Intel Core i3-5020U vs Intel Core i5-750 Comparison

The Intel Core i3-5020U and Intel Core i5-750 are two end-of-life Intel processors that land in strikingly similar overall territory despite belonging to entirely different eras and market segments. One is a low-power mobile chip from the Broadwell-U family, soldered onto laptop motherboards, while the other is a quad-core desktop part from the Lynnfield generation that plugs into Socket 1156. The recorded data shows the desktop chip sweeping every head-to-head benchmark, but by a consistent margin of roughly 13 to 14 percent, a gap small enough that the i3-5020U remains a genuine rival in aggregate score. Both sit at the 20th percentile versus all CPUs in the database, with average benchmark scores of 757 for the mobile part and 747 for the desktop part, so this comparison is less about raw dominance and more about how each reaches nearly the same performance envelope.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sweep belongs to the Core i5-750. Across all five recorded head-to-head tests, the Lynnfield desktop processor wins, and the margins are remarkably uniform.

In Cinebench R15 multi-core, the i5-750 posts 218 points against 188 for the i3-5020U, a 13.8 percent gap. Cinebench R20 multi-core tells the same story: 912 versus 787, a 13.7 percent advantage for the desktop chip. The R23 multi-core result extends the pattern, with the i5-750 scoring 2172 and the i3-5020U managing 1876, again 13.6 percent apart.

Single-core results are where the gap actually widens slightly. In Cinebench R20 single-core, the i5-750 scores 128 against 110, a 14.1 percent lead. Cinebench R23 single-core lands at 306 versus 264, a 13.7 percent difference. That single-core deficit is notable given the i3-5020U is the far newer design: the Broadwell-U part runs at a 2.20 base clock with no recorded boost, while the i5-750 pairs a 2.67 base clock with a 3.20 boost, which helps explain the per-thread advantage.

The database also holds Geekbench results for the i3-5020U alone: 1379 multi-core and 696 single-core. No matching Geekbench figures exist for the i5-750, so cross-platform comparison there is not possible from the recorded data.

Context matters here. The i3-5020U's average score of 757 places it within a tenth of a percent of the Intel Xeon E5450 (756) and the Intel Core i5-3210M (758), and within 0.3 percent of the Intel Core i5-4250U (756) and Core i5-3230M (754). The i5-750's average of 747 sits 0.2 percent from the Intel Core i5-4200U (746), the AMD A10 PRO-7800B (746), and the AMD FX-9800P (745), and 0.7 percent above the Intel Xeon E5520 (742). In other words, both processors circulate in the same performance neighborhood populated by mid-range laptop chips and older workstation hardware, and the head-to-head delta between them is comparable to the distances separating each from their own nearest rivals.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear but modest winner. If throughput in rendering workloads is the priority, the Core i5-750 is the better pick: four physical cores and a 3.20 boost clock carry it to a consistent roughly 13.7 percent lead in every recorded Cinebench test, multi-core and single-core alike.

The i3-5020U, however, argues for itself on efficiency and platform characteristics. It reaches within about 14 percent of the desktop part while operating under a 15 W TDP versus 95 W, meaning it delivers its performance envelope in a thermal and power budget that is a small fraction of the desktop chip's. For mobile use, that distinction is decisive: the i5-750 simply cannot exist in a laptop-oriented build, as it requires Socket 1156 and a desktop platform. The i3-5020U also brings the Intel HD 5500 integrated graphics, whereas the i5-750 has no integrated GPU at all, so systems built around the Lynnfield chip require discrete graphics.

Both processors are end-of-life, both lack unlocked multipliers, and neither supports ECC memory. Buyers choosing between them today are effectively choosing between form factor and platform features rather than a large performance gulf. The verdict by the numbers: the i5-750 wins every benchmark, but the i3-5020U wins the efficiency argument without a single recorded test contradicting it.

FAQ

Q: Which CPU is faster in benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-750 wins all five recorded head-to-head tests, leading by 13.6 to 14.1 percent in each. Cinebench R23 multi-core stands at 2172 versus 1876, and Cinebench R23 single-core at 306 versus 264.

Q: How power-efficient is the i3-5020U compared to the i5-750?

A: The i3-5020U has a 15 W TDP compared to 95 W for the i5-750, yet stays within roughly 14 percent of it in every benchmark, making it the far more efficient processor per watt of the two.

Q: Do these CPUs have integrated graphics?

A: The i3-5020U includes Intel HD 5500 integrated graphics. The i5-750 has none, so a functioning system with that chip needs discrete graphics.

Q: Can either CPU be overclocked?

A: No. Both processors have locked multipliers according to the database.

Q: How do they compare to other CPUs in the database?

A: Both sit at the 20th percentile versus all CPUs. The i3-5020U averages 757, essentially tied with the Xeon E5450 and Core i5-3210M; the i5-750 averages 747, essentially tied with the Core i5-4200U and AMD A10 PRO-7800B.

Q: What memory do they support?

A: Both support DDR3 on dual-channel buses, with the i3-5020U rated for 25.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth. No bandwidth figure is recorded for the i5-750.

Specification Differences

The two processors diverge on nearly every specification that matters. The i5-750 is a 4-core, 4-thread desktop processor with a 2.67 base clock, a 3.20 boost clock, and a 95 W TDP on Socket 1156. The i3-5020U is a 2-core, 4-thread mobile processor with a 2.20 base clock, no recorded boost clock, and a 15 W TDP on Intel BGA 1168, meaning it is soldered rather than socketed.

Cache is a significant differentiator. Both share the same per-core L1 (64 KB) and L2 (256 KB) structure, but the i5-750 carries 8 MB of shared L3 compared to 3 MB on the i3-5020U. PCIe support differs as well: 16 Gen 2 lanes on the desktop part versus 12 Gen 2 lanes on the mobile part.

The i3-5020U carries a launch MSRP of $281; no launch MSRP is recorded for the i5-750. Part numbers differ (SR240 versus SLBLC), and the i3-5020U additionally records a 25.6 GB/s memory bandwidth figure that has no counterpart for the i5-750.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two spans multiple Intel generations. The i5-750 is built on the Nehalem-based Lynnfield design, fabricated on Intel's 45 nm process, with 774 million transistors on a 296 mm² die. The i3-5020U is a Broadwell-U design on Intel's 14 nm process, packing 1,300 million transistors into just 82 mm².

That transistor count on a dramatically smaller die encapsulates the generational leap: the newer mobile chip integrates far more functionality, including the HD 5500 graphics, into less than a third of the silicon area. The older design compensates with more physical cores and a much larger L3 cache, which is how a 45 nm desktop part from 2009 still outpaces a 14 nm mobile part from 2015 in every recorded test.

Thread provisioning also reflects each era's philosophy. Lynnfield gives four cores four threads with no hyper-threading bonus, while Broadwell-U pairs two cores with four threads through simultaneous multithreading. The release dates, September 2009 for the i5-750 and February 2015 for the i3-5020U, frame the comparison neatly: five and a half years of process and design advancement were enough to bring a 15 W laptop chip within about 14 percent of a 95 W desktop predecessor, though not enough to overtake it.