What is the difference between an intel i5 and an intel i7?
In: Technology
With just simple subtraction? 2
There are 4 classes of “i” chips, the i3, i5, i7, and i9.
the main difference is the amount of “threads” and “cores”
a Core is the brain part of the CPU.
a thread is like the two halves of a the brain.
when the CPU is told to do a thing, that thing is split into two “threads” one going down one half of the Core, and the other going down the other half of the core.
an i7 has more cores, usually 4 (depending on the specific i7) and each core can split a thing into two halves.
Therefore the higher number, the more the CPU can do at once, and faster the computer. USUALLY. There are things called Clock speeds that come into play, the clock speed is how fast the Cores can do the thing they are told to do.
Think of it like a river. 1 river = 1 core. Just like a river can be split up, a CPU can be split up.
The clock speed is how fast the river is flowing. A fast moving stream moves a lot of water, but a wider river moves more, even if its going slower.
Hope that makes sense. =D
Those are marketing terms, themselves they don’t mean anything. The more important thing to compare when talking about processors is the model numbers, like i5-6600 or i7 6700, these denote different products and can be compared.
The number and quality of the computing cores. An i5 has 4 cores and an i7 usually has 6 cores that can run at a higher clock speed (do more operations per second).
Surprised nobody has mentioned binning yet!
Ideally, every processor Intel manufactures would be an i9, but inevitably there are defects in the manufacturing process.
When a processor falls short of the quality standard required to be an i9, certain features are turned off (such as Hypertheading) and cores disabled and it is tested to see if it passes for an i7, if not the process repeats and it is tested to see if is an i5, then an i3.
For a consumer:
**i3**: “General consumer level / mid-level”. Lowest priced, and for general computer uses. This is actually the “right price to power” option for most users. It being the lowest in the i-series is a bit misleading that these are still very powerful and are actually the mid level chip.
**i5**: “Mid-high level” For general users and power users who are doing a bit more intensive tasks than your average user, such as gaming, complex business functions, or light video editing. Frankly, if you have a question if you may do tasks like this, its often a good idea to get an i5 over an i3, and prices usually aren’t that much more. If you plan to play new games, at high settings you should get at least an i5.
**i7**: “Enthusiast level” For a smaller segment of users that need extremely high end performance in specialized task or very high-end performance gaming. If you don’t know what these tasks would be, thats a clear indication that an i7 isn’t for you.
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