i7-5500U vs i7-3720QM

Aggregate performance score

Core i7-3720QM
2012
4 cores / 8 threads, 45 Watt
3.57
+104%
Core i7-5500U
2015
2 cores / 4 threads, 15 Watt
1.75

Core i7-3720QM outperforms Core i7-5500U by a whopping 104% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking15132021
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i7Intel Core i7
Power efficiency7.5111.04
Architecture codenameIvy Bridge (2012−2013)Broadwell-U (2015)
Release date29 April 2012 (12 years ago)1 March 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$378$393

Detailed specifications

Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores4 (Quad-Core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads84
Base clock speed2.6 GHz2.4 GHz
Boost clock speed3.6 GHz3 GHz
Bus rate5 GT/s5 GT/s
L1 cache64K (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache256K (per core)256K (per core)
L3 cache6 MB (shared)4 MB (shared)
Chip lithography22 nm14 nm
Die size160 mm282 mm2
Maximum core temperature105 °C105 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)no data105 °C
Number of transistors1,400 million1300 Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration11
SocketFCBGA1224,FCPGA988FCBGA1168
Power consumption (TDP)45 Watt15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® AVXIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
My WiFi+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology++
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Access++
Smart Responseno data+
Demand Based Switching-no data
FDI++
Fast Memory Access++

Security technologies

Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+-
EDB++
Secure Key++
Identity Protection++
OS Guardno data+
Anti-Theft+no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U are enumerated here.

AMD-V++
VT-d++
VT-x++
EPT++

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR3
Maximum memory size32 GB16 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth25.6 GB/s25.6 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card
Compare
Intel HD Graphics 4000Intel HD Graphics 5500
Max video memoryno data16 GB
Quick Sync Video++
Clear Videono data+
Clear Video HD++
Graphics max frequency1.25 GHz950 MHz
InTru 3D++

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported33
eDP++
DisplayPort++
HDMI++
SDVO+no data
CRT+no data

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.4no data2560x1600@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPortno data3840x2160@60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectXno data11.2/12
OpenGLno data4.3

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U.

PCIe version3.02.0
PCI Express lanes1612

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i7-3720QM 3.57
+104%
i7-5500U 1.75

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

i7-3720QM 5671
+104%
i7-5500U 2786

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

i7-3720QM 601
i7-5500U 880
+46.4%

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

i7-3720QM 2036
+20.6%
i7-5500U 1688

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i7-3720QM 4821
+4.5%
i7-5500U 4615

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

i7-3720QM 18879
+92.8%
i7-5500U 9791

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i7-3720QM 6642
+73.6%
i7-5500U 3826

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i7-3720QM 7.85
+114%
i7-5500U 16.76

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i7-3720QM 7
+113%
i7-5500U 3

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i7-3720QM 610
+111%
i7-5500U 289

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i7-3720QM 126
+4.1%
i7-5500U 121

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i7-3720QM 1.47
+4.3%
i7-5500U 1.41

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i7-3720QM 3.3
+94.1%
i7-5500U 1.7

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i7-3720QM 37
+108%
i7-5500U 18

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i7-3720QM 147
+55.1%
i7-5500U 95

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i7-3720QM 4365
+76.4%
i7-5500U 2474

Geekbench 3 32-bit multi-core

i7-3720QM 14452
+141%
i7-5500U 6004

Geekbench 3 32-bit single-core

i7-3720QM 3898
+34.7%
i7-5500U 2894

Geekbench 2

i7-3720QM 10848
+71.2%
i7-5500U 6336

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.57 1.75
Integrated graphics card 1.18 1.51
Recency 29 April 2012 1 March 2015
Physical cores 4 2
Threads 8 4
Chip lithography 22 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 45 Watt 15 Watt

i7-3720QM has a 104% higher aggregate performance score, and 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.

i7-5500U, on the other hand, has 28% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 2 years, a 57.1% more advanced lithography process, and 200% lower power consumption.

The Core i7-3720QM is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-5500U in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-5500U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i7-3720QM
Core i7-3720QM
Intel Core i7-5500U
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Questions & comments

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