Intel Core i7-3520M Mobiler SR0MT 2.9GHz 2 Kern 4MB L3 PGA988B

The Intel Core i7-3520M is the fastest mobile dual-core processor in Q2 2012 and is based on the Ivy Bridge architecture. Thanks to Hyperthreading, the 2 cores can process up to 4 threads simultaneously. In contrast to its predecessor Sandy Bridge, which was still produced in 32 nanometres, it is manufactured in a smaller 22 nanometre process with 3D transistors. With a clock speed of 2.9 GHz (maximum Turbo: 3.4 GHz for 2 cores, 3.6 GHz for 1 core), the i7-3520M is 100 MHz higher than the i7-2640M of the previous generation and has a 4 MB L3 cache.

Ivy Bridge is a die shrink of the Sandy Bridge architecture, which has only been improved in a few places. Among other things, PCI Express in the new version 3.0 and DDR3(L)-1600 are now supported. There were no changes in the feature set, which still includes, for example, the encryption technology AES-NI, the instruction set extension AVX and Turbo-Boost 2.0. The biggest changes were in the integrated processor graphics card and the multimedia features.

The performance of the i7-3520M is about 5% higher than an equivalent clocked model of the Sandy Bridge architecture due to minor improvements in per-MHz performance. The older i7-2640M is thus beaten by just under 5-10 % in combination with the additional clock speed. While the single-thread performance clearly outperforms older quad-core models in some cases, an i7-2630QM is already considerably faster when all cores are utilised. Nevertheless, the performance is sufficient to master demanding applications such as HD video editing or current 3D games.

The Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated in the processor with 16 so-called Execution Units (EUs) is responsible for the graphics output. Using Turbo mode, the output clock rate can increase from 650 MHz to 1250 MHz. The performance is about 40 % higher than that of the predecessor (HD Graphics 3000), which also matches the graphics solution of Llano (Radeon HD 6620G as the fastest model).

Like most dual-core models in the Sandy Bridge range, the i7-3520M has a TDP of 35 watts, which also includes the graphics unit. This makes the CPU best suited for notebooks from 14 inches upwards.