Core i7-4950HQ vs Core i5-8400H

Both the Core i7-4950HQ and Core i5-8400H share an identical 4-core/8-thread configuration. Boost clocks reach 3.6 GHz on the Core i7-4950HQ versus 4.2 GHz on the Core i5-8400H — a 15.4% clock advantage for the Core i5-8400H (base: 2.4 GHz vs 2.5 GHz). The Core i7-4950HQ uses the Crystalwell (2013−2014) architecture (22 nm), while the Core i5-8400H uses Coffee Lake-H (2018−2019) (14 nm). In PassMark, the Core i7-4950HQ scores 7,405 against the Core i5-8400H's 7,456 — a 0.7% lead for the Core i5-8400H. Cinebench R23 multi-core: 3,317 vs 4,657 (33.6% advantage for the Core i5-8400H). Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 842 vs 1,493, a 55.8% lead for the Core i5-8400H that directly translates to higher frame rates. Multi-core Geekbench: 3,317 vs 4,963 (39.8% advantage for the Core i5-8400H). L3 cache: 8 MB (total) on the Core i7-4950HQ vs 12 MB (total) on the Core i5-8400H.

The Core i7-4950HQ uses the BGA1364 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i5-8400H uses BGA1440 (PCIe 3.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Maximum memory speed reaches DDR3L-1600 on the Core i7-4950HQ versus DDR4 2666 MHz on the Core i5-8400H — the Core i5-8400H supports 200% faster memory, which can translate to measurable gains in memory-sensitive workloads. The Core i5-8400H 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. Both provide 16 PCIe lanes. Chipset compatibility: HM87,QM87 (Core i7-4950HQ) and Intel HM370,Intel QM370 (Core i5-8400H).

Virtualization support: Yes (Core i7-4950HQ) vs true (Core i5-8400H). Both include integrated graphics — Iris Pro Graphics 5200 (Core i7-4950HQ) and Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Core i5-8400H) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i5-8400H targets Mobile.