Home / Intel Core i5 / Intel Core i5-6360U: Performance and Specs

Intel Core i5-6360U

Intel Core i5-6360U: Review of the Processor for Mobile Tasks

April 2025

Introduction

The Intel Core i5-6360U processor, released in 2016, remains a relevant choice for ultrabooks and budget laptops even after nearly a decade. Despite its considerable age, its energy efficiency and balanced performance make it appealing to certain user categories. In this article, we will explore who this chip is suitable for in 2025, how it handles modern tasks, and what to consider when purchasing a device based on it.

Architecture and Process Technology

Skylake Features and 14nm Process Technology

The Core i5-6360U is built on the Skylake microarchitecture (6th generation Intel) using a 14nm process. This generation brought improvements in IPC (instructions per cycle) ranging from 5-10% compared to Broadwell, as well as support for DDR4-2133 and LPDDR3-1866 memory.

- Cores and Threads: 2 cores, 4 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading.

- Clock Speeds: Base frequency - 2.0 GHz, maximum in turbo mode - 3.1 GHz.

- Cache: 4 MB L3 cache.

Integrated Graphics Iris Graphics 540

The Iris 540 graphics accelerator is the main highlight of this processor.

- 48 Execution Units (EU) compared to 24 in standard HD Graphics.

- Frequency: 300–1050 MHz.

- Technology Support: DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.4, OpenCL 2.0, 4K@60Hz via DisplayPort.

Practical Example: The Iris 540 handles rendering simple 3D graphics in Blender and running games like CS:GO at low settings (40-50 FPS at 720p).

Power Consumption and TDP

TDP 15W makes the processor ideal for thin laptops with passive or compact active cooling.

- Heat Dissipation: Under peak loads (e.g., video rendering), temperatures reach 70-80°C, but most ultrabooks manage this without throttling.

- Operating Modes: Intel Dynamic Tuning technology automatically adjusts power consumption based on workload.

Tip: In Windows power settings, select the "Power Saver" mode to lower the frequency and extend battery life.

Performance in Real Tasks

Office Work and Multitasking

- Tests:

- Running 20 tabs in Chrome + Microsoft Office: Minimal delays, but noticeable when switching between heavy applications (e.g., Excel and Photoshop).

- Geekbench 6: 927 (Single-Core), 1810 (Multi-Core) — sufficient for working with documents and video calls.

Multimedia

- Video: Streaming 4K on YouTube — no issues.

- Editing: In Adobe Premiere Pro, rendering a 1080p video will take 2-3 times longer than on modern 8-core CPUs.

Gaming

- Game Examples (2025):

- Minecraft (medium settings, 1080p) — 60 FPS.

- Fortnite (low settings, 720p) — 35-40 FPS.

- Stardew Valley — stable 60 FPS.

Turbo Boost Mode: Automatically raises the frequency to 3.1 GHz for single-threaded tasks, but in multi-threaded loads (e.g., rendering), the frequency stabilizes at 2.5-2.8 GHz.

Use Cases

The processor is suitable for:

- Students: For studying, text work, and Zoom meetings.

- Office workers: Basic tasks, cloud services.

- Budget users: Laptops featuring the i5-6360U are often available for $300-400 (new old stock).

- As a second device: For travel due to light weight and battery life.

Not suitable for:

- Gamers (except casual games).

- Video editors and 3D designers.

Battery Life

- Operating Time:

- Web browsing: 7-9 hours (with a battery capacity of 50 Wh).

- Video: 6-7 hours.

- Power-saving Technologies:

- Speed Shift: Quick switching between P-states.

- Panel Self Refresh: Reduces GPU load when displaying static images.

Tip: Disable background applications (e.g., Discord or Steam) to save battery.

Comparison with Competitors

AMD Ryzen 5 2500U (2017)

- Pros of AMD: 4 cores/8 threads, Vega 8 (30% more powerful than Iris 540).

- Cons: Higher TDP (15W vs. 25W for AMD), less battery life.

Apple M1 (2020)

- Pros of Apple: 3-4 times higher performance, 18 hours of battery life.

- Cons: Price (M1 laptops start at $800).

Intel Core i5-1135G7 (2020)

- Pros: 4 cores/8 threads, Iris Xe (twice as powerful), Thunderbolt 4 support.

- Cons: Laptops with this CPU are more expensive ($600+).

Pros and Cons of the Core i5-6360U

Pros:

- Energy efficiency.

- Sufficient performance for everyday tasks.

- Good graphics for its class.

Cons:

- Only 2 cores, which limits multitasking.

- No support for USB 3.2 Gen 2 and Wi-Fi 6.

Recommendations for Laptop Selection

- Type of Device: Ultrabooks (e.g., Dell XPS 13 9360) or budget models (Acer Swift 3).

- What to Look For:

- RAM: At least 8 GB (preferably 16 GB for Windows 11).

- Storage: Only SSD (NVMe preferred).

- Screen: Full IPS matrix for comfortable work.

- Ports: Check for the presence of USB-C (rarely found on models with this CPU).

Example Laptop for 2025:

- HP EliteBook 840 G3 ($350-400): 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 14" FHD.

Final Conclusion

The Intel Core i5-6360U is a processor for those who value mobility and are not ready to overpay for excess power. In 2025, it is suitable for:

- Document work and surfing.

- As a budget option for students.

- For users who rarely play games.

Key Benefits: Low price, compactness, stability. However, if you plan to work with "heavy" applications or want "future-proofing," consider modern CPUs like the AMD Ryzen 5 7640U or Intel Core Ultra 5.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

July 2015

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i5-6360U

Code Name

SkyLake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

2.00 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

3.10 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

3.10 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

2.0

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

Yes

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCBGA1356

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

14 nm

TDP

15 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100°C

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

3.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

1x4 | 2x2 | 1x2+2x1 and 4x1

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR4-2133 | LPDDR3-1866 | DDR3L-1600

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

32 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

4 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

34.1 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® Iris® Graphics 540

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

300 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.00 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

32 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@24Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096x2304@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

Graphics Output defines the interfaces available to communicate with display devices.

eDP/DP/HDMI/DVI

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

4 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel Flex Memory Access

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.5

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

927

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

1810

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

678

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1648

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1740

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

3106

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Xeon W-11555MRE

1031 +11.2%

Xeon E5-2680 v3

978 +5.5%

Core i5-6360U

927

Ryzen 7 PRO 3700U

883 -4.7%

Pentium Gold G6500

821 -11.4%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i7-3740QM

2146 +18.6%

Xeon E5-4650

1962 +8.4%

Core i5-6360U

1810

Core i5-8200Y

1637 -9.6%

Ryzen 3 2200GE

1499 -17.2%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Xeon Gold 6230R

723 +6.6%

Xeon Silver 4210

698 +2.9%

Core i5-6360U

678

Xeon W3680

658 -2.9%

Core i3-3225

637 -6%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i5-2380P

1927 +16.9%

Core i3-4150

1773 +7.6%

Core i5-6360U

1648

Core i3-4360T

1557 -5.5%

A10-6700

1474 -10.6%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Core i3-3240

1789 +2.8%

Xeon E5-2623 v4

1762 +1.3%

Core i5-6360U

1740

EPYC 7401P

1707 -1.9%

Core i7-3635QM

1687 -3%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i5-L16G7

3450 +11.1%

Core i3-4360T

3286 +5.8%

Core i5-6360U

3106

Core i5-4308U

2983 -4%

A8-5600K

2832 -8.8%