Intel Core i3-1210U vs Intel Core i7-10750H Comparison

The Intel Core i7-10750H and Intel Core i3-1210U represent two fundamentally different design philosophies within Intel’s mobile lineup: the former is a high-power Comet Lake-H processor built for sustained performance, while the latter is a low-power Alder Lake-U chip engineered for efficiency. Despite sharing the same core count of six, their benchmark profiles diverge sharply, with the i7-10750H winning 12 of the 17 head-to-head tests, yet the i3-1210U claiming victory in 5, including some notable single-thread and specialized workloads. The data reveals that the i7-10750H dominates in multi-threaded and throughput-oriented tasks, while the i3-1210U offers surprising advantages in specific encryption, prime-finding, physics, and single-thread performance, making the choice between them highly workload-dependent.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Core i7-10750H is the clear winner for compute-heavy, multi-threaded workloads. Its 6 cores and 12 threads, combined with a 45W TDP, deliver consistently higher scores across all Cinebench versions. In Cinebench R23 multicore, the i7-10750H scores 9718 against the i3-1210U’s 8413, a 15.5% advantage. This pattern repeats in Cinebench R15 and R20 multicore tests, where the i7-10750H leads by 15.6% and 15.5%, respectively. The i7-10750H also excels in data compression, scoring 167213 in Passmark’s data compression test versus 102965 for the i3-1210U, a massive 62.4% gap. Extended instruction workloads further favor the i7-10750H, with a 78.9% lead in Passmark extended instructions (10470 vs 5852). Integer math and random string sorting also go decisively to the i7-10750H, with 15.3% and 82.6% advantages respectively. For users running video encoding, 3D rendering, or software compilation, the i7-10750H is the superior part.

The Intel Core i3-1210U wins in a narrower set of tasks, but these wins are significant for specific use cases. Its most striking victory is in single-thread performance, where it scores 3354 in Passmark single-thread versus 2625 for the i7-10750H, a 21.7% lead. This is a substantial margin and indicates that the Alder Lake architecture’s newer cores are more efficient per clock. The i3-1210U also wins in Passmark data encryption (6348 vs 3930, a 38.1% advantage) and Passmark find prime numbers (51 vs 39, a 23.5% lead). Additionally, the i3-1210U edges out the i7-10750H in Passmark physics (781 vs 700, a 10.4% difference). These wins point to the i3-1210U being better suited for lightweight, latency-sensitive applications, encryption-heavy tasks, and workloads that rely heavily on single-threaded responsiveness, such as everyday office productivity and web browsing.

FAQ

Q: Which processor has better multi-core performance?

A: The Intel Core i7-10750H. It wins all three Cinebench multicore tests, leading by 15.5% in Cinebench R23 (9718 vs 8413), 15.6% in R15 (979 vs 847), and 15.5% in R20 (4081 vs 3533). It also leads in Passmark multithread with 11616 versus 10228, a 13.6% advantage.

Q: Does the i3-1210U beat the i7-10750H in any benchmark?

A: Yes, in five tests. The i3-1210U wins in Passmark single-thread (3354 vs 2625, 21.7% higher), data encryption (6348 vs 3930, 38.1% higher), find prime numbers (51 vs 39, 23.5% higher), and physics (781 vs 700, 10.4% higher). It also wins in the duplicate Passmark singlethread test.

Q: How do the two processors compare in terms of power consumption?

A: The i7-10750H has a TDP of 45W, while the i3-1210U has a TDP of 9W. This makes the i3-1210U a much lower-power part, suitable for fanless or ultra-portable designs, whereas the i7-10750H is designed for performance laptops with active cooling.

Q: Which processor is better for single-threaded tasks?

A: The i3-1210U is better. Its Passmark single-thread score of 3354 is 21.7% higher than the i7-10750H’s 2625. The i3-1210U also leads in Cinebench R23 single-core with 1187 versus 1372, though the i7-10750H wins the R15 and R20 single-core tests by approximately 16%.

Q: Are both processors from the same generation?

A: No. The i7-10750H is from the Core 10th Gen (Comet Lake-H), released in April 2020, while the i3-1210U is from the Alder Lake-U generation, released in February 2022. This two-year gap explains the architectural differences.

Q: What is the difference in memory support?

A: The i7-10750H supports DDR4 memory only, while the i3-1210U supports both DDR4 and DDR5. The i7-10750H has a memory bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s, while the i3-1210U’s memory bandwidth is not specified in the data.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results show a clear pattern: the i7-10750H dominates in most compute-bound tests, but the i3-1210U has specific strengths. The largest win for the i7-10750H is in Passmark random string sorting, where it scores 21416 versus 11727, a 82.6% advantage. This is followed by Passmark extended instructions, where the i7-10750H leads by 78.9% (10470 vs 5852). Data compression also shows a massive 62.4% gap in favor of the i7-10750H (167213 vs 102965). These results indicate that the i7-10750H’s higher power budget and 12 threads allow it to sustain high throughput on complex, multi-step operations.

The i3-1210U’s biggest win is in Passmark single-thread, where it scores 3354 versus 2625, a 21.7% margin. This is a significant single-thread advantage that can translate to snappier UI responsiveness and faster load times for single-threaded applications. The i3-1210U also wins Passmark data encryption by 38.1% (6348 vs 3930), which is notable given that encryption often benefits from newer instruction sets. In Passmark find prime numbers, the i3-1210U scores 51 versus 39, a 23.5% lead, and in Passmark physics it scores 781 versus 700, a 10.4% advantage.

In the Cinebench suite, the i7-10750H wins every test, with the deltaPct hovering around 15.5-16.0%. For example, Cinebench R15 multicore shows 979 vs 847 (15.6% delta), and Cinebench R20 single-core shows 576 vs 498 (15.7% delta). The consistency of these margins suggests that the i7-10750H’s advantage is largely due to its higher TDP and more threads, rather than any architectural superiority. The i3-1210U’s wins, by contrast, are more varied in magnitude, ranging from 10.4% in physics to 38.1% in encryption, indicating that its Alder Lake architecture brings specific efficiency gains.

Specification Differences

The two processors differ in several key specifications. The i7-10750H has 12 threads, while the i3-1210U has 8 threads, despite both having 6 cores. The base clock of the i7-10750H is 2.60 GHz, while the i3-1210U has a base clock of 1000.00 MHz, which is an unusual figure in the data. The boost clock differs as well: the i7-10750H boosts to 5.00 GHz, while the i3-1210U boosts to 4.40 GHz. The TDP is a major differentiator, with the i7-10750H at 45W and the i3-1210U at 9W.

The sockets are different: the i7-10750H uses Intel BGA 1440, while the i3-1210U uses Intel BGA 1781. The i7-10750H supports DDR4 memory only, with a dual-channel bus and a specified bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s. The i3-1210U supports both DDR4 and DDR5, also dual-channel, but no bandwidth figure is provided. PCIe support also differs: the i7-10750H uses PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes (CPU only), while the i3-1210U uses PCIe Gen 4. The integrated graphics differ, with the i7-10750H featuring UHD Graphics and the i3-1210U featuring UHD Graphics 64EU. The i7-10750H has a part number (SRH8Q), while the i3-1210U’s part number is not listed. Neither processor has an unlocked multiplier.

Architecture Differences

The i7-10750H is built on the Comet Lake architecture, specifically Comet Lake-H, and uses a 14 nm process node. The i3-1210U is based on Alder Lake, specifically Alder Lake-U, and uses a 10 nm process node. This process difference is critical: the 10 nm node allows for smaller transistors and potentially better power efficiency, which explains the i3-1210U’s much lower TDP of 9W versus 45W. The cache configurations also differ: the i7-10750H has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The i3-1210U has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 10 MB of shared L3 cache. This means the i3-1210U has more L1 and L2 cache per core, but less L3 cache overall.

Both processors are made by Intel and are for the mobile market segment, with both being listed as active in production. The i7-10750H was released in April 2020, while the i3-1210U was released in February 2022. The i3-1210U’s more recent release date aligns with its newer architecture. Neither supports ECC memory, and both have integrated graphics, though the i3-1210U’s UHD Graphics 64EU is a more capable integrated solution than the i7-10750H’s UHD Graphics. The overall benchmark averages are close, with the i7-10750H at 13024 and the i3-1210U at 12795, a 1.8% difference, and both processors share the same 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs. This indicates that despite their architectural and power differences, their overall performance levels are comparable, but they achieve this through very different means.