i7-6500U vs i7-8550U

Aggregate performance score

Core i7-8550U
2017
4 cores / 8 threads, 15 Watt
3.85
+86.9%
Core i7-6500U
2015
2 cores / 4 threads, 15 Watt
2.06

Core i7-8550U outperforms Core i7-6500U by an impressive 87% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking14521890
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i7Intel Core i7
Power efficiency24.2913.00
Architecture codenameKaby Lake Refresh (2017−2019)Skylake (2015−2016)
Release date21 August 2017 (7 years ago)1 September 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$409$393

Detailed specifications

Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U 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 speed1.8 GHz2.5 GHz
Boost clock speed4 GHz3.1 GHz
Bus typeOPIOPI
Bus rate4 GT/s4 GT/s
Multiplier1825
L1 cache64K (per core)128 KB
L2 cache256K (per core)512 KB
L3 cache8 MB (shared)4 MB
Chip lithography14 nm14 nm
Die size123 mm298.57 mm2
Maximum core temperature100 °C100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °Cno data
Number of transistorsno data1750 Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility+-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U 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 configuration1 (Uniprocessor)1 (Uniprocessor)
SocketFCBGA1356,FC-BGA1356FCBGA1356
Power consumption (TDP)15 Watt15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Speed Shift+no data
My WiFi++
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology++
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Access++
Smart Response++

Security technologies

Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT--
EDB++
Secure Key++
MPX-+
Identity Protection++
SGXYes with Intel® MEYes with Intel® ME
OS Guard++

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4DDR3, DDR4
Maximum memory size32 GB32 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth38.397 GB/s34.134 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card
Compare
Intel UHD Graphics 620Intel HD Graphics 520
Max video memory32 GB32 GB
Quick Sync Video++
Clear Video++
Clear Video HD++
Graphics max frequency1.15 GHz1.05 GHz
InTru 3Dno data+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported33
eDP++
DisplayPort++
HDMI++
DVI++

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support++
Max resolution over HDMI 1.44096 x 2304@24Hz4096x2304@24Hz
Max resolution over eDP4096 x 2304@60Hz4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort4096 x 2304@60Hz4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over VGAno dataN/A

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX1212
OpenGL4.44.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U.

PCIe version3.03.0
PCI Express lanes1212

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.

i7-8550U 3.85
+86.9%
i7-6500U 2.06

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.

i7-8550U 6118
+86.8%
i7-6500U 3275

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.

i7-8550U 878
+22.1%
i7-6500U 719

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.

i7-8550U 2622
+59.8%
i7-6500U 1641

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.

i7-8550U 6423
+31.5%
i7-6500U 4886

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.

i7-8550U 17322
+59.7%
i7-6500U 10844

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.

i7-8550U 5845
+38.1%
i7-6500U 4231

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.

i7-8550U 9.9
+58.4%
i7-6500U 15.68

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.

i7-8550U 6
+74.6%
i7-6500U 4

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

i7-8550U 553
+75%
i7-6500U 316

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.

i7-8550U 163
+27.3%
i7-6500U 128

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.

i7-8550U 1.89
+29.5%
i7-6500U 1.46

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.

i7-8550U 4.3
+139%
i7-6500U 1.8

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.  

i7-8550U 33
+62.2%
i7-6500U 20

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.  

i7-8550U 148
+40.9%
i7-6500U 105

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.

i7-8550U 4374
+76.2%
i7-6500U 2482

Geekbench 3 32-bit multi-core

i7-8550U 12328
+90%
i7-6500U 6489

Geekbench 3 32-bit single-core

i7-8550U 3770
+25.8%
i7-6500U 2998

Geekbench 4.0 64-bit multi-core

i7-8550U 13251
+81.4%
i7-6500U 7303

Geekbench 4.0 64-bit single-core

i7-8550U 4699
+21.4%
i7-6500U 3872

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.85 2.06
Integrated graphics card 2.67 2.15
Recency 21 August 2017 1 September 2015
Physical cores 4 2
Threads 8 4

i7-8550U has a 86.9% higher aggregate performance score, 24.2% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 1 year, and 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.

The Core i7-8550U is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-6500U in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-8550U and Core i7-6500U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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