Intel Core i5-1235U

The Intel Core i5-1235U 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 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 12 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.3 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 12 MB L3 cache. Compared to the i5-1245U, the 1235U offers lower base clock speeds and only "Essentials" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

The average 1235U in our database is in the same league as the Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U and also, surprisingly enough, the i7-1250U and the i7-1260U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. This is a very respectable result, as of mid 2023.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 27 W, the Beelink SEi12 is among the fastest systems built around the 1235U that we know of. It can be twice as fast in CPU-bound workloads as the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Architecture

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 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.2 GHz.

Power consumption

This ULV processor has a Base power consumption of 15 W (also known as the long-term power limit), with 55 W being its maximum Intel-recommended Turbo power consumption. Both values are too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

Core i5-1235U is manufactured on Intel's fourth-gen 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of mid-2022, energy efficiency.

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	928 KB
Level 2 Cache	9.5 MB
Level 3 Cache	12 MB
Number of Cores / Threads	10 / 12
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, vPro Ess., 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 Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs ( - 1200 MHz)
64 Bit	64 Bit support
Architecture	x86
Announcement Date	01/04/2022
Product Link (external)	ark.intel.com

Benchmarks