Intel Core i5-1155G7 vs Intel Core i5-12600HX

Intel Core i5-1155G7

The Intel Core i5-1155G7 is a power efficient quad-core SoC for laptops and Ultrabooks based on the Tiger Lake-U generation that was announced in mid 2021 as part of the refresh. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to HyperThreading). The base clock speed depends on the TDP settings and ranges from 1 GHz (12 Watt TDP) up to 2.5 GHz (28 Watt). Boost clock speed is 4.5 GHz.

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

Another novelty is the integrated Xe graphics adapter with 80 EUs based on the completely new Gen 12 architecture. It offers a significantly higher performance compared to the older Iris Plus G7 (Ice Lake).

Performance

The average 1155G7 in our database proves to be a very decent mid-range processor, as of mid 2022, trading blows with the Core i7-10810U and the Ryzen 5 4500U as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. While perhaps not the best option for power users, this Core i5 will make most consumers happy, providing for short load times and generally pain-free experience.

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 i5 series chip has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, 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, this is a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.

The i5-1155G7 is built with Intel's third-gen 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for lower-than-average, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.

Intel Core i5-12600HX

The Intel Core i5-12600HX is a upper mid-range mobile CPU for laptops based on the Alder Lake-S chip. It was announced in mid 2022 and offers 4 of the 8 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 16 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 2.5 to 4.6 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.8 to 3.3 GHz on the efficiency cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare with the Core i7-6920HQ). All cores can use up to 18 MB L3 cache. The CPU supports vPro and ECC memory and is therefore a successor to the mobile Xeon CPUs.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system built around the 12600HX as of August 2023, we have tested several systems featuring the i5-12500H, a CPU with similar specs (4 P-cores mated to 8 E-cores, all running at pretty much the same clock speeds as what the 12600HX has). Based on that, expect the 12600HX to be very close to the Ryzen 9 6900HS, Ryzen 9 6900HX and also the Core i7-12650H, 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 and DDR4-3200. 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 supports 48 PCIe lanes consisting of 16 Gen5 (x16 or 2x8), 20 Gen4 and 12 Gen3.

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 32 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.35 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 55 W base power (157 W PL2). The SoC is manufactured on a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.