Analyzing Intel Core M Performance: How 5Y10 can beat 5Y71 & the OEMs' Dilemma
by Brett Howse & Ian Cutress on April 8, 2015 8:00 AM ESTCinebench R15 Multi-Threaded Results
Looking at a multi-threaded run of Cinebench, the devices which will perform the best are going to need to have enough thermal headroom to keep all of the cores working at a good pace. All of these devices have four logical cores mapped to two physical cores via Hyperthreading, all of which are run at maximum load for the duration of this test.
The Core i5 once again has no issues maintaining its high CPU frequency, even though the overall SoC temperature does get higher than the single-threaded run. The Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet though starts off really reaching for the stars, but quickly must throttle back until it finds a consistent range that allows it to stay within its cooling constraints. The Yoga 3 Pro is similar, but quickly falls back due to the 65°C limit placed on the processor by the manufacturer. The ASUS UX305 performs just as well in this test as the last, with a very consistent CPU frequency, despite the temperatures getting a bit higher than the last run.
When it comes to average CPU frequency, both the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro and the Dell Venue 11 Pro once again end up falling behind the ASUS and its much lower turbo speed in this test, though not by a huge margin. The ASUS averages the highest CPU frequency of the Core M contenders just like in the single-threaded workload, with the Lenovo less than 100MHz behind it, and the Dell Venue a ways back again. Neither of the 5Y71 devices turbo much over the 5Y10 in this test though.
Looking at the temperatures, you can see just how conservative Lenovo has been with the Yoga 3 Pro. The overall SoC temperature is quite a bit lower than all of the other devices when the device is under load. The active cooling and low SoC temperatures help the Yoga 3 Pro to keep a cool exterior to the device.
Now we come to the end result of this workload. The 5Y10 device handily outperforms both of the higher ranked models. Unsurprisingly it comes no where near the Core i5, but looking at the CPU frequency graph really demonstrates why it scores higher. Both of the 5Y71 have a lower average score, but unlike the single-threaded result, neither of them can sustain a CPU frequency past the frequency of the ASUS very much.
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OneCosmic833 - Friday, April 10, 2015 - link
I don't really understand, why don't the manufacturers put a little bigger heatsink with a FAN of bigger diameter into these portable devices, is it such a problem??? Production costs reduction or bad engineering? I think it would be also possible to keep the same weight if they cut some bulk mass from somewhere else of the device. Simply this throttling is not acceptable for me and an i7 should not have lower performance than i5 in sustained load...This is very very sad for us consumers, like how the manufacturers skimp us ! ! !metayoshi - Friday, April 10, 2015 - link
Great article!I'm very interested in this, though, after reading the whole article: I noticed the Asus laptop with the metal chassis was the one with the 5Y10, and the two devices that are usable as a tablet/is a tablet are the two devices with the 5Y71. However, I know that the Venue 11 Pro comes with a 5Y10 for its base configuration, so it would be interesting to see how that 5Y10 version compares vs the 5Y71 version, knowing it is thermally handicapped compared to the Lenovo, with its fan, and the Asus, which is a laptop with a metal chassis.
I was originally eyeing the Venue 11 Pro, but I jumped on the preorders of the less powerful but still capable Surface 3 with the new Atom SoC. I'm really intrigued by Core M, but all these stories of throttling and whatnot are keeping me away for now.
serendip - Friday, April 10, 2015 - link
Intel has a decent mobile chip with Atom. Core M, not so much. I would rather have a slower Atom chip that costs a lot less and can turbo for long periods than a Core M with much higher performance that isn't accessible to the user thanks to constant throttling. Maybe there should be a caveat on Core M devices like "2.4 GHz processor (for 10 seconds only), base 1 GHz". That way consumers know what they're really in for.ahfei - Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - link
Is 2.6GHz the maximum turbo speed for M-5Y71 for 2 cores, judging from the graph? Cannot find that info anywhere and some even stated the maximum 2.9GHz is for both cores!Brett Howse - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
I have never seen them go over 2.6 GHz for both cores. 2.9 GHz seems to be just for a single core.boe_d - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
I like the Sony Vaio Z approach - balls the walls hardware, fast processing power, fast storage, fast video and LIGHT. Still lighter than most laptops 5 years later and faster than many of them too! Battery power wasn't great but it had an easy to replace battery.RanBuch - Saturday, July 18, 2015 - link
I own a Lenovo yoga 3 pro. Can I configure the SoC temperature from 65°C to a higher value? I use the device as a "desktop" more often then a tablet and would love to get more juice from my machine even at the expense of the device "overheating" a little bit.HP - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
These processors are perfectly decent. But at the same time, really novel due to the fact that no active cooling is required to run them. This in my view is a positive progression in CPUs together with the SoC philosophy. To have everything integrated into a smaller space. Many users might complain about performance but I bet they don't use their i5 or i7 machines to the fullest potential either. Core-M performance is perfectly decent. Granted, the only slow downs I have experienced is when compiling a Linux kernel say or running multiple FHD videos. But such tasks are run on a less than regular basis so a slight slow down in speed during these exercises is acceptable. The rest of the tasks get carried out very well in a thin, light and quiet design.Atreyiu - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link
I know many will disagree with me, but I am a regular user and I hate when my Venue 11 Pro 7140 (5Y10, 64 Gb, 04 Gb RAM) is heated so much that I can not put my right hand in it, that temperature is unbearable from 55 ° C upwards. Should not rise beyond what your skin can handle. This happens pretty and very quickly, then to lower spend enough time. I'm thinking let go of it and look for an alternative. I wanted a balanced team between productivity and way of life, but these temperature rises disenchanted me and the only thing that bothers me because it is fast and has no crashes or anything like that.SandraGok - Tuesday, June 9, 2020 - link
I'm not just inviting you! But it will be interesting for sure loveawake.ru