Desktop vs Mobile IPC

[Knil]

How close is the IPC between the core i3/i5/i7 series desktop and mobile counterparts? IE, 3770k vs 3720QM.

 

[pelo]

The IPC is the same, it's the clock speed (core clocks and graphics), core count, cache size and TDP that differs.

 

[deltronik]

The IPC is the same, it's the clock speed (core clocks and graphics), core count, cache size and TDP that differs.

It should be similiar, but would the cache difference not affect IPC?

 

[pelo]

It should be similiar, but would the cache difference not affect IPC?

Technically, yes but that would depend on the workload.

The term IPC is overused and abused when concerning processor performance. It varies on the workload, the microarchitecture, the underlying ISAs and the actual code/optimizations. It's messy.

You generally won't feel the lack of 3MB L3 cache in performance unless you're doing heavy block writes/reads via cache in a workload -- gaming is a common one but even then it's only going to affect performance by a couple of percentage points so it's nothing to worry about. The clock speed differences are a MUCH bigger factor than the halved L3 between mobile/desktop CPUs. It gets even more complicated when the HDxxxx line of on-die graphics takes up a small dedicated portion of the L3 cache (1mb? 1.5mb?) but, again, it's not something to fret over.

Short answer: No, the IPC is the same.

Long answer: The rough term of 'IPC' doesn't really mean anything unless you're incredibly specific and if you were specific then you'd have your answer