Based on our initial CPU benchmarks, the Dell XPS 13 with the i5-7200U falls short of expectations. The Acer Aspire E5-575G, for example, which is equipped with the same CPU, is 10 % faster in the Single-Core test and still 5 % ahead of the Dell XPS 13 in the Cinebench R15 Multi test. If you compare our results with the i5-6200U in the XPS 13 9350, the advantage is almost negligible. In other words: Our test model of the XPS 13 cannot benefit from the new Kaby Lake processor generation in respect to the CPU performance.

We will perform more tests to support the disappointing initial results.

Interesting detail: The XPS 13 is only shipped with two power plans: Dell and Balanced. We can see a difference between them in the wPrime 32m benchmark with 15.7 s (Balanced) vs. 16.1 s (Dell). There are, however, no differences in the longer wPrime 1024m and Cinebench Multi.

The CPU Turbo only stays at 3.1 GHz for a short while when you stress both cores, which is clearly shown by Cinebench R15 Multi and the X.264 benchmark. Dell currently leaves the fan disabled up to a CPU temperature of around 90 °C. The processor will then quickly reach the limit of 98 °C and reduces the clock to 2.8 GHz. The fan runs at 5600 rpm and keeps the CPU cores at around 88 °C at this kind of load, but the clock does not go higher than 2.8 GHz after that. The first X.264 benchmark run is therefore around 10 % faster (110 fps) compared to the second one (around 100 fps). The cooling performance is sufficient to enable steady 3.1 GHz in the Cinebench R15 Single-Core test. The CPU will reach up to 88 °C and then levels off at around 77 °C (at 3600 rpm for the fan).

After changing the heat paste (see above for a picture of the original mess), the temperature during the Cinebench R15 tests were definately better, but still the performance of the Core i5 only increases slightly to 306 points (as the CPU falls to 2.8 GHz only a few seconds later and still stays there). Another hint that more than our model may be affected, ist the report in the comments on the Core i7 performance that is not much higher and also lower than Dell sees in their labs (325 points).



Note: We are currently in close contact with Dell about the conspicuous performance behavior of our test model. It is possible that our unit has a defect with limited cooling capabilities. Dell showed us test protocols of the XPS 13 9360 where the CPU performance in Cinebench is on the expected level for the i5-7200U and the CPU executes both tests (Single and Multi-CPU) with almost the maximum clock. We try to clarify this as quickly as possible and will try to repeat our tests with another test model if possible.