Intel Core i7-6500U vs Apple A9. Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• CPU group
  Intel Core i 6000U Apple A9/A9X
• Family
  Intel Core i7 Apple A series
• Generation
  6 9
• Predecessor
  - Apple A8
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Successor
  - Apple A10 Fusion

Core counts, threads, cache and clock modes describe the CPU configuration. Performance depends on the workload and comparable measured results.

• A-Core
  - 2x Twister
• Base Frequency
  2.5 GHz 1.85 GHz
• Core architecture
  normal normal
• CPU Cores
  2 2
• CPU Threads
  4 2
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  Yes No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  3.1 GHz No turbo
• Turbo Frequency (2 Cores)
  2.8 GHz No turbo

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• DirectX Version
  12 -
• Execution units
  24 6
• Generation
  9 6
• GPU Frequency
  300 MHz 650 MHz
• GPU name
  Intel HD Graphics 520 Apple A9
• GPU Turbo
  1050 MHz No turbo
• Max. displays
  3 1
• Max. GPU Memory
  32 GB 4 GB
• Release date
  Q3/2015 Q3/2015
• Shader
  192 192
• Technology
  14 nm 16 nm

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• AV1
  No No
• H.264 / AVC
  Decode / Encode Decode
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode No
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode No
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• VP8
  Decode / Encode Decode
• VP9
  Decode No

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple A9 and Intel Core i7-6500U. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  32 GB 2 GB
• Memory channels
  2 1
• Memory type
  DDR3L-1600 SO-DIMMDDR4-2133 SO-DIMMLPDDR3-1866 LPDDR4-3200
• PCIe lanes
  12 -
• PCIe version
  3.0 -

• AES-NI
  Yes No

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Intel Core i7-6500U and Apple A9 Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  15 W 5 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Intel Core i7-6500U and Apple A9, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  Skylake U A9
• Instruction set (ISA)
  x86-64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 -
• L2-Cache
  - 3 MB
• L3-Cache
  4 MB 4 MB
• Release date
  Q3/2015 Q3/2015
• Socket
  BGA 1356 -
• Technology
  14 nm 16 nm
• Virtualization
  VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d None