Microsoft SQ1 vs Pentium Silver N5000
Aggregate performance score
Microsoft SQ1 outperforms Pentium Silver N5000 by a whopping 134% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 2018 | 1419 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | Intel Pentium Silver | Qualcomm Snapdragon |
| Architecture codename | Gemini Lake (2019) | Cortex-A76 / A55 (Kryo 495) (2019) |
| Release date | 11 December 2017 (6 years ago) | 2 October 2019 (4 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $161 | no data |
| Current price | $358 (2.2x MSRP) | $1873 |
Detailed specifications
Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 4 (Quad-Core) | 8 (Octa-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | 1.1 GHz | no data |
| Boost clock speed | 2.7 GHz | 3 GHz |
| L1 cache | 224 KB | no data |
| L2 cache | 4 MB | no data |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | 2 MB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 7 nm |
| Maximum core temperature | 105 °C | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | No | No |
Compatibility
Information on Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 1 | no data |
| Socket | FCBGA1090 | no data |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 6 Watt | no data |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2 | no data |
| AES-NI | + | no data |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
| Speed Shift | - | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | - | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | - | no data |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | no data |
| Smart Response | - | no data |
| GPIO | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | - | no data |
| Status | Discontinued | no data |
Security technologies
Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| EDB | + | no data |
| Secure Key | + | no data |
| MPX | + | no data |
| Identity Protection | + | no data |
| SGX | Yes with Intel® ME | no data |
| OS Guard | + | no data |
| Anti-Theft | - | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | no data |
| VT-x | + | no data |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4 | no data |
| Maximum memory size | 8 GB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 2 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 38.397 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | - | no data |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel UHD Graphics 605 | Qualcomm Adreno 685 |
| Max video memory | 8 GB | no data |
| Quick Sync Video | + | no data |
| Graphics max frequency | 750 MHz | no data |
| Execution Units | 18 | no data |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 3 | no data |
| eDP | + | no data |
| DisplayPort | + | no data |
| HDMI | + | no data |
| MIPI-DSI | + | no data |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| 4K resolution support | + | no data |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | 12 | no data |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | no data |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | no data |
| PCI Express lanes | 6 | no data |
| USB revision | 2.0/3.0 | no data |
| Total number of SATA ports | 2 | no data |
| Max number of SATA 6 Gb/s Ports | 2 | no data |
| Number of USB ports | 8 | no data |
| Integrated LAN | - | no data |
| UART | + | no data |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
Microsoft SQ1 outperforms Pentium Silver N5000 by 134% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.
Benchmark coverage: 68%
Microsoft SQ1 outperforms Pentium Silver N5000 by 134% in Passmark.
Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core
Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.
Benchmark coverage: 20%
Pentium Silver N5000 outperforms Microsoft SQ1 by 327% in Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core.
Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core
Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.
Benchmark coverage: 19%
Pentium Silver N5000 outperforms Microsoft SQ1 by 56% in Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core.
wPrime 32
wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.
Benchmark coverage: 18%
Pentium Silver N5000 outperforms Microsoft SQ1 by 19% in wPrime 32.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.58 | 3.69 |
| Recency | 11 December 2017 | 2 October 2019 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 8 |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 7 nm |
The Microsoft SQ1 is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium Silver N5000 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium Silver N5000 and Microsoft SQ1, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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