Intel Core i5-3550 vs Intel Core i7-2820QM

Core i5-3550 vs Core i7-2820QM comparison

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i7-2820QM performs better than the Core i5-3550. Despite this, the Core i5-3550 has the advantage in our gaming benchmark.

When comparing these CPUs we notice that they have the same number of cores but the Core i7-2820QM has more threads. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i5-3550 has a significantly higher clock speed compared to the Core i7-2820QM. Also, the Core i5-3550 has a slightly higher turbo speed. The Core i7-2820QM outputs less heat than Core i5-3550 thanks to a significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. For instance, the Core i5-3550 has the same number of threads as cores. This means the the CPU does not support hyperthreading.