Intel Core i5-10210U vs Intel Core i7-8565U Comparison

The Intel Core i7-8565U and the Intel Core i5-10210U are two 14 nm quad-core mobile processors separated by roughly a year, and the recorded data shows a matchup that splits cleanly along benchmark-family lines. The i7-8565U (Whiskey Lake-U) sweeps every Cinebench render test and the physics and prime-number subtests, while the i5-10210U (Comet Lake-U) takes the entire Passmark suite except physics and prime finding. The overall tally is 9 wins to 8 in favor of the i5-10210U, yet the average benchmark score favors the i7-8565U by a meaningful margin, 8665 versus 8344. Both sit near the same position in the database: the i7 lands at the 65th percentile against all CPUs, the i5 at the 64th.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Cinebench results are uniform and unambiguous. In Cinebench R15 the i7-8565U scores 529 multi-core and 74 single-core against the i5's 516 and 72, margins of 2.5 percent and 2.8 percent. Cinebench R20 repeats the pattern: 2208 versus 2151 multi-core and 311 versus 303 single-core, both 2.6 percent in the i7's favor. Cinebench R23 closes the sweep with 5258 versus 5122 multi-core (2.7 percent) and 742 versus 723 single-core (2.6 percent). Across six Cinebench runs the delta never leaves the 2.5 to 2.8 percent band, which points to a consistent structural advantage rather than run-to-run noise. The i7's higher boost clock, 4.60 GHz against 4.20 GHz, is the obvious mechanism.

The Passmark suite inverts the picture. The i5-10210U wins data compression 80157 to 75995 (5.2 percent), data encryption 2051 to 1993 (2.8 percent), extended instructions 5269 to 4770 (a suite-leading 9.5 percent), floating point math 13657 to 12934 (5.3 percent), integer math 22732 to 21581 (5.1 percent), string sorting 10730 to 10200 (4.9 percent), and the overall multithread rating 6104 to 5988 (1.9 percent). It even edges single-thread, 2131 to 2118, though by only 0.6 percent.

The i7 counters hardest in two subtests. Find prime numbers goes to the i7 by 22.2 percent (22 versus 18), the largest gap anywhere in this matchup, and physics goes to the i7 by 11.7 percent (458 versus 410). Those two results keep the head-to-head competitive despite the i5's broad Passmark lead.

Where Each One Wins

The i7-8565U is the clear choice for rendering and simulation-style workloads. All six Cinebench tests favor it by around 2.5 to 2.8 percent, the physics result (458 versus 410) favors it by 11.7 percent, and prime number computation favors it by 22.2 percent. Any workflow that looks like Cinebench, physics simulation, or prime-based compute will run faster on the Whiskey Lake part, and its 4.60 GHz boost explains why single-threaded render performance consistently tracks ahead.

The i5-10210U dominates general-purpose and integer-heavy throughput. Compression, encryption, extended instruction sets, integer math, floating point math, and string sorting all favor it by roughly 3 to 9.5 percent. Its strongest statement is the extended instructions test at 9.5 percent, suggesting the Comet Lake generation extracts more from SIMD-style workloads. The i5 also wins the overall Passmark multithread rating 6104 to 5988 and nudges ahead in single-thread, so for everyday productivity, archive handling, and cryptographic workloads the newer chip is the faster of the two.

Context from the wider database reinforces how close these two are. The i7's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-8365U at an average score of 8708 (0.5 percent ahead), the Intel Core i9-13900E at 8676, the AMD EPYC 7601 at 8619, and the Intel Core i7-10510U at 8580, all within 1 percent of its 8665 average. The i5's rivals cluster even more tightly: the Intel Xeon Gold 5320T at 8316, the Xeon Platinum 8268 at 8315, the Xeon D-2799 at 8308, and the Intel Core i7-1065G7 at 8293, all within 0.6 percent of its 8344.

The Verdict

Neither chip is a runaway winner, and the 9-8 win split with an average-score gap of 321 points (8665 versus 8344) tells you the decision should follow your workload. Pick the i7-8565U if rendering output matters: every Cinebench test favors it, and its physics and prime-number leads of 11.7 and 22.2 percent are the two largest advantages in the entire dataset. Its 4.60 GHz boost against the i5's 4.20 GHz also makes it the better fit for bursty, lightly threaded tasks despite losing the Passmark single-thread subtest by 0.6 percent.

Pick the i5-10210U for everything else. It is the newer part, released in 2019 versus 2018, it carries the newer Comet Lake architecture, and it wins seven of the ten shared Passmark subtests, including the aggregate multithread rating. Users doing compression, encryption, integer math, or string-heavy processing get a consistent 3 to 5 percent uplift, and up to 9.5 percent on extended instructions. The trade-off is power: its TDP is 25 W against the i7's 15 W, so the i5 expects a more generous thermal envelope in exchange for that throughput. Both are end-of-life mobile parts soldered to different packages, Intel BGA 1528 for the i7 and Intel BGA 1440 for the i5, so neither is an upgrade-path purchase; this comparison is strictly for evaluating existing hardware.

FAQ

Q: Which CPU is faster in Cinebench?

A: The i7-8565U wins all six Cinebench tests: R15 (529 vs 516 multi, 74 vs 72 single), R20 (2208 vs 2151 multi, 311 vs 303 single), and R23 (5258 vs 5122 multi, 742 vs 723 single), with margins between 2.5 and 2.8 percent.

Q: Which CPU has the higher overall Passmark rating?

A: The i5-10210U, scoring 6104 in Passmark multithread against 5988 for the i7-8565U, a 1.9 percent lead.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between the two?

A: The find prime numbers test, where the i7-8565U scores 22 against 18, a 22.2 percent advantage. The i5's largest lead is 9.5 percent in extended instructions.

Q: Do they have the same core and thread counts?

A: Yes. Both are 4-core, 8-thread mobile processors built on Intel's 14 nm process.

Q: Which chip has more cache?

A: The i7-8565U, with 8 MB of shared L3 cache against 6 MB on the i5-10210U. L1 (64 KB per core) and L2 (256 KB per core) are identical.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The i7-8565U averages 8665 against 8344 for the i5-10210U, and ranks at the 65th percentile versus the i5's 64th percentile across the database.

Architecture Differences

The two chips belong to consecutive Intel mobile families. The i7-8565U is a Whiskey Lake-U part from the Core i7 line, released in 2018; the i5-10210U is a Comet Lake-U part from the 10th Gen Core series, released in 2019. Both are fabricated by Intel on the same 14 nm node, so the generational difference is architectural and configuration-driven rather than a process shrink.

The core topology is identical: 4 cores, 8 threads, 64 KB of L1 and 256 KB of L2 per core. The divergence appears in shared cache, where the i7 carries 8 MB of L3 against the i5's 6 MB. Clock behavior also differs: the i7 runs a 1800 MHz base with a 4.60 GHz boost, while the i5 runs a lower 1600 MHz base with a lower 4.20 GHz boost. That frequency gap lines up with the i7's uniform Cinebench lead, while the i5's Passmark wins suggest Comet Lake extracts more work per cycle in integer, SIMD, and memory-movement subtests.

Power and platform details differ. The i7 is a 15 W part on the Intel BGA 1528 socket with documented PCIe Gen 3 support across 16 CPU lanes, dual-channel memory, a stated bandwidth of 38.4 GB/s, and support for DDR3 and DDR4. The i5 raises the TDP to 25 W, uses the Intel BGA 1440 socket, lists DDR3 and DDR4 support, and leaves bus width, bandwidth, and PCIe details unrecorded in the database. Integrated graphics differ in naming: UHD Graphics 620 on the i7 versus UHD Graphics on the i5. Neither supports ECC memory, neither has an unlocked multiplier, and both are end-of-life. The i7's launch MSRP was $409. The i7 also carries a recorded part number, SREJPSRFFW; the i5 has none listed.