6MB vs 8MB Smartcache.. does it matter?

[omega3]

I noticed in laptops like Dell XPS you have i7 models with 8MB Smartcache and i5 models with 6MB Smartcache? When would you see a difference from this, especially if you have an SSD? How relevant is this Smartcache and a difference of 2MB?

 

[heymrdj]

I noticed in laptops like Dell XPS you have i7 models with 8MB Smartcache and i5 models with 6MB Smartcache? When would you see a difference from this, especially if you have an SSD? How relevant is this Smartcache and a difference of 2MB?

Depending on workload, cache is to SSD as SSD was to 5400RPM hard drives. The average consumer won’t notice on cache alone. It’s everything else the i7 offers that makes a difference, the cache just plays support to that performance.

 

[omega3]

Depending on workload, cache is to SSD as SSD was to 5400RPM hard drives. The average consumer won’t notice on cache alone. It’s everything else the i7 offers that makes a difference, the cache just plays support to that performance.

When comparing i5-8265u vs i7-8565u in a laptop, can you mention situations in which you would seee benifit from the i7 over the i5?

The comparison below gives a +7% in effective speed between those two, but will you notice this and especially, in which situations? Thanks again.

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8565U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-8265U/m591977vsm566107

 

[heymrdj]

When comparing i5-8265u vs i7-8565u in a laptop, can you mention situations in which you would seee benifit from the i7 over the i5?

The comparison below gives a +7% in effective speed between those two, but will you notice this and especially, in which situations? Thanks again.

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8565U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-8265U/m591977vsm566107

The answers are pretty much the same as your XPS thread. Certain applications will benefit from more cores and cache. You’ll need to check that out with the software vendors. In your other thread you mention that 8GB Ram is only available with the i5, not 16GB. That would make my decision for me.

Also, keep in mind, these are U series processors . All of their capabilities will be in bursts, as wattage limits and thermal buildup will limit sustained high performance runs. It’s very hard to compare U processors in benchmarks, because you can’t purchase them and run them in the same chassis to compare. You have to buy them pre-soldered in laptops already. So when you see benchmarks of 4,000 processors, that’s a mix of all makes. Some may throttle terribly because they are ultra thin systems. Others may run fast because they are in big thick cheap plastic chassis like 300$ Walmart specials.

Overall the i7 is going to be about a 10% boost. I wouldn’t keep making this as scientific as you’re making it. Vendors purposely silo the systems (like 16GB being i7 only, or i5 minimum for 512GB of storage) to force you to look at the higher premium tiers. At the end of the day, the average consumer browsing Facebook and using photo apps isn’t going to notice much of a difference. But if you want larger storage or RAM, you’ll just need to pay for the higher end unit. It’s the way the game is rigged. If you want to game and run video conversions or otherwise DO things (not just consume already created media), get the i7. Otherwise settle for the i5.