Which 8 core laptop CPU is better? AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H, or Intel’s i7-11800H? Let’s find out!
These are the differences in specs between these two processors. Both are 8 core 16 thread parts,
but Intel has more cache this generation. The Intel chip has a higher maximum boost clock,
but this will depend on things such as power limits and the workload being run. The Intel
platform also has newer PCIe gen 4, so faster storage and bandwidth to the Nvidia graphics.
For this comparison I’m using the XMG Neo 15, the same Tongfang chassis as the Eluktronics
Mech-15 G3. Both laptops have the full powered Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics inside, same battery,
same 1440p screen, and I’ve even tested the exact same physical memory sticks in both,
so 32 gigabytes of DDR4-3200 CL22 dual rank memory in dual channel.
I’ve tested both of these laptops with a 45 watt TDP and a higher 80 watt TDP,
because this is as high as the power limit sliders on the Ryzen model go,
though the Intel model does have more headroom at up to 120 watts.
Although TDP may be measured differently depending on the platform, I found
that both laptops were drawing a similar amount of power from the wall in Blender,
a multi-threaded rendering workload, just a few watts difference at either power limit.
These are the clock speed averages over all 8 cores during the same test,
so not too much difference, but we can see that at 45 watts the Ryzen 7 5800H was higher than
the i7-11800H, but then Intel takes the lead once both have higher power limits.
Here’s how fast Blender was actually completing on both laptops. Both laptops were taking the
exact same amount of time to complete the longer Classroom test with the higher 80
watt power limit, however Intel was a few seconds faster in the shorter BMW test.
With the lower 45 watt power limits though Intel is significantly behind.
It’s a similar deal in Cinebench R23 for the multicore score. AMD’s Ryzen is significantly
ahead when both processors are limited to a lower 45 watt TDP, but then with the higher
80 watt limit Intel’s 11800H is able to scrape the win, though it’s close. The i7 was always
ahead by about 6% when it came to single core score though. Ryzen 5000 used to beat Intel’s
10th gen Comet Lake in this single core test, but now 11th gen Tiger Lake is back ahead.
I’ve tested Geekbench because it also has both a single core and multi core test. Again the
11th gen 11800H was ahead in single core, and this is regardless of the power limit,
because neither of these power limits should restrict a single threaded task. Once more Ryzen
was ahead with the 45 watt limit for multi core, but then Intel came out ahead with more power.
Handbrake was used to convert a 4K h.264 video file that I shot to 1080p h.265.
Lower times are better here, are you seeing the trend yet? Intel’s 11800H is slower with
the lower power limit, but once it can stretch its legs with the higher limit it’s faster.
Adobe Photoshop was tested with the puget systems benchmark. There’s less of a difference here
compared to most other tests, and although the difference in performance narrows in
with the higher power limit, the Ryzen laptop was still ever so slightly ahead.
V-Ray uses the processor to render out a scene. This is a multicore test, and with the lower
power limit the Ryzen 7 5800H was scoring around 31% higher than the Intel i7-11800H,
however tables turn again with the higher 80 watt power limit, with the i7 now 7% ahead.
The Corona benchmark is another multithreaded rendering workload,
though a lower score is better this time around, but similar results,
AMD much faster with lower power limit, but then Intel coming in ahead with the higher power limit.
Linux Kernel compilation is a threaded workload, and lower times are better here,
so Ryzen was a fair bit faster with the lower 45 watt power limit, while Intel was then 14%
faster with the 80 watt power limit, and this was the biggest difference between the two
processors in favor of Intel out of all applications tested.
Microsoft Excel on the other hand was one of the few tests that was still better on the Ryzen
7 5800H even with higher power limits. I believe this test likes cache, but Intel’s 11800H has more
total cache available, so now I’m not too sure what the deal is, but it’s still a win for AMD.
Speaking of AMD win, 7-Zip was used to test compression and decompression,
and this is another of the few tests where Ryzen was able to do
better even with the higher power limit, well at least for the decompression test,
Intel was still ahead when it came to compression as per the lighter purple bar.
Power limits don’t seem to affect AES encryption or decryption, but the Intel system was ahead in
both instances. This was one of the few times the 11800H was able to come out ahead of the
5800H with the lower 45 watt power limit. The only other times were in single threaded tests.
These are the differences when looking at all of the applications just tested with
the lower 45 watt TDP limit in place. In most applications, Intel’s i7-11800H is performing
worse than AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H. It of course depends on the workload,
but basically the 11800H was only doing better in the two single core workloads,
and the AES tests at the top, at least with these lower power limits.
In CPU only workloads such as these tasks, laptops are often able to run
much higher than 45 watts, though it of course depends on the specific machine.
If we instead compare both laptops running with the higher 80 watt power limit, then Intel is
ahead in most of the applications tested. AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H only really still has an edge when
it comes to 7-Zip decompression, Microsoft Excel, while Adobe Photoshop was within margin of error.
I’ve tested Cinebench R23 multicore at different power limits so we can see
how performance scales based on the power limit. The 5800H, shown by the red bars,
is outperforming the 11800H, shown by the blue bars, with lower power limits.
The gap starts to narrow when both are running with a 60 watt TDP,
and then at 70 watts and above the 11800H is able to take the lead - at least in this test. Not all
laptops will allow the processor to run this high in a CPU only workload though, which is why it’s
important to check power limits in reviews, as we can clearly see here how this affects results.
The Intel platform also has the advantage of further tuning with undervolting, though some
laptops may lock this down and not allow it. It’s allowed on my test laptop, however I found -0.1
volts unstable on my machine, and half that wasn’t really making a difference here, the change is
well within the margin of error. This comes down to silicon lottery, so specific results will vary.
Both of these laptops also have the same 93Wh battery inside,
and testing both with the integrated graphics enabled, aka optimus,
we can see that the Ryzen option was lasting longer. Both laptops again
have the exact same memory and the same 1440p screen, so this should be quite comparable.
The Ryzen option was also able to perform better in multicore tests when running on battery power,
though Intel still has the edge in single core. This shouldn’t be too unexpected,
as battery power means we’re running with lower processor power limits,
and we’ve already seen Ryzen does better there.
Despite both laptops being the same model and as similar as possible, there are some
differences to note. We can see that the CPU and GPU layout differs between the Intel and
AMD configurations, resulting in a slight difference in the heat pipes.
Unfortunately I’m not able to fairly compare temperatures here.
Probably for the same reason that it was skipped over in the recent Linus Tech Tips
video where they also had two XMG laptops to compare Intel and AMD, and this is because
the Intel model ships with liquid metal while the Ryzen model has standard thermal paste.
For the purposes of this comparison though I don’t believe that’s going to be an issue, as thermal
throttling was never being hit, so the paste difference on these two machines won’t affect the
results seen previously, but it does unfortunately mean that I can’t fairly compare temperatures.
Obviously we expect the Intel model to come out cooler as it’s got that liquid metal.
Now just for the person in the comments saying that I could have removed the liquid metal and
applied regular thermal paste - yeah I suppose that’s true, but hey I’ve got no
personal experience applying liquid metal and I don’t really want to try and remove it on this
machine that’s not mine, and same deal with the AMD model, again I’ve got no liquid metal
experience and I don’t really want to brick XMG’s laptop, so I just chose not to do it.
Now perhaps most importantly is the price difference. This will change over time,
so refer to those links down in the description for updates.
At the time of recording, XMG sells the Core 15 gaming laptop with Ryzen 7 5800H for 1588 Euros,
or the Intel i7-11800H model for 41 Euros more, or less than 3%
extra money. This is an RTX 3060 configuration,
so with higher specs like RTX 3070 in terms of a percentage difference it would be even smaller.
So then what should you get, AMD or Intel? I’d say as long as the laptop is actually able to
run the processor up to higher power limits Intel would be better. As we’ve seen with more power it
does beat AMD in most of these tests, but the power limit is always going to vary based on
the specific laptop and at lower power limits as we saw AMD did have the advantage there.
Additionally, AMD also had the advantage when it came to battery life and performance on battery,
so if you need to run your machine on battery power then Ryzen could be the better pick.
So what about gaming?
I’ll compare 10 different games on both laptops at 1080p and 1440p resolutions in an upcoming
video very soon, as adding those results to this video would make it way too long,
so make sure you’re subscribed for the upcoming gaming comparison between these two laptops,
there’s a lot more to discuss like PCIe differences. Come and join me in Discord and
get behind the scenes videos by supporting the channel on Patreon, and come and check
out some of my other laptop comparisons over here next, I’ll see you over in one of those!