Intel Core i5-1240P vs Intel Core i5-7300U vs Intel Celeron 3965Y

Intel Core i5-1240P

The Intel Core i5-1240P is a mid-range Alder Lake-P family SoC designed for use in ultra-light, ultra-thin (yet actively cooled) laptops. It was announced in early 2022 and it has 4 performance cores as opposed to the 6 cores of the top-of-the-line i7-1280P (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) mated to 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The i5's P-cores are Hyper-Threading-enabled for a total of 16 threads when combined with its E-cores. The clock speeds range from 1.7 GHz to 4.4 GHz for the performance cluster and 1.2 GHz to 3.3 GHz for the efficient cluster. The shortcomings of this processor as compared with the slightly faster Core i5-1250P include the slightly lower iGPU clock speed and the limited vPro feature set ("Essentials" tier only, not allowing for remote device management).

Architecture

The i5 is a continuation of Intel's efforts to use the ARM-developed big.LITTLE technology for its own benefit. A single "little" Alder Lake core is supposed to be as fast as a Skylake core (as found in the venerable Core i7-6700HQ among other options) which is six years old at this point. All of Core i5-1240P's CPU cores enjoy access to 12 MB of L3 cache. The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to LPDDR5-5200, DDR5-4800, LPDDR4x-4267 or DDR4-3200; Intel recommends using no more than 64 GB of RAM, for reference. Just like the other 12th Gen Intel Core processors, this Core i5 comes with the Thread Director which is a new functionality designed to help Windows 11 decide which cores to use for what workload for best performance and efficiency possible. Hardware acceleration of AI algorithms is supported via GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). PCI-Express 5.0 support has not found its way into Alder Lake P processors, so users will have to be content with PCI-Express 4.0 for the time being. Four PCI-Express 4 lanes allow for a read/write rate of up to 7.9 GB/s, provided a suitably fast NVMe SSD is used.

Please note this is not a user-replaceable CPU. It gets soldered permanently on to the motherboard (FCBGA1744 socket interface).

Performance

Multi-thread performance is most comparable to the Ryzen 5 5500U, Ryzen 5 5600U and, surprisingly enough, the Core i5-1250P, making the i5-1240P a great processor for most consumers. Content creators and gamers will be better served by an H-class CPU such as the mighty Core i7-12700H, though.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 40 W, the NUC 12 Pro Kit NUC12WSBi5 is among the fastest systems built around the 1240P that we know of. It can be more than 2 times as fast in CPU-bound workloads as the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Graphics

The built-in graphics adapter in the form of the 80 EU Iris Xe running at up to 1.3 GHz has seen little change from what was built into certain Tiger Lake-UP3 processors, like an i5-1135G7, which is hardly a downside as this iGPU is loaded with modern features such as AV1 video decoding capability and SUHD 4320p monitor support. You can use up to 4 monitors simultaneously with this GPU, provided the laptop has the outputs required. The Xe isn't a stranger to a bit of casual gaming; that said, your mileage may vary depending on how high the Power Limits are and how capable the cooling solution of a laptop is. Expect something close to NVIDIA's MX250 or in other words, acceptable framerates in most games when playing at 1080p / Low settings. Fast RAM is a prerequisite for decent performance as the Iris Xe has to make do with no dedicated video memory.

Power consumption

The i5's base power consumption (also known as the default TDP value or Power Limit 1) is 28 W; its maximum Turbo power consumption (also known as the PL2) is not supposed to exceed 64 W. The "Minimum Assured" power consumption is fairly high at 20 W. All in all, an active cooling solution is a must for a CPU like this.

This 12th generation Intel chip is built with Intel's fourth-gen 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of late 2022, energy efficiency. Keep in mind that many 7 nm U-class AMD Ryzen 5000 chips are just as fast, or even faster than the i5 while sipping less juice.

Intel Core i5-7300U

The Intel Core i5-7300U is a fast dual-core processor for notebooks based on the Kaby Lake architecture and was announced in January 2017. It integrates 2 CPU cores with Hyper-Threading support clocked at 2.6 - 3.5 GHz (2 core Turbo also 3.5 GHz). Besides two cores, the processor is also equipped with the HD Graphics 620 GPU as well as a dual-channel memory controller (DDR3L-1600/DDR4-2400). It is manufactured in a 14nm process with FinFET transistors.

Architecture

Intel basically uses the same micro architecture compared to Skylake, so the per-MHz performance does not differ. The manufacturer only reworked the Speed Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of voltages and clocks, and the improved 14nm process allows much higher frequencies combined with better efficiency than before.

Performance

With 2.5 to 3.5 GHz, the Core i5-7300U clocks significantly higher than the old Core i5-7200U (2.5 - 3.1) and Core i5-6200U (2.3 - 2.8 GHz). Thanks to the fast Turbo frequency, the performance should be slightly below to the Core i7-7500U (2.7 - 3.5 GHz, but 4 MB L3 cache). Therfore, the performance is sufficient for demanding tasks.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 has 24 Execution Units (similar to previous HD Graphics 520) running at 300 - 1100 MHz. The performance depends a lot on the memory configuration; it should be comparable to a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 920M in combination with fast DDR4-2133 dual-channel memory.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The dual-core Kaby Lake processors, which were announced in January, should also support HDCP 2.2.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14nm process with FinFET transistors, which improves the efficiency even further. Intel still specifies the TDP with 15 Watts, but it can also be reduced to 7.5 Watts by the notebook manufacturers (cTDP down). This will obviously affect the performance, because the Turbo Boost cannot be maintained for longer periods.

Intel Celeron 3965Y

The Intel Celeron 3965Y is a low power entry level processor for small laptops or tablets and based on the Kaby Lake architecture. It was announced in Q2 2017 and offers two processor cores clocked at 1.5 GHz (no Turbo Boost). Compared to the Pentium 4410Y, the Celeron 3965Y offers no HyperThreading and therefore can execute only up to two threads simultaneously. The chips also includes the Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, a dual-channel memory controller (DDR3L/LPDDR3) as well as VP9 and H.265 video de- and encoder. It is still produced in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors. Currently (2017) it is the slowest Kaby-Lake based processor.

Architecture

Intel basically used the familiar micro architecture from the Skylake generation, so the per-MHz performance is identical. Only the Speed-Shift technology for faster dynamic adjustments of the voltages and clocks was improved, and the matured 14 nm process now also enables much higher frequencies and better efficiency than before. 

Performance

Due to the missing HyperThreading, the Celeron 3965Y is slightly slower than the similar clocked Pentium 4410Y in some multi threaded benchmarks. The single thread performance is due to the missing Turbo Boost significantly worse than the more expensive Core m3-7Y30. This should be noticeable in daily tasks. 

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU has 24 Execution Units (EUs) like the old HD Graphics 515 and runs with clocks between 300 and 850 MHz in combination with this processor. The performance heavily depends on the TDP limit as well as the memory configuration; with fast LPDDR3-1866 RAM in dual-channel mode, the GPU should sometimes be able to compete with the HD Graphics 520, but can also be much slower in other scenarios. Modern games from 2016 will, if at all, only run smoothly in the lowest settings.

Contrary to Skylake, Kaby Lake now also supports hardware decoding for H.265/HEVC Main10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec.

Power Consumption

The chip is manufactured in an improved 14 nm process with FinFET transistors, so the power efficiency was once again improved significantly. The TDP is rated at 6 Watt and can be reduced to 4,5 Watt (cTDP down).