Moving to 1440p further reduces the already small margins and now anything above DDR4-3200 is basically providing the same level of performance. During the first part of the 2010s, Intel’s integrated graphics technology advanced considerably in a relatively short amount of time. After the 7th Generation ("Kaby Lake") processors were released, however, the innovation stagnated and the desktop-CPU graphics solutions changed little up until now. With Alder Lake, however, Intel is once again advancing its graphics hardware, and it shows. Alder Lake is Intel's first serious step into the world of hybrid architectures, combining a new high-performance CPU architecture (P-Cores), with smaller efficient cores also known as E-cores, for better performance and enhanced performance per watt. This is our first look at 12th-gen Core mobile processors, starting with the Core i7-12700H.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is very CPU intensive but at 1080p with a 6900 XT we're able to turn the game from CPU limited to GPU limited by the time DDR4-2933 CL16 is reached. We do see small improvements as memory performance is increased, but from 2933 to 6200 we're looking at a 7% increase in 1% lows, that's it.

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a b Anand Lal Shimpi (September 14, 2011). "Counting Transistors: Why 1.16B and 995M Are Both Correct". Exclusive ( for now) to Intel 12th gen CPUs running on Windows 11 is a feature developed by Intel called Thread Director. It takes advantage of Alder Lake’s hybrid design to intelligently route certain workloads (threads) between the P and E Cores of the hybrid CPU. Thread Director works together with the operating system to provide increased information on how to route these workloads. Previously, the job was done using a more rudimentary and thus less power- and performance-efficient method. This ultimately promises to translate into more efficient power consumption and performance from Windows 11 Alder Lake laptops. DDR5 memory support, next gen Iris Xe Graphics, Wi-Fi 6E support and Thunderbolt 4

Before we look at some gaming benchmarks, here are the CPU power scaling results. The Alder Lake Core i7-12700H shows much the same power scaling behavior as the Core i7-11800H, which is probably due to both parts using a similar family of process technology. Hitman 3's Dartmoor benchmark is very demanding on the CPU and the 12700H here has a clear lead on other processors, again up around the 25% mark compared to the best Ryzen result and even higher on past Intel models. Processors that support 64-bit computing on Intel® architecture require an Intel 64 architecture-enabled BIOS.Interestingly, Adobe Photoshop is more sensitive to memory bandwidth and this benefits DDR5 memory as they produced the best results. That said, DDR4-3600 and 3200 CL16 were not a great deal slower than most of the DDR5 kits, but if you're after maximum performance in this application, the faster the DDR5 memory the better. Gaming Benchmarks When it comes to the PCMark Applications test which measures Microsoft Office performance, the Core i7-12700H is able to put up a decent lead on other mobile processors thanks to its excellent single-threaded performance - and Office is mostly a lightly-threaded workload. If you are not planning to use your laptop for gaming or tasks that require graphics power, then you can go for a laptop with integrated graphics card. This card should be enough for media consumption and casual, light gaming. All other products will be delivered via the fastest available method (excluding bank holidays and weekends) and generally within 3-5 days, depending on customer location.