Core i7-4950HQ vs Core i5-8257U

Both the Core i7-4950HQ and Core i5-8257U share an identical 4-core/8-thread configuration. Boost clocks reach 3.6 GHz on the Core i7-4950HQ versus 3.9 GHz on the Core i5-8257U — a 8% clock advantage for the Core i5-8257U (base: 2.4 GHz vs 1.4 GHz). The Core i7-4950HQ uses the Crystalwell (2013−2014) architecture (22 nm), while the Core i5-8257U uses Coffee Lake-U (2018−2019) (14 nm). In PassMark, the Core i7-4950HQ scores 7,405 against the Core i5-8257U's 7,427 — a 0.3% lead for the Core i5-8257U. Cinebench R23 multi-core: 3,317 vs 4,017 (19.1% advantage for the Core i5-8257U). Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 842 vs 1,100, a 26.6% lead for the Core i5-8257U that directly translates to higher frame rates. Multi-core Geekbench: 3,317 vs 4,000 (18.7% advantage for the Core i5-8257U). L3 cache: 8 MB (total) on the Core i7-4950HQ vs 6 MB on the Core i5-8257U.

The Core i7-4950HQ uses the BGA1364 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i5-8257U uses FCBGA1528 (PCIe 3.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Maximum memory speed reaches DDR3L-1600 on the Core i7-4950HQ versus DDR4-2400 on the Core i5-8257U — the Core i5-8257U supports 28.6% faster memory, which can translate to measurable gains in memory-sensitive workloads. Both support up to 32 GB of RAM. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. Both provide 16 PCIe lanes. Chipset compatibility: HM87,QM87 (Core i7-4950HQ) and 300 Series (Core i5-8257U).

Virtualization support: Yes (Core i7-4950HQ) vs VT-x, VT-d (Core i5-8257U). Both include integrated graphics — Iris Pro Graphics 5200 (Core i7-4950HQ) and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645 (Core i5-8257U) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i5-8257U targets Ultrabook.