Can laptop's Cinebench and performance vary by large margins for same CPU but different machine?

[Bruno Vincent]

If I have 3 laptops, all of them with same CPU and HDD, same specs almost, can performance vary a lot?

For some reason I did a cinebench on an ASUS-VivoBook-14-X442UQ and it ran 699 on Cinebench R15...but it ran 549 on HP with same specs...

CPU is i5-8250u on both machines and actually the HP has SSD, but the Asus trounced it on cinbench...

Additionally, the cinebench for i5-8250u is supposed to be about 550.

So why did the Asus score so high?

 

[SchizTech]

In the case of some mobile CPUs, a lot depends on the cooling capacity of the chassis. I'd guess that ASUS can dissipate more heat, allowing the CPU to sustain higher turbo boost speeds for longer. Is that ASUS a somewhat bigger laptop than the others?

 

[TJ Hooker]

In addition to what was said above, Intel mobile CPUs have a nominal power draw (15W in the case of that chip), but also have the option for the power draw configured down (10W) or up (25W). Configuring it down would likely limit max boost frequency or duration, while config up would allow for longer boost. OEMs don't state anywhere how the CPU power draw is configured for a given product.

Look at the TDP and cTDP here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaby_Lake#Low.2FMedium_power_2

 

[Bruno Vincent]

In the case of some mobile CPUs, a lot depends on the cooling capacity of the chassis. I'd guess that ASUS can dissipate more heat, allowing the CPU to sustain higher turbo boost speeds for longer. Is that ASUS a somewhat bigger laptop than the others?

Both laptops are slim, but the Asus does claim a maximum 36 degrees palm temperature, so according to Asus it should run cooler, on the outside of the laptop anyways on the touchpad

 

[Bruno Vincent]

In addition to what was said above, Intel mobile CPUs have a nominal power draw (15W in the case of that chip), but also have the option for the power draw configured down (10W) or up (25W). Configuring it down would likely limit max boost frequency or duration, while config up would allow for longer boost. OEMs don't state anywhere how the CPU power draw is configured for a given product.

Look at the TDP and cTDP here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaby_Lake#Low.2FMedium_power_2

Then it COULD vary tremendously right? I wonder if there is a way to email notebook manufacturer and request that info?

 

[TJ Hooker]

No idea, but you can certainly try. Your best bet is probably to try find reviews of the laptops in question that do CPU benchmarks and compare the results. It looks like some of Notebookcheck's reviews actually include results from a looped run of Cinebench, so you can how the score varies over time (as the CPU heats up).