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	1509 (100%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	46 (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.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	5901 (100%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.


	Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	705.3 (100%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	361 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 1.60 GHz	1680 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 3.40 GHz	157 (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 Microsoft SQ1 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i5-8250U 4C 8T @ 2.30 GHz	549 (100%)

Devices using this processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon Microsoft SQ1	Intel Core i5-8250U
Microsoft Surface X	Acer Aspire Acer Chromebook Acer Spin Acer Swift Acer TravelMate Asus UX410UA Asus Vivobook 15 Asus ZenBook 13 Asus ZenBook 14 Dell Inspiron 13 Dell Inspiron 14 Dell Inspiron 15 Dell Inspiron 17 Dell XPS 13 Fujitsu Lifebook Fujitsu Lifebook U938

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