Intel Pentium 8505 vs Intel Core i5-1245U

Intel Pentium 8505

The Intel Pentium 8505 is an entry-level mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers one performance core (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 4 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 6 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 8 MB L3-cache. Compared to the faster Core i3-1215U, the Pentium offers one less P-core.

Performance

This is a fairly unpopular CPU, if the fact that we have not tested a single system built around it as of August 2023 is any indication. That said, we have tested a few systems featuring the Core i3-1215U, a chip with the same clock speeds and the same 4 E-cores but with 2 P-cores instead of 1. Based on that, expect the 8505 to be 10% to 20% behind the Ryzen 3 5300U and the Core i7-1185G7, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned.

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 adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 48 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.1 GHz.

Power consumption

The Pentium has a Base power consumption of 15 W, with 55 W being its maximum Intel-recommended Turbo power consumption. These values are fairly high; passive cooling solutions aren't really an option here.

The CPU is built with Intel's 3rd generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i5-1245U

The Intel Core i5-1245U 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 1.6 to 4.4 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.2 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 i7-1265U (fastest U-series CPU at launch), the 1245U offers lower clock speeds, a slower iGPU, but the full "Enterprise" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

Thanks to the 10 cores, the multi-threaded performance should be clearly faster than the older quad-core Tiger Lake CPUs with 15 Watt (like the Intel Core i7-1160G7). The sustained performance will be limited by the TDP setting and thermals and therefore only short term loads. Thanks to the architectural improvements of the big Golden Cove cores, the single thread performance should be better than similar clocked Tiger Lake CPUs.

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 adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.2 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 on a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.