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Intel Core i7-1270P vs Intel Core i5-1240P

Intel Core i7-1270P

► remove from comparison Intel i7-1270P

The Intel Core i7-1270P is a higher-end Alder Lake-P family CPU, an expensive 28 W part meant for use in ultra-light, ultra-thin (yet actively cooled) laptops. This CPU was announced in early 2022 and it has 4 performance cores as opposed to the 6 cores of the top-of-the-line 1280P (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) mated to 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores are Hyper-Threading-enabled for a total of 16 threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock speeds range from 2.2 GHz to 4.8 GHz for the performance cluster and 1.6 GHz to 3.5 GHz for the efficient cluster. Full vPro feature set is supported by this Core i7 ("Enterprise" tier, allowing for remote device management). Its shortcomings as compared with the mighty i7-1280P include the smaller L3 cache, lower core count, lower clock speeds; the performance is slated to be significantly lower as a result.

A brief look at the specifications instantly reveals this i7 series chip to be very similar to the Core i5-12600H, a more power-hungry processor targeted at gaming laptops.

Architecture

The i7 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 an Intel Core i7-1270P's CPU cores enjoy access to 18 MB of L3 cache. The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to LPDDR5-5200, DDR5-4800, LPDDR4x-4267 or DDR4-3200. Intel suggests using no more than 64 GB, for reference. Just like the other 12th Gen Intel Core processors, Core i7-1270P comes with 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 (BGA1744 socket interface).

Performance

The 12 CPU cores are not just able to outshine any outgoing quad-core Tiger Lake part, the i7-1195G7 included. The average 1270P in our database directly competes with the Ryzen 7 5825U, the Ryzen 7 7730U and the Ryzen 7 7735U, meaning this little Core i7 is fast enough to make most consumers happy as of mid 2023.

The fairly high processing power comes at a cost. A single Golden Cove core can consume more than 20 W when under heavy load. Your mileage may thus vary depending on how high the Power Limits are and how competent the cooling solution of your laptop is.

Graphics

The built-in graphics adapter in the form of the 96 EU Iris Xe running at up to 1.40 GHz has seen no change from what was built into the 11th Gen Tiger Lake-UP3 processors, like an i7-1165G7, which is hardly a downside as this iGPU is loaded with modern features such as AV1 video decoding capability and SUHD 4320p monitor support. Up to 4 monitors can be used simultaneously with this iGPU. We expect the gaming performance to be reasonably close to that of NVIDIA's MX350.

In other words, the Xe is good enough for most games at 1080p resolution / Medium settings, provided the Power Limits are high enough and the cooling solution is competent enough. Fast RAM is a prerequisite for decent performance as well (the Xe has to make do with no dedicated video memory).

Last but not the least, we discovered that the GPU utilization when playing YouTube UHD 2160p60 videos is higher than it was with Tiger Lake chips.

Power consumption

The i7's base power consumption (also known as the default TDP or Power Limit 1) is 28 W, with 64 W being its maximum Turbo power consumption (also known as the PL2). As for the "Minimum Assured" power consumption, Intel's guidelines mention 20 W. All in all, an active cooling solution is a must for such a chip.

The CPU is built with Intel's fourth-gen 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of late 2022, energy efficiency. It's still a rather power-hungry CPU; a single P-core will happily consume more than 20 W when under heavy load. A couple of the higher-end 7 nm U-class AMD Ryzen 5000 chips are not nearly as power-hungry while delivering similar or higher performance levels.

Intel Core i5-1240P

► remove from comparison Intel 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.

ModelIntel Core i7-1270PIntel Core i5-1240P
SeriesIntel Alder Lake-PIntel Alder Lake-P
CodenameAlder Lake-PAlder Lake-P
Series: Alder Lake-P Alder Lake-P
Intel Core i7-1280P compare1.3 - 4.8 GHz14 / 20 cores24 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1270P « 1.6 - 4.8 GHz12 / 16 cores18 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1260P compare1.5 - 4.7 GHz12 / 16 cores18 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1250P compare1.2 - 4.4 GHz12 / 16 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1240P1.2 - 4.4 GHz12 / 16 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i3-1220P compare1.1 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1280P compare1.3 - 4.8 GHz14 / 20 cores24 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1270P1.6 - 4.8 GHz12 / 16 cores18 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1260P compare1.5 - 4.7 GHz12 / 16 cores18 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1250P compare1.2 - 4.4 GHz12 / 16 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1240P « 1.2 - 4.4 GHz12 / 16 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i3-1220P compare1.1 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Clock1600 - 4800 MHz1200 - 4400 MHz
L1 Cache1.1 MB1.1 MB
L2 Cache10 MB10 MB
L3 Cache18 MB12 MB
Cores / Threads12 / 1612 / 16
TDP28 Watt28 Watt
Technology10 nm10 nm
max. Temp.100 °C100 °C
SocketBGA1744BGA1744
FeaturesDDR4-3200/LPDDR4x-4266/DDR5-4800/LPDDR5-5200 RAM, PCIe 4, Thr. Director, DL Boost, GNA, Rem. Platf. Erase, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, EIST, TM1, TM2, HT, Turbo, SST, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHADDR4-3200/LPDDR4x-4266/DDR5-4800/LPDDR5-5200 RAM, PCIe 4, Thread Director, DL Boost, GNA, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, EIST, TM1, TM2, Hyper-Threading, Turbo, SST, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA
iGPUIntel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs ( - 1400 MHz)Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs ( - 1300 MHz)
Architecturex86x86
Announced
Manufacturerark.intel.comark.intel.com

Benchmarks

Performance Rating - CB R15 + R20 + 7-Zip + X265 + Blender + 3DM11 CPU - i7-1270P
37.7 pt (52%)
Performance Rating - CB R15 + R20 + 7-Zip + X265 + Blender + 3DM11 CPU - i5-1240P
36.4 pt (50%)
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Multi Core
min: 8426     avg: 9718     median: 9718 (9%)     max: 11010 Points
min: 277     avg: 8274     median: 9392 (9%)     max: 11556 Points
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Single Core
min: 1552     avg: 1620     median: 1620 (69%)     max: 1688 Points
min: 640     avg: 1475     median: 1600 (68%)     max: 1689 Points
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Single Core)
min: 595     avg: 611     median: 611 (68%)     max: 627 Points
min: 251     avg: 568     median: 608 (68%)     max: 653 Points
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Multi Core)
min: 3167     avg: 3536     median: 3536 (9%)     max: 3905 Points
min: 1152     avg: 3231     median: 3175 (8%)     max: 4456 Points
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64 Bit
min: 1695     avg: 1739     median: 1739 (11%)     max: 1783 Points
min: 884     avg: 1547     median: 1566.5 (10%)     max: 2007 Points
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64 Bit
min: 226     avg: 229.5     median: 229.5 (69%)     max: 233 Points
min: 91.8     avg: 211.4     median: 226 (68%)     max: 243 Points
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64 Bit
19.9 Points (26%)
22.1 Points (29%)
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Single 64 Bit
2.7 Points (68%)
2.9 Points (71%)
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Single (32bit)
7886 Points (48%)
8205 Points (50%)
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Multi (32bit)
36271 Points (26%)
42275 Points (31%)
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 1024m *
344.6 s (4%)
329.9 s (4%)
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 32m *
9.8 s (2%)
10.1 s (2%)
WinRAR - WinRAR 4.0
16497 Points (26%)
17276 Points (27%)
7-Zip 18.03 - 7-Zip 18.03 Multli Thread 4 runs
min: 38099     avg: 38274     median: 38274 (22%)     max: 38449 MIPS
min: 23132     avg: 35505     median: 34118 (20%)     max: 47002 MIPS
7-Zip 18.03 - 7-Zip 18.03 Single Thread 4 runs
min: 4874     avg: 5279     median: 5279 (63%)     max: 5684 MIPS
min: 2197     avg: 4674     median: 4791 (57%)     max: 5320 MIPS
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 - HWBOT x265 4k Preset
min: 9.56     avg: 10.4     median: 10.4 (18%)     max: 11.3 fps
min: 6.71     avg: 9.7     median: 9.4 (17%)     max: 12.9 fps
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Serpent
0.8 GB/s (0%)
0.8 GB/s (0%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Twofish
1.1 GB/s (19%)
1.5 GB/s (26%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt AES
5.8 GB/s (15%)
6.6 GB/s (17%)
Blender - Blender 3.3 Classroom CPU *
714 Seconds (9%)
min: 552     avg: 781     median: 812 (10%)     max: 1103 Seconds
Blender - Blender 2.79 BMW27 CPU *
min: 372     avg: 373.5     median: 373.5 (3%)     max: 375 Seconds
min: 285     avg: 408     median: 399 (3%)     max: 571 Seconds
R Benchmark 2.5 - R Benchmark 2.5 *
min: 0.4926     avg: 0.5     median: 0.5 (12%)     max: 0.575 sec
min: 0.4987     avg: 0.6     median: 0.5 (12%)     max: 1.236 sec
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M *
7.6 s (2%)
8.3 s (2%)
Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 32M *
436.4 s (2%)
438.9 s (2%)
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Physics
min: 10981     avg: 12323     median: 12323 (33%)     max: 13665 Points
min: 5907     avg: 12961     median: 13300 (36%)     max: 19096 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Physics
min: 58952     avg: 67520     median: 69591 (57%)     max: 74295 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme Physics
73031 Points (59%)
3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Physics
min: 72972     avg: 75110     median: 75109.5 (63%)     max: 77247 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Physics
min: 9451     avg: 9958     median: 9958 (25%)     max: 10465 Points
min: 5311     avg: 11105     median: 9957 (25%)     max: 16134 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Physics
min: 18221     avg: 18284     median: 18283.5 (33%)     max: 18346 Points
min: 9971     avg: 16234     median: 15095 (27%)     max: 22964 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy CPU
min: 5316     avg: 6022     median: 6021.5 (25%)     max: 6727 Points
min: 3192     avg: 6145     median: 5666.5 (24%)     max: 9118 Points
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 Single-Core
2209 Points (67%)
Geekbench 6.2 - Geekbench 6.2 Multi-Core
10364 Points (41%)
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Single-Core
min: 1564     avg: 1644     median: 1644 (69%)     max: 1724 Points
min: 672     avg: 1527     median: 1589 (67%)     max: 1658 Points
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Multi-Core
min: 8610     avg: 8660     median: 8660 (16%)     max: 8710 Points
min: 4286     avg: 8011     median: 8297.5 (15%)     max: 10112 Points
Geekbench 5.0 - Geekbench 5.0 64 Bit Single-Core
1683 Points (7%)
min: 1499     avg: 1543     median: 1543 (7%)     max: 1587 Points
Geekbench 5.0 - Geekbench 5.0 64 Bit Multi-Core
8537 Points (27%)
min: 7152     avg: 8276     median: 8275.5 (26%)     max: 9399 Points
Geekbench 4.4 - Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4 64 Bit Single-Core
min: 6876     avg: 7041     median: 7106 (71%)     max: 7140 Points
Geekbench 4.4 - Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4 64 Bit Multi-Core
min: 33578     avg: 34481     median: 34828 (39%)     max: 35037 Points
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Kraken 1.1 Total Score *
min: 537     avg: 541     median: 540.5 (1%)     max: 544 ms
min: 575     avg: 662     median: 587 (1%)     max: 1422 ms
Sunspider - Sunspider 1.0 Total Score *
min: 105.6     avg: 106     median: 106 (1%)     max: 106.4 ms
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
78273 Points (70%)
min: 70915     avg: 77389     median: 78328 (70%)     max: 80743 Points
WebXPRT 4 - WebXPRT 4 Score
251 Points (72%)
min: 217     avg: 226.1     median: 228 (66%)     max: 231 Points
WebXPRT 3 - WebXPRT 3 Score
min: 279     avg: 285     median: 285 (59%)     max: 291 Points
min: 119.2     avg: 240.3     median: 261.5 (54%)     max: 268 Points
CrossMark - CrossMark Overall
min: 1585     avg: 1649     median: 1648.5 (63%)     max: 1712 Points
min: 1392     avg: 1484     median: 1502 (58%)     max: 1553 Points
Power Consumption - Prime95 Power Consumption - external Monitor *
min: 47.3     avg: 53.2     median: 53.2 (9%)     max: 59.1 Watt
min: 27.7     avg: 44.9     median: 44.9 (8%)     max: 64.2 Watt
Power Consumption - Cinebench R15 Multi Power Consumption - external Monitor *
min: 61.3     avg: 63.1     median: 63.1 (12%)     max: 64.9 Watt
min: 28.6     avg: 54.6     median: 55.3 (10%)     max: 99.6 Watt
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption - external Monitor *
4 Watt (3%)
min: 4.13     avg: 6.1     median: 5.5 (4%)     max: 10.1 Watt
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption 150cd 1min *
4.6 Watt (5%)
min: 5.34     avg: 6.6     median: 6.3 (7%)     max: 9.2 Watt
Power Consumption - Cinebench R15 Multi Power Efficiency - external Monitor
min: 27.5     avg: 27.6     median: 27.6 (21%)     max: 27.7 Points per Watt
min: 18.7     avg: 28.4     median: 27.8 (21%)     max: 44.3 Points per Watt

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i7-1270P → 100% n=37

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i5-1240P → 99% n=37

- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation

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v1.26
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#4 composed specs +0.043s ... 0.044s

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#6 getting avg benchmarks for device 14062 +0.017s ... 0.06s

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#11 min, max, avg, median took s +0.269s ... 0.416s

#12 return log +0.022s ... 0.437s

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Redaktion, 2017-09- 8 (Update: 2023-07- 1)