100 W Core i7-8809G vs. 28 W Core i7-1165G7: Can Tiger Lake outperform the exotic Intel-AMD chipset?

Intel has come a long way since Kaby Lake. A closer look at the evolution and differences between the Hades Canyon and Phantom Canyon NUCs shows why the blue chipmaker will unlikely pursue another partnership with its red counterpart anytime soon.

Allen Ngo, Published 04/29/2021 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 ...

Intel and AMD made ripples in their industry when they announced a partnership in 2017 to co-develop the Kaby Lake-G platform. It was a one-of-a-kind chipset that married a quad-core Kaby Lake-H CPU with a Radeon RX Vega GPU all wrapped under a 100 W TDP envelope. It didn't last very long in the market, however, due in part to its very limited support from major PC makers.

The 2018 Hades Canyon NUC remains the one and only champion of the Kaby Lake-G Core i7-8809G processor. While it would be foolish to expect it to run as fast as the latest solutions of 2021, we're still interested in seeing just how much of a performance gap exists between the rare 100 W Core i7-8809G and the current 28 W Tiger Lake-U platform.

The NUC11 Phantom Canyon directly succeeds the NUC8 Hades Canyon to make it the perfect system for a head-to-head comparison. Multi-thread-heavy benchmarks like CineBench, Blender, and HWBOT x265 show that the Core i7-8809G and Core i7-1165G7 are very close to one another despite their massive differences in TDP levels. However, the newer CPU handily outperforms the Intel-AMD CPU when it comes to single-threaded loads.

When looking at the Radeon RX Vega M GH and mobile GeForce RTX 2060, the latter offers significantly faster frame rates especially when running demanding DX12 titles at higher resolutions where performance becomes more GPU bound.

Overall power consumption is higher on Phantom Canyon than on Hades Canyon meaning the performance uptick doesn't come free. However, the rise in consumption is much smaller than the rise in performance percentagewise for higher gen-to-gen performance-per-watt. Additionally, core temperatures and fan noise would remain relatively consistent between the two NUCs despite the large performance gaps. Users are getting more performance without the machine running louder or warmer.

Kaby Lake-G was fun while it lasted, but Phantom Canyon is proof that you don't need an exotic architecture when "stock" CPUs and GPUs can accomplish the same and with better software support.

See our full reviews on the NUC8 Hades Canyon and NUC11 Phantom Canyon to learn more about these gaming NUCs.

Intel NUC8 Hades Canyon Core Specifications	Intel NUC11 Phantom Canyon Core Specifications
8th gen Intel Core i7-8809G CPU Kaby Lake-G 100 W TDP combined CPU and GPU Discrete Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU 4 GB HBM2 VRAM 2018 launch	11th gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU Tiger Lake-U 28 W TDP CPU + 80 W to 90 W TGP GPU Discrete GeForce RTX 2060 mobile GPU 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM 2021 launch

Intel NUC8 Hades Canyon Ports	Intel NUC11 Phantom Canyon Ports
2x mini-DisplayPort 1.3 2x 1 Gbps RJ-45 6x USB-A 3x USB-C (2x Thunderbolt 3) 2x HDMI 2.0a 1x Optical 1x 3.5 mm audio	1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4 1x 2.5 Gbps RJ-45 6x USB-A 2x USB-C (2x Thunderbolt 4) 1x HDMI 2.0b 1x Optical 1x 3.5 mm audio

Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK DIN A4 ❌

Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7; CPU Multi 64Bit: Ø914 (901.51-1011.79)

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G; CPU Multi 64Bit: Ø857 (853.53-862.44)

Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.5: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean

Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core)
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	2005 Points +21%
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	1660 Points

Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	583 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	404 Points -31%

Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	1012 (901.51^min - 1011.79^max) Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	864 Points -15%

Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	229 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	178 Points -22%

Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	543 Seconds *
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	537 Seconds * +1%

7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	5260 MIPS
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	4101 MIPS -22%

7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	24684 MIPS
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	19347 MIPS -22%

Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	1544 Points

Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	5209 Points

HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	7.14 fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G	7.1 fps -1%

LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	48 s *

R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7	0.561 sec *

* ... smaller is better

3DMark | 3DMark 11

3DMark
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
Intel NUC11PHKi7C NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-1165G7	17077 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, i7-8809G	10248 Points -40%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (2286 - 6143, n=199)	4883 Points -71%
2560x1440 Time Spy Graphics
Intel NUC11PHKi7C NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-1165G7	6599 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, i7-8809G	2908 Points -56%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (707 - 1871, n=196)	1489 Points -77%
2560x1440 Time Spy Score
Intel NUC11PHKi7C NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-1165G7	6380 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, i7-8809G	3096 Points -51%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (789 - 2133, n=193)	1666 Points -74%
3840x2160 Fire Strike Ultra Graphics
Intel NUC11PHKi7C NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-1165G7	3959 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, i7-8809G	2247 Points -43%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (599 - 1332, n=82)	1121 Points -72%

3DMark 11
1280x720 Performance GPU
Intel NUC11PHKi7C NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-1165G7	23992 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, i7-8809G	14302 Points -40%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (2867 - 7471, n=187)	6335 Points -74%
1280x720 Performance Combined
Intel NUC11PHKi7C NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-1165G7	12149 Points
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, i7-8809G	10391 Points -14%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (1926 - 7238, n=186)	5490 Points -55%

Final Fantasy XV Benchmark
1280x720 Lite Quality
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	130 fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	81.8 fps -37%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (14.9 - 56.5, n=168)	39 fps -70%
1920x1080 Standard Quality
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	89.2 fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	41.2 fps -54%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (10.5 - 28, n=164)	21.6 fps -76%
1920x1080 High Quality
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	67.5 fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	20.4 fps -70%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (8.15 - 27.8, n=157)	16.7 fps -75%

GTA V
1024x768 Lowest Settings possible
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	168 (5.58^min, 111^P1 - 300^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	165 (1.676^min, 100^P1 - 336^max) fps -2%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (52 - 157, n=149)	97.1 fps -42%
1920x1080 Lowest Settings possible
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	165 (4.25^min, 111^P1 - 348^max) fps +6%
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	156 (4.99^min, 111^P1 - 301^max) fps
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (34.7 - 115.4, n=125)	72.2 fps -54%
1366x768 Normal/Off AF:4x
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	158 (4.71^min, 100^P1 - 289^max) fps 0%
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	158 (4.65^min, 90.9^P1 - 266^max) fps
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (24.1 - 137, n=152)	81.6 fps -48%
1920x1080 Normal/Off AF:4x
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	157 (3.27^min, 100^P1 - 316^max) fps +7%
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	147 (4.13^min, 90.9^P1 - 289^max) fps
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (20 - 109, n=126)	63.8 fps -57%
1920x1080 High/On (Advanced Graphics Off) AA:2xMSAA + FX AF:8x
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	119 (39.3^min, 76.9^P1 - 229^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	81.2 (1.964^min, 62.5^P1 - 159^max) fps -32%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (9.39 - 51.6, n=144)	22.7 fps -81%
1920x1080 Highest Settings possible AA:4xMSAA + FX AF:16x
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	69.6 (19.2^min, 47.6^P1 - 121^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	39.4 (1.843^min, 27^P1 - 125^max) fps -43%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (4.13 - 22.9, n=138)	9.45 fps -86%

Dota 2 Reborn
1280x720 min (0/3) fastest
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	139 (124.5^min) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	127 (103.6^min) fps -9%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (36 - 148, n=200)	99.6 fps -28%
1366x768 med (1/3)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	123 (107.7^min) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	119 (95.8^min) fps -3%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (31.6 - 108.5, n=200)	75.2 fps -39%
1920x1080 high (2/3)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	116 (100.9^min) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	108 (87.1^min) fps -7%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (23.2 - 88.1, n=200)	53.4 fps -54%
1920x1080 ultra (3/3) best looking
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	112 (98.7^min) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	94.6 (82.1^min) fps -16%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (20.6 - 78.5, n=200)	48.8 fps -56%

The Witcher 3
1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	220.7 (196^min - 232^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	165.5 (148^min - 174^max) fps -25%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (28.9 - 109, n=176)	83.5 fps -62%
1366x768 Medium Graphics & Postprocessing
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	152.2 (142^min - 162^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	105.1 (100^min - 110^max) fps -31%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (21.4 - 74.1, n=174)	53.2 fps -65%
1920x1080 High Graphics & Postprocessing (Nvidia HairWorks Off)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	101.5 (96^min - 106^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	59.7 (56^min - 64^max) fps -41%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (10.6 - 45.9, n=179)	28.5 fps -72%
1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	61.4 (59^min - 64^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	34.3 (32^min - 37^max) fps -44%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (8.79 - 20.1, n=169)	14 fps -77%

X-Plane 11.11
1280x720 low (fps_test=1)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	94.8 fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	61.8 fps -35%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (13.4 - 88.4, n=200)	41 fps -57%
1920x1080 med (fps_test=2)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	81.3 fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	52.8 fps -35%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (11.6 - 69.5, n=201)	35.1 fps -57%
1920x1080 high (fps_test=3)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	69.8 fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	45.5 fps -35%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (11.1 - 59.8, n=200)	31.5 fps -55%

Strange Brigade
1280x720 lowest AF:1
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	287 (77^min, 220^P1 - 480^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	210 (146^min, 184^P1 - 270^max) fps -27%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (48.5 - 107.3, n=154)	84.3 fps -71%
1920x1080 medium AA:medium AF:4
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	148 (64.5^min, 124^P1 - 240^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	85.3 (73.4^min, 74.4^P1 - 110^max) fps -42%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (18.2 - 48.3, n=152)	36.2 fps -76%
1920x1080 high AA:high AF:8
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	124 (75.3^min, 98^P1 - 191^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	68 (51.7^min, 52.9^P1 - 92.9^max) fps -45%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (15.4 - 38.1, n=151)	29.1 fps -77%
1920x1080 ultra AA:ultra AF:16
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Core i7-1165G7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile	109 (68.2^min, 83.9^P1 - 190^max) fps
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Core i7-8809G, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH	56.6 (42.9^min, 44.5^P1 - 73.7^max) fps -48%
Average Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (13.2 - 30.8, n=149)	23.5 fps -78%

Networking
iperf3 transmit AX12
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201	1129 (1014^min - 1229^max) MBit/s
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265	376 MBit/s -67%
iperf3 receive AX12
Intel NUC11PHKi7C Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201	870 (452^min - 924^max) MBit/s
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265	591 MBit/s -32%

SD Card Reader
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II)	173.9 MB/s
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II)	81 MB/s -53%
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB)
Intel NUC11PHKi7C (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II)	201.4 MB/s
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II)	88.3 MB/s -56%

	Intel NUC11PHKi7C GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 500GB MZ-V8P500BW	Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK Vega M GH, i7-8809G, Intel Optane 120 GB SSDPEK1W120GA
Noise		-10%
off / environment *	24.5	28.7 -17%
Idle Minimum *	25.3	29 -15%
Idle Average *	25.3	29 -15%
Idle Maximum *	25.3	29 -15%
Load Average *	36.4	36 1%
Witcher 3 ultra *	39.7	42 -6%
Load Maximum *	47.9	49.4 -3%

* ... smaller is better

	Intel NUC11PHKi7C i7-1165G7, GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 500GB MZ-V8P500BW, , x,	Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK i7-8809G, Vega M GH, Intel Optane 120 GB SSDPEK1W120GA, , x,
Power Consumption		-40%
Idle Minimum *	5.8	15.5 -167%
Idle Average *	5.9	16.2 -175%
Idle Maximum *	20.7	16.5 20%
Load Average *	130.8	83.4 36%
Witcher 3 ultra *	154.4	121.7 21%
Load Maximum *	225.2	173.5 23%