Core i5-7260U vs Core i3-8145UE

Both the Core i5-7260U and Core i3-8145UE share an identical 2-core/4-thread configuration. Boost clocks reach 3.4 GHz on the Core i5-7260U versus 3.9 GHz on the Core i3-8145UE — a 13.7% clock advantage for the Core i3-8145UE (base: 2.2 GHz vs 2.2 GHz). The Core i5-7260U uses the Kaby Lake (2016−2019) architecture (14 nm), while the Core i3-8145UE uses Whiskey Lake-U (2018−2019) (10 nm). In PassMark, the Core i5-7260U scores 3,953 against the Core i3-8145UE's 4,021 — a 1.7% lead for the Core i3-8145UE. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 1,192 vs 1,218, a 2.2% lead for the Core i3-8145UE that directly translates to higher frame rates. L3 cache: 4 MB on the Core i5-7260U vs 4 MB (total) on the Core i3-8145UE.

The Core i5-7260U uses the BGA1356 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i3-8145UE uses FCBGA1528 (PCIe 3.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Both support up to DDR4-2133 memory speed. The Core i3-8145UE supports up to 64 GB of RAM compared to 32 GB — 66.7% more capacity for professional workloads. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. PCIe lanes: 12 (Core i5-7260U) vs 16 (Core i3-8145UE) — the Core i3-8145UE offers 4 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives. Chipset compatibility: Kaby Lake-U (Core i5-7260U) and Whiskey Lake (Core i3-8145UE).

Neither processor supports overclocking. Virtualization support: VT-x, VT-d, EPT (Core i5-7260U) vs VT-x, VT-d (Core i3-8145UE). Both include integrated graphics — Iris Plus Graphics 640 (Core i5-7260U) and UHD 620 (Core i3-8145UE) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i5-7260U targets Mainstream Laptop, Core i3-8145UE targets Budget. Direct competitor: Core i5-7260U rivals A12-9720P; Core i3-8145UE rivals Ryzen 3 3200U.