Core i7-4950HQ vs Core i5-9300H

Both the Core i7-4950HQ and Core i5-9300H share an identical 4-core/8-thread configuration. Boost clocks reach 3.6 GHz on the Core i7-4950HQ versus 4.1 GHz on the Core i5-9300H — a 13% clock advantage for the Core i5-9300H (base: 2.4 GHz vs 2.4 GHz). The Core i7-4950HQ uses the Crystalwell (2013−2014) architecture (22 nm), while the Core i5-9300H uses Coffee Lake-H (2018−2019) (14 nm). In PassMark, the Core i7-4950HQ scores 7,405 against the Core i5-9300H's 7,438 — a 0.4% lead for the Core i5-9300H. Cinebench R23 multi-core: 3,317 vs 4,729 (35.1% advantage for the Core i5-9300H). Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 842 vs 1,050, a 22% lead for the Core i5-9300H that directly translates to higher frame rates. Multi-core Geekbench: 3,317 vs 3,700 (10.9% advantage for the Core i5-9300H). L3 cache: 8 MB (total) on the Core i7-4950HQ vs 8 MB on the Core i5-9300H.

The Core i7-4950HQ uses the BGA1364 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i5-9300H 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 on the Core i5-9300H — the Core i5-9300H supports 28.6% faster memory, which can translate to measurable gains in memory-sensitive workloads. The Core i5-9300H supports up to 128 GB of RAM compared to 32 GB — 120% 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 HM370 (Core i5-9300H).

Virtualization support: Yes (Core i7-4950HQ) vs VT-x, VT-d (Core i5-9300H). Both include integrated graphics — Iris Pro Graphics 5200 (Core i7-4950HQ) and Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Core i5-9300H) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i5-9300H targets Gaming Laptop.