Intel Core i3-1215U

The Intel Core i3-1215U is a mid-range mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 2 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 4 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 8 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.2 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 0.9 to 3.3 GHz on the efficient cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 10 MB L3-cache. Compared to the faster i5 and i7 models, the i3 does not include vPro features.

Performance

The average 1215U in our database is in the same league as the Ryzen 3 5300U and also the Core i7-1185G7, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This is decent enough of a result, as of late 2022. For an entry-level CPU, that is.

Your mileage may vary depending on how competent the cooling solution of your laptop is, and how high the CPU power limits are.

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficient cores for the best performance. For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). Quick Sync in version 8 is the same as in the Rocket Lake CPUs and supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 decode, JPEG, VP8 decode, VP9, HEVC, and AV1 decode in hardware. The CPU only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 64 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.1 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 15 W base power (TDP, PL1) and 55 W max. Turbo power (PL2) and the whole SoC is manufactured in a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.

Codename	Alder Lake-U
Series	Intel Alder Lake-M
Series: Alder Lake-M Alder Lake-U Intel Core i7-1265U 1.3 - 4.8 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i7-1255U 1.2 - 4.7 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i5-1245U 1.2 - 4.4 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i5-1235U 0.9 - 4.4 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i7-1260U 0.8 - 4.7 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i7-1250U 0.8 - 4.7 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i5-1240U 0.8 - 4.4 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i5-1230U 0.7 - 4.4 GHz 10 / 12  12 MB L3 Intel Core i3-1215U « 0.9 - 4.4 GHz 6 / 8  10 MB L3 Intel Pentium 8505 0.9 - 4.4 GHz 5 / 6  8 MB L3 Intel Core i3-1210U 0.7 - 4.4 GHz 6 / 8  10 MB L3 Intel Pentium 8500 0.7 - 4.4 GHz 5 / 6  8 MB L3 Intel Celeron 7305 0.9 - 1.1 GHz 5 / 5  8 MB L3 Intel Celeron 7300 0.7 - 1 GHz 5 / 5  8 MB L3
Clock Rate	900 - 4400 MHz
Level 1 Cache	544 KB
Level 2 Cache	5 MB
Level 3 Cache	10 MB
Number of Cores / Threads	6 / 8
Power Consumption (TDP = Thermal Design Power)	15 Watt
Manufacturing Technology	10 nm
Max. Temperature	100 °C
Socket	BGA1744
Features	DDR4-3200/LPDDR4x-4266/DDR5-4800/LPDDR5-5200 RAM, PCIe 4, Thr. Dir., DL Boost, GNA, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, EIST, TM1, TM2, HT, Turbo, SST, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA
GPU	Intel UHD Graphics 64EUs (Alder Lake 12th Gen) ( - 1100 MHz)
64 Bit	64 Bit support
Architecture	x86
Announcement Date	01/04/2022
Product Link (external)	ark.intel.com

Benchmarks