How much better and faster is Intel Core i5 or i7 than i3 CPU ?

How much better and faster are Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 processors than Intel Core i3 processor ? What is the difference between their performance ?

When comparing a CPUs, you have to focus on the specific CPU models, because there are different processor families, types, generations etc.

The basic differences between 12th generation i3, i5 and i7 processors are:

CPU model	Base	Turbo	Cores	Threads	Cache
Core i3 12100	3.30 GHz	4.30 GHz	4	8	12 MB
Core i5 12400	2.50 GHz	4.40 GHz	6	12	18 MB
Core i7 12700	1.60 GHz 2.10 GHz	4.90 GHz	8 + 4	20	25 MB

Processors Intel Core i5 and i7 can perform better than Intel Core i3, because they have more cores and threads, higher smart cache memory and higher turbo boost frequency. But even though the differences between them, Intel Core i3 12th generation processors can provide a solid performance. Intel Core i5 and i7 are better when using a CPU intensive software.

To get more details about processor performance, you have to check a benchmark comparison, where you can find more characteristics, so you can see what is an approximate difference between CPU models. The fact that Intel Core i7 has 3x more cores than Intel Core i3, doesn't automatically mean that it is 3x faster.

What is the difference between CPU base frequency and turbo boost frequency ? Why does Intel Core i7 have lower base frequency than Intel Core i3 ?

Having a CPU with low base frequency is not bad. Low base frequency means lower energy consumption.

When you don't use PC intensively, then CPU is running at low base frequency, what allows to save the battery on laptops. After you start using PC more intensively, then CPU will switch to the turbo boost frequency to provide higher performance.

The difference between 12th generation processors Intel Core i3 and Intel Core i7 is not only in the number of cores, but it is also in the types of cores.

Intel processors may generally have 2 types of cores:

• Performance cores - concentrate on the most demanding tasks. P-cores provide a high performance.
• Efficiency cores - concentrate on the less demanding tasks. E-cores deliver less performance, but consume less power.

Both performance cores and efficiency cores have base and turbo frequency, so they can provide an appropriate performance according to how intensive is PC being used.

While Intel Core i3 has only the performance cores, Intel Core i7 has both performance and efficiency cores.