Intel Core i5-8250U vs Intel Core i7-3520M

Core i5-8250U vs Core i7-3520M specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i5-8250U performs better than the Core i7-3520M. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i7-3520M in all gaming tests too.

When comparing core counts for these CPUs, we notice that the Core i5-8250U has significantly more cores with 4 cores compared to the Core i7-3520M that has 2 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i7-3520M. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i7-3520M has a significantly higher clock speed compared to the Core i5-8250U. Also, the Core i7-3520M has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i5-8250U CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-3520M CPU because of its 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. Indeed, the Core i5-8250U has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.