[Comparison] Intel Core i3-1215U vs AMD Ryzen 3 5300U – AMD doesn’t give up

The Alder Lake U-series is supposed to be the most efficient Intel CPUs, but from our little experience with them, we haven’t been impressed so far. Today, however, we will be evaluating the performance of the new Core i3-1215U, which is a 6-core/8-thread CPU.

If those numbers look weird to you, it’s because Intel’s new Efficiency cores don’t support Hyperthreading, leading to some strange specs sheets. Going against it is a proven combatant in the CPU space, which has saved many budget laptops from poor performance. The Ryzen 3 5300Um despite using the older Zen 2 architecture, is a pretty powerful chip. Will it, however, have enough gas in the tank to strike a blow to Alder Lake’s dominance.

Today, we compare the Intel Core i3-1215U against the AMD Ryzen 3 5300U.

You can take a look at our Top Laptop CPU Ranking, where we showcase the best and the newest laptop processors.

You can find more information about both CPUs here: Intel Core i3-1215U / AMD Ryzen 3 5300U

Specs table

Intel Core i3-1215UAMD Ryzen 3 5300U
ArchitectureAlder Lake-UZen 2
Cores / Threads6/84/8
Clock Speeds – Base/Boost0.90 – 4.40GHz2.60 – 3.80GHz
Cache10MB6MB
Lithography10nm7nm
TDP15W15W
Memory typeDDR5-4800,
LPDDR5-5200
DDR4–3200MHz
LPDDR4x–4266MHz
DDR4-3200MHz, LPDDR4x-3733MHz
Integrated GPUIntel UHD Graphics (Alder Lake, 64EU)AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (R4000/5000, 15W)

CPU benchmarks

The Ryzen 3, which uses a nearly 3-year-old architecture, manages to win out against the Core i3 CPU, scoring 38% higher in Cinebench 20 and being 0.6 seconds quicker in Photoshop.

Results are from the Cinebench R23 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)


GPU benchmarks

Moving into the iGPU tests, we see the Intel pull ahead, thanks to the newer Xe-HPG architecture, resulting in leads of 26% in 3DMark Fire Strike, and 31% in Unigine Superposition.

Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Wild Life benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Intel UHD Graphics (Alder Lake, 64EU) – Core i3-1215U129 fps (+12%)93 fps (+43%)55 fps (+25%)
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000, 15W) – Ryzen 3 5300U110 fps65 fps44 fps

 

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Intel UHD Graphics (Alder Lake, 64EU) – Core i3-1215U136 fps (+24%)84 fps (+27%)44 fps (+26%)
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000, 15W) – Ryzen 3 5300U110 fps66 fps35 fps

Conclusion

The Ryzen 3 5300U has the raw computational performance to stand ahead of the Core i3-1215U in CPU-intensive tasks. However, the newer iGPU inside the Core i3 is quite a bit better, scoring better in both the synthetic GPU benchmarks as well as the gaming tests. This win gives us a very optimistic view of newer Ryzen chips, as, despite Intel dominating the high-end field and the H-series CPUs, AMD can absolutely dominate in the ULV-space, with the new RDNA 2 iGPUs solidifying its performance even further.

All laptops with the Intel Core i3-1215U:


All laptops with the AMD Ryzen 3 5300U:

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