Intel Core i3-1125G4 vs AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7640U

Intel Core i3-1125G4

The Intel Core i3-1125G4 is a 28 W quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks of the Tiger Lake family (UP3) that was introduced in September 2020. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading). Each core can clock from 2 GHz (guaranteed base speed @ 28 W) to 3.7 GHz (single-core boost). All cores at once can clock at up to 3.3 GHz. The faster Core i7 models offer more Level 3 cache (12 versus 8 MB in the i5) and higher clocked cores.

Another novelty is the integrated Xe GPU based on the completely new Gen 12 architecture. In the i3-1125G4 Intel names the GPU UHD Graphics and offers only 48 of the 96 EUs clocked at 400 - 1250 MHz. The GPU and CPU can together use the 8 MB of L3 cache.

Furthermore, Tiger Lake SoCs add PCIe 4 support (four lanes), AI hardware acceleration, and the partial integration of Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6 in the chip.

Performance

While we have not tested a single laptop built around the 1125G4 as of October 2023, we expect the chip's multi-thread performance to be 10% to 20% lower than that of the Core i5-1135G7 (4 cores, 8 threads, somewhat higher clock speeds).

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

Power consumption

This Core i3 series chip has a default TDP of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop makers will go for a higher value in exchange for higher performance. Either way, that's a little too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The i3-1125G4 is manufactured on Intel's third-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for average, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.

AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7640U

The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7640U is a fast mid-range laptop processor of the Phoenix series. It offers 6 cores (hexa core) based on the Zen 4 architecture that supports hyperthreading (12 threads). The cores clock from 3.5 (base) up to 4.9 GHz (single core boost). The processor includes 6 MB L2 cache and 16 MB L3 cache.

Compared to the consumer Ryzen 5 7640U, the PRO models offer additional security, manageability, and reliability features designed for professional users and workstation environments.

Thanks to the new Zen 4 architecture and higher clock speeds, the R5 PRO 7640U is clearly faster than the old Ryzen 5 6600U (Zen 3, 6 cores, 4.5 GHz). Compared to the similar 7640HS, the U-series offers a lower TDP and slightly lower core clocks.

The chip integrates a modern and fasts RDNA 3 graphics card (iGPU) called Radeon 760M with 8 of the 12 CUs and 2.6 GHz clock speed. Furthermore, the Phoenix series include a video engine with AV1 de- and encoding, a new Xilinx FPGA based XDNA AI accelerator (Ryzen AI) that should be faster than the AI engine in the Apple M2 SOC and a dual-channel DDR5-5600 / LPDDR5x-7500 memory controller (with ECC support). The connectivity features includes 2 possible USB 4 (40 Gbps) ports and 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes for a GPU and SSDs.

The Phoenix series uses a single monolithic design (unlike the chiplet design of the 7045HX series) and is manufactured in the modern 4nm process at TSMC. The TDP can be configured between 35 and 45 Watt.