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Intel Core i7-1270P vs Intel Core i7-1255U

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 i7-1255U

► remove from comparison Intel i7-1255U

The Intel Core i7-1255U 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 1.7 to 4.7 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.2 to 3.5 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. Compared to the i7-1265U (fastest U-series CPU at launch), the 1255 offers 100 MHz lower clocked CPU cores and only "Essentials" vPro management features. Compared to the P-series (28W) or H-series (45W), the 15W TDP may limit the sustained performance.

Performance

The average 1255U in our database is in the same league as the Ryzen 5 5600U, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. Which is nothing to be ashamed of, as of mid 2023.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 28 W, the Spectre x360 13.5 14t-ef000 is among the fastest laptops built around the 1255U that we know of. It can be 20% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Architecture

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

Power consumption

This Core i7 has a "minimum assured" power consumption of 12 W. Its Base power consumption sits at 15 W and its maximum Intel-recommended Turbo power consumption isn't supposed to exceed 55 W. All those values are too high to allow for pasisvely cooled designs.

Last but not the least, Core i7-1255U is built with Intel's fourth-gen 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for decent, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.

ModelIntel Core i7-1270PIntel Core i7-1255U
SeriesIntel Alder Lake-PIntel Alder Lake-M
CodenameAlder Lake-PAlder Lake-U
Series: Alder Lake-M Alder Lake-U
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 i5-1240P compare1.2 - 4.4 GHz12 / 16 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i3-1220P compare1.1 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1265U compare1.3 - 4.8 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1255U « 1.2 - 4.7 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1245U compare1.2 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1235U compare0.9 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1260U compare0.8 - 4.7 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i7-1250U compare0.8 - 4.7 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1240U compare0.8 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i5-1230U compare0.7 - 4.4 GHz10 / 12 cores12 MB L3
Intel Core i3-1215U compare0.9 - 4.4 GHz6 / 8 cores10 MB L3
Intel Pentium 8505 compare0.9 - 4.4 GHz5 / 6 cores8 MB L3
Intel Core i3-1210U compare0.7 - 4.4 GHz6 / 8 cores10 MB L3
Intel Pentium 8500 compare0.7 - 4.4 GHz5 / 6 cores8 MB L3
Intel Celeron 7305 compare0.9 - 1.1 GHz5 / 5 cores8 MB L3
Intel Celeron 7300 compare0.7 - 1 GHz5 / 5 cores8 MB L3
Clock1600 - 4800 MHz1200 - 4700 MHz
L1 Cache1.1 MB928 KB
L2 Cache10 MB9.5 MB
L3 Cache18 MB12 MB
Cores / Threads12 / 1610 / 12
TDP28 Watt15 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, Thr. Dir., DL Boost, GNA, vPro Ess., 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, SHA
iGPUIntel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs ( - 1400 MHz)Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs ( - 1250 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 - i7-1255U
37.9 pt (53%)
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Multi Core
min: 8426     avg: 9718     median: 9718 (9%)     max: 11010 Points
min: 5269     avg: 8198     median: 8332 (8%)     max: 9628 Points
Cinebench R23 - Cinebench R23 Single Core
min: 1552     avg: 1620     median: 1620 (69%)     max: 1688 Points
min: 1425     avg: 1649     median: 1656 (70%)     max: 1775 Points
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Single Core)
min: 595     avg: 611     median: 611 (68%)     max: 627 Points
min: 550     avg: 635     median: 638 (71%)     max: 682 Points
Cinebench R20 - Cinebench R20 CPU (Multi Core)
min: 3167     avg: 3536     median: 3536 (9%)     max: 3905 Points
min: 2095     avg: 3116     median: 3131 (8%)     max: 3702 Points
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64 Bit
min: 1695     avg: 1739     median: 1739 (11%)     max: 1783 Points
min: 919     avg: 1365     median: 1400 (9%)     max: 1577 Points
Cinebench R15 - Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64 Bit
min: 226     avg: 229.5     median: 229.5 (69%)     max: 233 Points
min: 161     avg: 229.4     median: 238.5 (72%)     max: 251 Points
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64 Bit
19.9 Points (26%)
Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 CPU Single 64 Bit
2.7 Points (68%)
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Single (32bit)
7886 Points (48%)
Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Rend. Multi (32bit)
36271 Points (26%)
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 1024m *
344.6 s (4%)
wPrime 2.10 - wPrime 2.0 32m *
9.8 s (2%)
WinRAR - WinRAR 4.0
16497 Points (26%)
7-Zip 18.03 - 7-Zip 18.03 Multli Thread 4 runs
min: 38099     avg: 38274     median: 38274 (22%)     max: 38449 MIPS
min: 24126     avg: 34066     median: 36825 (21%)     max: 37365 MIPS
7-Zip 18.03 - 7-Zip 18.03 Single Thread 4 runs
min: 4874     avg: 5279     median: 5279 (63%)     max: 5684 MIPS
min: 5150     avg: 5308     median: 5256 (63%)     max: 5529 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: 6.31     avg: 9.2     median: 9.7 (17%)     max: 10.1 fps
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Serpent
0.8 GB/s (0%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt Twofish
1.1 GB/s (19%)
TrueCrypt - TrueCrypt AES
5.8 GB/s (15%)
Blender - Blender 3.3 Classroom CPU *
714 Seconds (9%)
min: 683     avg: 772     median: 723 (9%)     max: 1156 Seconds
Blender - Blender 2.79 BMW27 CPU *
min: 372     avg: 373.5     median: 373.5 (3%)     max: 375 Seconds
min: 372     avg: 419.7     median: 383 (3%)     max: 601 Seconds
R Benchmark 2.5 - R Benchmark 2.5 *
min: 0.4926     avg: 0.5     median: 0.5 (12%)     max: 0.575 sec
min: 0.4688     avg: 0.5     median: 0.5 (11%)     max: 0.558 sec
Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 1M *
7.6 s (2%)
Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32M - Super Pi mod 1.5 XS 32M *
436.4 s (2%)
3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Physics
min: 10981     avg: 12323     median: 12323 (33%)     max: 13665 Points
min: 8097     avg: 14121     median: 15314 (41%)     max: 16890 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Physics
min: 9451     avg: 9958     median: 9958 (25%)     max: 10465 Points
min: 7665     avg: 10433     median: 10520 (27%)     max: 12522 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Physics
min: 18221     avg: 18284     median: 18283.5 (33%)     max: 18346 Points
min: 11482     avg: 17380     median: 18157 (32%)     max: 20193 Points
3DMark - 3DMark Time Spy CPU
min: 5316     avg: 6022     median: 6021.5 (25%)     max: 6727 Points
min: 1124     avg: 5468     median: 6140 (26%)     max: 7649 Points
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Single-Core
min: 1564     avg: 1644     median: 1644 (69%)     max: 1724 Points
min: 1560     avg: 1640     median: 1650.5 (70%)     max: 1712 Points
Geekbench 5.5 - Geekbench 5.1 - 5.4 64 Bit Multi-Core
min: 8610     avg: 8660     median: 8660 (16%)     max: 8710 Points
min: 4463     avg: 7315     median: 7989.5 (14%)     max: 8821 Points
Geekbench 5.0 - Geekbench 5.0 64 Bit Single-Core
1683 Points (7%)
min: 1523     avg: 1607     median: 1610.5 (7%)     max: 1684 Points
Geekbench 5.0 - Geekbench 5.0 64 Bit Multi-Core
8537 Points (27%)
min: 4557     avg: 6900     median: 7294.5 (23%)     max: 8452 Points
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Kraken 1.1 Total Score *
min: 537     avg: 541     median: 540.5 (1%)     max: 544 ms
min: 476.2     avg: 586     median: 571 (1%)     max: 727 ms
Sunspider - Sunspider 1.0 Total Score *
97.3 ms (1%)
Octane V2 - Octane V2 Total Score
78273 Points (70%)
min: 75963     avg: 82625     median: 82948 (75%)     max: 88687 Points
WebXPRT 4 - WebXPRT 4 Score
251 Points (72%)
min: 183.4     avg: 230     median: 232 (67%)     max: 249 Points
WebXPRT 3 - WebXPRT 3 Score
min: 279     avg: 285     median: 285 (59%)     max: 291 Points
min: 200     avg: 274.6     median: 275 (57%)     max: 366 Points
PCMark for Android - PCM f. Android Storage 2.0 score
9895 Points (17%)
PCMark for Android - PCM f. Android Work Score 3.0
11617 Points (54%)
CrossMark - CrossMark Overall
min: 1585     avg: 1649     median: 1648.5 (63%)     max: 1712 Points
min: 1329     avg: 1461     median: 1475 (56%)     max: 1573 Points
CrXPRT 2 - CrXPRT2 Performance Score
173 Points (96%)
Power Consumption - Prime95 Power Consumption - external Monitor *
min: 47.3     avg: 53.2     median: 53.2 (9%)     max: 59.1 Watt
min: 24.3     avg: 43.1     median: 44 (8%)     max: 51.2 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: 27.8     avg: 56.4     median: 55.6 (10%)     max: 75.9 Watt
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption - external Monitor *
4 Watt (3%)
min: 4.09     avg: 6.5     median: 6.2 (4%)     max: 11.6 Watt
Power Consumption - Idle Power Consumption 150cd 1min *
4.6 Watt (5%)
min: 3.55     avg: 9.4     median: 6.4 (7%)     max: 30.7 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: 25     median: 24.5 (18%)     max: 33.1 Points per Watt

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i7-1270P → 100% n=25

Average Benchmarks Intel Core i7-1255U → 98% n=25

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