Intel Core i5-1135G7 vs Intel Core i7-1185G7

Intel Core i5-1135G7

The Intel Core i5-1135G7 is an energy-efficient quad-core SoC designed for sleek laptops and Ultrabooks. The Tiger Lake-UP3 processor was introduced in September 2020. It has four Willow Cove processor cores running at 2.4 GHz (base frequency @ 28 W TDP) Boosting up to 4.2 GHz (1-core Boost). The all-core Boost frequency is limited to 3.8 GHz. The CPU supports thread-doubling Hyper-Threading, allowing for up to 8 concurrent processing threads.

Architecture

Tiger Lake brings multiple improvements over the older Comet Lake and Ice Lake product families including a sizeable performance-per-MHz boost. A Core i5-1135G7 is compatible with dual-channel DDR4-3200 or LPDDR4x-4267 RAM, has a native PCI-Express 4.0 support (4 lanes) and hardware AI acceleration. The Thunderbolt 4, USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6 support is partially baked into the chip. The i5 CPU is manufactured on the second-gen 10 nm Intel SuperFin process that should be comparable to the 7 nm TSMC process Ryzen 4000 processors are manufactured on. Both the CPU cores and the iGPU have access to 8 MB of L3 cache. Faster Core i7 models are notable for their larger Level 3 cache size (12 MB versus 8 MB) and the higher clock speeds. The i5 gets soldered straight to the motherboard (BGA1449 socket) and is extremely hard to replace.

Performance

The cooling system performance as well as the TDP settings will have a huge impact on the Boost sustainability, directly influencing the CPU performance. The average Core i5-1135G7 from our database is just as fast as the Core i5-10400H, Core i5-8300H, and Ryzen 7 3700U processors in multi-core benchmarks. The single-core performance is a lot better though, reaching similar heights as the Ryzen 7 5600X and Core i7-8700K. The performance may not be ground-breaking, but it’s still on the nicer side. The CPU will have no difficulty coping with some light gaming and video editing on the go, and the simpler tasks such as web browsing and spreadsheet editing will pose no problem for it, either.

Graphics

The Iris Xe Graphics G7 iGPU is based on the brand-new Gen 12 architecture. It is somewhat faster than the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake) and especially the UHD 620 (Comet Lake). In the case of the Core i5, the Xe GPU uses 80 of the 96 EUs with clocked at 400 MHz to 1,300 MHz. The Iris Xe G7 (80 EUs) can drive up to 4 monitors in resolutions up to SUHD 4320p, and the built-in video decoder can handle the AVC, HEVC, VP9 and last but not the least AV1 video streams. The gaming performance is comparable to entry-level discrete graphics cards such as the Nvidia GeForce MX250.

Power Consumption

The Tiger Lake-U processors are relatively energy-efficient thanks to the 10 nm manufacturing process and low core count. The default TDP of the TGL-UP3 CPUs is in the range of 12 W to 28 W (the OEMs get to set the value according to their needs) to make the i5 a good fit for thin and light laptops as well as the occasional high-end tablet. Performance sustainability is likely to be an issue in passively-cooled setups.

Intel Core i7-1185G7

The Intel Core i7-1185G7 is a power-efficient quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Tiger Lake-U generation (UP3) that was introduced September 2020. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading). Each core can clock from 1.2 GHz (12 W base clock speed), 3 GHz (28 W base clock speed) to 4.8 GHz (single-core boost). All cores at once can clock at up to 4.3 GHz. At the time of announcement, the i7-1185G7 is the fastest model of the line-up. Since early 2021, the i7-1185G7 supports management features like vPro.

Another novelty is the integrated Iris Xe iGPU based on the completely new Gen 12 architecture. It should offer a significantly higher performance compared to the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake). In the i7-1185G7 it uses 96 EUs and clocks between 400 - 1,350 MHz. The GPU and CPU can together use the 12 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.

The chip is produced on the second-generation 10 nm Intel SuperFin process that is comparable to the 7 nm TSMC process Ryzen 4000 CPUs are manufactured on.

The operating range of the UP3 series is specified at 12 to 28 Watt. Therefore, the processor is suited for thin and light laptops.