The Intel of old that was on top of everyone might be gone, but they still make damn good and very powerful processors, that can be even better than AMD’s offerings in certain areas.
Today we are here to compare two Intel CPUs that while maybe a bit old now, still offer crazy performance that will be showcased today. Today we have the Intel Core i7-10870H going up against Intel’s halo product, the Intel Core i9-10980HK.
You can check out our Top Laptop CPU Ranking, where we have the best mobile and laptop CPUs.
You can find more information about both CPUs here: Intel Core i7-10870H / Intel Core i9-10980HK
Specs table
| Intel Core i7-10870H | Intel Core i9-10980HK | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Comet Lake-H | Comet Lake H |
| Cores / Threads | 8/16 | 8/16 |
| Clock Speeds – Base/Boost | 2.20 – 5.00GHz | 2.40 – 5.10GHz |
| Cache | 16MB | 16MB |
| Lithography | 14nm | 14nm |
| TDP | 35 / 45W | 45W |
| Memory type | DDR4-2933MHz | DDR4-2933MHz |
| Integrated GPU | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
CPU benchmarks
In the 3D Rendering benchmark with Cinebench 15, the Intel Core i9-10980HK was 7% better, which shows exactly how good the i7-10870H. Being that close to the Core i9- is definitely something and even some AMD CPUs haven’t been able to do that. The Photoshop results were exactly the same, with both processors finishing the benchmark in 5.35 seconds.
Results are from the Cinebench 20 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)
Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)
Conclusion
Wow, we didn’t expect the Core i7-10870H to perform this close to a Core i9, and while it still lost, we have to give it props for that alone. The Core i9 was 7% better in 3D Rendering and as far as Photoshop was concerned, both CPUs finished the test in 5.35 seconds exactly. The price is the only factor that you should consider as we don’t believe the 7% increase in performance is worth the top dollar that laptops with the Core i9 go for.
