Intel Core i9-11900K vs Intel Core i7-1270P

Intel Core i9-11900K

The Intel Core i9-11900K is a high-end desktop CPU based on the Rocket Lake architecture. The CPU offers 8 cores and 16 threads clocked at 3.5 - 5.3 GHz (Turbo Boost 3.0 / TVB). With Turbo Boost 2.0, 5.1 GHz can be reached with a single thread. Using all cores, the CPU can clock up to 4.8 GHz. Adaptive Boost enables even higher multi-core frequencies (5.1 GHz all core Turbo) but uses a lot more power.

The TDP is rated at 125 Watt (PL1, power limit sustained load) but the PL2 is set to around 250 Watt for short term boosts (up to 56 seconds).

The Sunny Cove processor cores (known from the Ice Lake mobile CPUs) offer larger caches and an improved IPC (up to 19%). Furthermore, the chip also includes (partly) integrated WiFi 6E and Thunderbolt 4. The platform supports PCIe 4.0 and Intel DL Boost for AI acceleration.

The faster Rocket Lake-S CPUs also integrate a new Intel UHD Graphics 750 that is based on the current Intel Xe architecture (e.g. mobile Tiger Lake) and offers 32 EUs. In the 11900K, the GPU is clocked from 350 - 1300 MHz.

Performance

The average 11900K in our database is in the same league as the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. Which is an impressive result, as of mid 2022, and good enough for any task imaginable including content creation and professional gaming.

Power consumption

This Core i9 has a 125 W TDP, also known as the long-term power limit. Intel lets PC manufacturers reduce that value somewhat if required, 95 W being the lower limit, which would result in lower clock speeds and lower performance. The reality is, an 11900K can be much more power hungry than either of the two numbers imply simply because of its sheer might but also because it is manufactured on an old 14 nm Intel process that makes for lower-than-average, as of mid-2022, energy efficiency.

Intel Core 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.