By: Charles P. Jefferies
Introduction
Mobile processors have come a long way over the past several years. I am going to take a look at one of the high-end dual-core processors from Intel, the Core i5-560M. It has a 2.66GHz clockspeed and can “Turbo Boost” up to 3.2GHz depending on the application. This article will explore what kind of performance advantage it has over the previous-generation Core 2 Duo processor. Here is our take.
Processor Background and Specifications
The mobile Core i5 processor line is characterized by two processor cores, 3MB of cache, and a 32nm manufacturing process. The i5 has integrated Intel HD graphics built-in as well, though whether or not that is enabled depends on the notebook; it is usually disabled on notebooks that have dedicated ATI or Nvidia graphics cards.
The main difference between the lower-end Core i3 and the i5 is that the i5 has a feature called Intel Turbo Boost technology, which allows the processor to dynamically increase its clockspeed if it thinks an application can benefit from more power. Our i5-560M runs at 2.66GHz stock but can go up to 2.93GHz on two cores or 3.2GHz on a single core.
The Core i5 replaced the previous-generation Core 2 Duo processors; one major feature it added was Intel Hyper-Threading technology, which splits one physical processor core into two logical processor cores – so, in the Windows Task Manager the i5 shows up as four CPUs, not just two. This allows the CPU to process more things simultaneously and improves performance. before I get too technical, see the full rundown here.
The Core i5-560M is the latest i5 processor model. It has the following specifications:
- 2 processing cores
- 4 threads
- 2.5GT/s DMI
- 3MB Intel Smart Cache
- 64-bit Instruction Set
- 35W Max TDP
- Max Memory Supported: 8GB
- Built-in Intel HD Graphics
- 382 Million Transistors
- Intel Virtualization Technology
- Intel Turbo Boost Technology
The full specifications can be found on Intel’s website. Below is a CPU-Z readout of the i5-560M:
I will be comparing the processor to a previous-generation Core 2 Duo P8400 processor, which is dual-core and runs at 2.26GHz. It occupied the same price point as the i5-560M in its day. Below is a CPU-Z readout:
Benchmarks
This review is going to take what I call a ‘practical’ approach to benchmarking; I will run several benchmarks and explain the importance of each one.
Test Computers
Our Core i5-560M testbed is an HP EliteBook 8740w, equipped with Windows 7 64-bit, an ATI FirePro M7820 graphics card, 6GB of RAM, a Western Digital WD5000BEKT hard drive, and all latest OS updates/patches.
The Core 2 Duo P8400 comparison testbed is an HP Pavilion dv5t equipped with Windows 7 64-bit, an Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics card, 4GB of RAM, a Seagate Momentus 320GB 7200.4 hard drive, and all latest OS updates/patches.
wPrime 1.55
wPrime is a multi-threaded benchmark; that is, it can take advantage of processors that have multiple cores like the i5 and Core 2 Duo. It calculates numbers using an equation. I am using v1.55; in the Advanced Options I set it to 2 threads for the Core 2 Duo and 4 threads for the i5-560M (since it has Hyper-Threading, explained above). Download wPrime here. Those that use complicated Excel macros and any other math-based program like Matlab can use this benchmark as a reference.
| wPrime | Core i5 | Core 2 Duo | Difference |
| (Lower is better) | 560M | P8400 | vs. Core 2 Duo |
| 32M (seconds) | 17.487 | 35.039 | -100% |
| 1024M (seconds) | 543.036 | 1149.939 | -112% |
This benchmark shows the Core i5-560M outpacing its previous-gen counterpart, the Core 2 Duo P8400 by over a 100% margin – that’s twice as fast. This is very promising considering that the i5-560M only has a ~20% average clockspeed advantage over the P8400 (2.66GHz vs. 2.26GHz). During the benchmark I observed the i5-560M using its Turbo Boost technology; it ran at 2.93GHz most of the time, the highest it can go on two cores.
Super Pi
Unlike the other benchmarks in this thread, Super Pi is single-threaded – that is, it only takes advantage of one processor core. Not all programs support multiple threads so single-threaded performance is an important and overlooked performance measure.
Super Pi is a simple program that calculates digits of Pi; I used the 16M benchmark.
| Super PI | Core i5 | Core 2 Duo | Difference |
| (Lower is better) | 560M | P8400 | vs. Core 2 Duo |
| 16M (seconds) | 380 | 575 | -51% |
Super Pi shows that the i5-560M is significantly faster using just one core. During this benchmark I observed the i5-560M fluctuating between 3.06 and 3.20GHz since only one core was being used. A 51% performance difference is impressive given the i5-560M only has a 29% clockspeed advantage; it is doing a lot more per cycle than the Core 2 Duo.
3DMark06 CPU Tests
The CPU tests in 3DMark06 are a great indication of overall processor performance for gaming. It is designed to stress up to 64 processors, so this benchmark is working the processor to the max.
| 3DMark06 | Core i5 | Core 2 Duo | Difference |
| (Higher is better) | 560M | P8400 | vs. Core 2 Duo |
| CPU Test 1 (FPS) | 0.978 | 0.631 | 35% |
| CPU Test 2 (FPS) | 1.509 | 1.033 | 32% |
The gap is somewhat narrower in this benchmark but still sizable; the i5-560M is on average about one-third faster.
PCMark05 CPU Tests
PCMark05 makes the processor perform a different set of calculations than the other benchmarks, which up to this point have been arithmetic- and gaming-focused. PCMark05 includes file compression/decompression, audio and video encoding, image decompression, and web page rendering.
| PCMark05 | Core i5 | Core 2 Duo | Difference |
| (Higher is better) | 560M | P8400 | vs. Core 2 Duo |
| CPU Score | 8031.0 | 5712.0 | 29% |
| Web Page Rendering (Pages/s) | 3.1 | 2.2 | 28% |
| File Decryption (MB/s) | 84.2 | 63.9 | 24% |
| Audio Compression (KB/s) | 2833.1 | 1586.2 | 44% |
| Video Encoding (KB/s) | 930.5 | 598.0 | 36% |
| Text edit (Pages/s) | 155.5 | 132.9 | 15% |
| Image Decompression (Mpixels/s) | 35.9 | 26.9 | 25% |
| File Compression (MB/s) | 9.1 | 4.7 | 49% |
| File Encryption (MB/s) | 47.9 | 29.8 | 38% |
| File Compression (MB/s) | 13.8 | 10.1 | 27% |
| File Decompression (MB/s) | 193.8 | 151.3 | 22% |
| File Encryption (MB/s) | 84.6 | 62.8 | 26% |
| File Decryption (MB/s) | 83.4 | 62.9 | 25% |
| Image Decompression (Mpixels/s) | 40.6 | 32.6 | 20% |
| Audio Compression (KB/s) | 4466.6 | 3057.6 | 32% |
| File Compression (MB/s) | 12.5 | 9.4 | 25% |
| File Encryption (MB/s) | 75.9 | 58.3 | 23% |
| File Decompression (MB/s) | 112.7 | 72.3 | 36% |
| File Decryption (MB/s) | 43.5 | 29.2 | 33% |
| Audio Decompression (KB/s) | 2020.5 | 1202.7 | 40% |
| Image Decompression (Mpixels/s) | 24.3 | 15.1 | 38% |
| AVERAGE | 30% |
PCMark05 is the most ‘practical’ benchmark in this article; it is more indicative of general overall multimedia performance. The i5-560M was between 22% and 49% faster in the individual benchmarks with an overall average of 30%. Again, the i5-560M’s performance advantage is much higher than its clockspeed advantage. The i5 is indeed a more efficient processor.
Conclusion
The Core i5 processor is a very well-rounded processor and an excellent replacement for its predecessor, the Core 2 Duo. We looked at one processor from each generation; both the i5-560M and the Core 2 Duo P8400 occupy the same price points. The i5 brings anywhere from 30% to 112% extra performance for the same price, which is exactly what customers want to see. Right now is a great time to buy a computer.
December 19th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
[...] (Read More) [...]
July 24th, 2011 at 9:03 am
I would like to know if this is a second-generation model. My Sony Vaio has the sticker shown in that CPU-Z screenshot. But I see that some i5-equipped laptops in stores bear a new i5 sticker.
November 15th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
It has max turbo frequency 3.2 GHz