Intel Core i7-3687U vs Intel Pentium Silver J5005 Comparison

The Intel Pentium Silver J5005 and the Intel Core i7-3687U occupy the same rung of the database's performance ladder: both sit in the 21st percentile of all recorded CPUs, and their average benchmark scores of 776 and 773 are separated by a rounding error. Yet the head-to-head results tell a lopsided story. The J5005, a Gemini Lake part built years after the Ivy Bridge-based i7-3687U, sweeps every shared Cinebench test by a strikingly consistent margin of roughly 19 percent. The recorded data suggests this matchup is less a contest than a generational demonstration of how low-power silicon evolved between these two designs.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains five shared tests between these CPUs, and the Pentium Silver J5005 wins all five. The margins are remarkable for their uniformity: 19.6 percent in Cinebench R15 multi-core, 19.2 percent in R20 multi-core, 18.9 percent in R20 single-core, 19.2 percent in R23 multi-core, and 19 percent in R23 single-core.

In absolute terms, the J5005 posts 268 points to the i7-3687U's 224 in Cinebench R15 multi-core, 1117 versus 937 in R20 multi-core, and 2660 versus 2231 in R23 multi-core. Single-core results follow the same pattern: 157 against 132 in R20, and 375 against 315 in R23.

That uniformity is the interesting part. Multi-core leads of about 19 percent can be explained by the J5005 having four physical cores versus the i7's two cores with Hyper-Threading. But the single-core gap of nearly the same size shows the J5005's advantage is not just about core count. Per-thread throughput is also roughly 19 percent higher, indicating that a single Goldmont Plus core with a boost clock of 2.80 GHz outpaces what a boosted Ivy Bridge core at 3.30 GHz delivers in these rendering workloads.

The i7-3687U's database entries include Geekbench results, 1044 multi-core and 526 single-core, for which no J5005 equivalent is recorded, so those figures stand without direct comparison here. On the five tests both chips share, the verdict is unambiguous: five wins to zero for the J5005.

FAQ

Q: Which CPU is faster overall?

A: The Pentium Silver J5005 wins all five shared benchmarks, by 18.9 to 19.6 percent in every case. Its average score of 776 also edges the i7-3687U's 773, though both sit in the 21st percentile versus all CPUs in the database.

Q: How close are these two in the broader database rankings?

A: Extremely close. The i7-3687U's nearest rivals list includes the J5005 itself at a delta of just -0.4 percent, alongside the Intel Core i5-680 (0.2 percent), Intel Core i3-3250T (-0.2 percent), and Intel Celeron G5920 (-0.2 percent). The J5005's own rivals include the AMD Athlon X4 760K (-0.1 percent), the i3-3250T (0.2 percent), the Celeron G5920 (0.2 percent), and the Intel Pentium G4520 (-0.2 percent).

Q: Which chip is more power efficient?

A: The J5005 is rated at a 10 W TDP versus 17 W for the i7-3687U, and it delivers higher performance across the board, so the recorded data favors it clearly on efficiency.

Q: How do the core configurations differ?

A: The J5005 has 4 cores and 4 threads, meaning four physical cores without Hyper-Threading. The i7-3687U has 2 cores and 4 threads, relying on Hyper-Threading to double its thread count.

Q: What memory does each support?

A: The J5005 supports DDR4 on a dual-channel bus with 38.4 GB/s of recorded bandwidth. The i7-3687U supports DDR3, also dual-channel; no bandwidth figure is recorded for it.

Q: Are either of these CPUs still in production?

A: The J5005 is listed as end-of-life. It launched on 2017-12-10 with a launch MSRP of $161. No production status is recorded for the i7-3687U, which launched 2013-01-07.

Where Each One Wins

On the recorded evidence, the J5005 wins everywhere the two can be directly compared. It wins in multi-core rendering, which is expected given four real cores against two Hyper-Threaded ones. It wins in single-core rendering too, which is the more telling result given that the i7-3687U carries a higher boost clock of 3.30 GHz versus 2.80 GHz. And it wins on power draw, with a 10 W TDP against 17 W.

That leaves the i7-3687U's case resting on what the database records outside the shared benchmarks. It carries a 4 MB shared L3 cache, something the J5005 lacks entirely, with its cache hierarchy topping out at a 4 MB shared L2. For workloads that fit in a large last-level cache, that structural difference is the i7's one clear hardware advantage in the recorded specs. Its higher boost clock may also favor bursty, lightly threaded tasks in principle, though the single-core Cinebench results show this does not translate into a rendering win.

Both chips target the mobile segment, both use ball-grid array sockets (BGA 1090 for the J5005, BGA 1023 for the i7-3687U), and neither offers an unlocked multiplier, so neither suits enthusiast tuning. For any use case measured in this database, the data points to the J5005.

Specification Differences

The two chips diverge on nearly every recorded specification. The J5005 runs a 1500 MHz base clock with a 2.80 GHz boost; the i7-3687U runs a 2.10 GHz base with a 3.30 GHz boost. The J5005's TDP is 10 W against the i7's 17 W.

Core topology differs as described: 4 cores and 4 threads versus 2 cores and 4 threads. Cache layouts diverge sharply. The J5005 pairs 56 KB of L1 per core with a 4 MB shared L2 and no L3. The i7-3687U pairs 64 KB of L1 per core with 256 KB of L2 per core and a 4 MB shared L3.

Memory support splits along generational lines: DDR4 with a recorded 38.4 GB/s of dual-channel bandwidth for the J5005, DDR3 for the i7. The J5005 lists PCIe Gen 2 with 6 CPU lanes; no PCIe data is recorded for the i7. Integrated graphics also differ: UHD Graphics 605 on the J5005 versus Intel HD 4000 on the i7-3687U. The J5005's die measures 93 mm² against the i7's 118 mm². Neither supports ECC memory.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these chips is the heart of the story. The i7-3687U is Ivy Bridge, built on Intel's 22 nm process, whereas the J5005 is Goldmont Plus under the Gemini Lake codename, built on a 14 nm node. The smaller transistor node is a large part of how the J5005 delivers its sweep of benchmark wins while cutting TDP from 17 W to 10 W.

What makes the J5005's lineage unusual is that Goldmont Plus is an efficiency-focused architecture, not a big-core design. Despite that, the recorded single-core results, 375 versus 315 in Cinebench R23, show it outperforming an Ivy Bridge core that boosts 500 MHz higher. Four generations of process refinement and IPC improvements in the efficiency line were enough to overtake an older premium core in these workloads.

The i7-3687U counters with a cache hierarchy typical of its Core i7 positioning: per-core L2 plus a 4 MB shared L3, a structure the cache-simpler Gemini Lake design does not replicate. Both chips are Intel-foundred, mobile-segment parts on soldered BGA packages, and both are locked. The database records the J5005 as end-of-life with a launch MSRP of $161; the i7-3687U's launch MSRP is not recorded. In sum, the matchup shows a newer, leaner efficiency design overtaking an older premium ultrabook chip across every shared measure in the database, at lower power, on a denser node.