Intel Core i5-1135G7 vs Intel Core i3-1125G4

Intel Core i5-1135G7

The Intel Core i5-1135G7 is a quad-core, mid-range SoC designed to be used in ultra-light laptops. The Tiger Lake-UP3 processor was introduced in September 2020. It features four Willow Cove CPU cores running at 2.4 GHz (base clock speed @ 28 W TDP) Boosting up to 4.2 GHz (1-core Boost). The all-core Boost clock speed sits at 3.8 GHz. This is a Hyper-Threading-enabled CPU, allowing for up to 8 concurrent processing threads.

Architecture

A sizeable performance-per-MHz boost is one of the multiple strengths of Tiger Lake compared to the older Ice Lake and Comet Lake product families. Core i5-1135G7 is compatible with dual-channel DDR4-3200 or quad-channel LPDDR4x-4267 RAM, supports PCI-Express 4.0 (4 lanes) and is capable of HW-accelerating AI workloads. Thunderbolt 4, USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6 support is partially baked into the chip. Four PCI-Express 4.0 lanes allow for read/write rates of up to 7.9 GB/s, provided a suitably fast NVMe SSD is used.

The i5 is manufactured on Intel's second-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin that is supposedly comparable to TSMC's 7 nm process that Ryzen 4000 series laptop-grade processors are manufactured on. Both the CPU cores and the iGPU enjoy access to 8 MB of L3 cache. Higher-end Core i7-11x5 processors are notable for their larger Level 3 cache (12 MB versus 8 MB), faster iGPUs and higher clock speeds. Core i5-1135G7 is supposed to be permanently soldered to the motherboard (BGA1449 socket interface) and is thus not user-replaceable.

Performance

The i5's long-term Boost sustainability will depend heavily on how high the Power Limits and how good the cooling solution of your laptop are. That being said, the average Core i5-1135G7 in our database is just as fast as Intel Core i7-10810U, Core i5-1145G7, Core i5-1230U and AMD Ryzen 7 3780U are in multi-thread benchmarks. The performance may not be ground-breaking, but it’s still on the sunnier side. This Core i5 will have no difficulty coping with some light gaming and video editing on the go, and the usual web browsing and spreadsheet editing will pose no problem to it, either.

Graphics

The 80 EU Iris Xe Graphics G7 is based on Intel's Gen 12 architecture. The iGPU is somewhat faster than the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake) and much faster than the UHD 620 (Comet Lake). The 80 EUs are clocked at 400 MHz to 1,300 MHz. This graphics adapter can drive up to 4 monitors in resolutions up to SUHD [email protected] and hardware decode the AVC, HEVC, VP9 and last but not the least AV1 video streams. The iGPU's gaming performance is close to what a typical GeForce MX250 has in store; casual gamers will be happy with the Xe as it will easily handle most titles at 720p on low or medium quality settings. An important thing to keep in mind is that the iGPU has no video memory of its own, making fast RAM a necessity.

Power Consumption

Just like all other Tiger Lake UP3 processors, Core i5-1135G7 has a default TDP of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop manufacturers will go for a higher value in exchange for higher performance. Either way, these values are a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The CPU is built with Intel's 2nd generation 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for decent, as of mid-2022, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i3-1125G4

The Intel Core i3-1125G4 is a 28 W quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Tiger Lake-U generation (UP3) that was introduced in September 2020. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to HyperThreading). 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.

Power consumption

This Core i3 has a default TDP of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop manufacturers 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.

Intel Core i5-1125G4 is manufactured on Intel's second-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for decent, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.