Intel Core i7-1265U vs AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D vs AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX

Intel Core i7-1265U

The Intel Core i7-1265U is a high-end mobile CPU for thin and light laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 2  performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 12 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 1.8 to 4.8 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.3 to 3.6 GHz on the efficient cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 12 MB L3 cache. The 1265U offers "Enterprise" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

Thanks to the 10 cores, the multi-threaded performance should be clearly faster than the older quad-core Tiger Lake CPUs with 15 Watt (like the Intel Core i7-1160G7). The sustained performance will be limited by the TDP setting and thermals and therefore only short term loads. Thanks to the architectural improvements of the big Golden Cove cores, the single thread performance should be better than similar clocked Tiger Lake CPUs.

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. 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 only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offers all 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.25 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 15 W base power (TDP, PL1) and 55 W max. Turbo power (PL2) and the whole SoC is manufactured on a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.

AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D

The AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D is a fast high-end laptop processor of the Dragon Range series. It offers 16 cores based on the Zen 4 architecture that supports hyperthreading (32 threads). The cores clock from 2.3 (base) up to 5.4 GHz (single core boost). Compared to the similar R9 7945HX, the 7945HX3D offers an additional 64 MB 3D V-Cache on one CCD-Cluster. This helps in some workloads that can use the additional fast cache (e.g. some games). The guaranteed base clock however was reduced from 2.5 to 2.3 GHz.

The performance of the R9 7945HX3D is similar to the R9 7945HX in workloads that wont make use of the bigger L3 cache. Most games however can use the additional memory. AMD e.g. was advertising the HX3D with 4% to 53% higher performance in 1080p high settings.

The Dragon Range series still uses a chiplet design with two CCD-clusters (each with 8 possible cores) in 5nm and an IO-die (including the memory controller and the Radeon 610M iGPU) in 6nm. The chip integrates 4x USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) ports (no USB4), 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes (for GPU and SSDs) and a dual-channel DDR5-5200 memory controller.

The R9 7945HX3D is rated at a TDP of 55 Watt and can be configured up to 75 Watt (cTDP).

AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX

The chip also integrates 4x USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) ports (no USB 4), 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes (for GPUs and SSDs), a dual-channel DDR5-5200 memory controller and a small AMD Radeon 610M graphics card (2CUs, 400 - 2200 MHz).