Core i5-7300HQ: CPU benchmarks and laptop guide

The Intel Core i5-7300HQ was the volume quad-core of Intel's 7th-generation Kaby Lake line — a 2017 mobile processor built for entry-level gaming laptops. The catalog matches it to 19 models, and it meets the recommended CPU requirement in 15 of the 69 games the site tracks. This guide covers where the chip sits among laptop CPUs, what it brings to a portable, and which laptops carry it.

Where the Core i5-7300HQ sits in 2026

A catalog score of 43.5 places the chip 301st of 672 scored laptop CPUs — the lower half of a table that spans two decades of silicon. The neighborhood is a time capsule: the Ryzen 7 3750H (44.4), Core i7-4710MQ (43.7) and Core i7-10510U (43.7) just above, and the Core i7-4710HQ, Core i7-4700MQ and Core i7-4700HQ (all 43.3) just below. Ranking level with the i7-4700 and i7-4710 generation directly beneath it is the honest story: by 2026 this is firmly budget-tier silicon, closer to the bottom of the playable range than the top.

What the chip brings

Kaby Lake-H is a 4-core, 4-thread design on a 14 nm process, rated at 45 W in its HQ-class configuration: a 2.5 GHz base clock and up to 3.5 GHz boost — and notably no Hyper-Threading, so four cores means four threads. Memory support is captured in full: DDR4 on two channels, up to 64 GB, with 37 GB/s of bandwidth. The integrated HD Graphics 630 is display-duty hardware, and in public benchmarks the chip posts 1,122 single-core and 3,049 multi-core in Geekbench with a PassMark overall score of 5,078.

Games: CPU-side readiness

Measured purely as a processor, the chip clears the recommended CPU tier for only 15 of 69 cataloged games — and the clears cluster at the lighter end: Grand Theft Auto V, Overwatch, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Hitman 3 and Civilization 6. Another 36 sit at the minimum tier, from Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Witcher 3 through PUBG and Metro Exodus. The demanding end — Starfield, Helldivers 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2 and most modern AAA ports — asks for more processor than this even at minimum settings. These verdicts are CPU-only — whether a game actually plays well depends on the laptop's GPU and RAM.

Laptops that carry it

The 19-model roster is Acer-heavy, spanning 2017 originals through later budget builds: the 2017 Dell XPS 15 9560 at $422 and Inspiron 15-5577 at $447, a long run of Acer Nitro 5 gaming machines from $590 to $922, and Acer Aspire 7 general-purpose laptops from $399 to $650 carrying the chip well past its era. Roster medians describe the fleet honestly: office comfort at a perfect 100 and a gaming index of 55 reflect the discrete GPUs these laptops pair with the chip, while mobility at 26 says these are chunky, budget-built chassis rather than portables.

Bottom line

The Core i5-7300HQ is honest budget territory in 2026: enough processor for esports staples and lighter titles at recommended CPU settings, and a minimum-tier ticket for many heavier games. It suits a price-first buyer — an Aspire 7 at $399 or an Inspiron at $447 — who plays lighter games or wants a cheap secondary machine. For anything approaching modern AAA gaming, step up the ranks; here the chip itself, not just the GPU, is the ceiling.