Core i5-1038NG7 vs Core i7-1160G7

Both the Core i5-1038NG7 and Core i7-1160G7 share an identical 4-core/8-thread configuration. Boost clocks reach 3.8 GHz on the Core i5-1038NG7 versus 4.4 GHz on the Core i7-1160G7 — a 14.6% clock advantage for the Core i7-1160G7 (base: 2 GHz vs 1.2 GHz). The Core i5-1038NG7 uses the Ice Lake-U (2019−2020) architecture (10 nm), while the Core i7-1160G7 uses Tiger Lake-UP4 (2020−2021) (10 nm SuperFin). In PassMark, the Core i5-1038NG7 scores 8,823 against the Core i7-1160G7's 8,720 — a 1.2% lead for the Core i5-1038NG7. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 1,250 vs 1,758, a 33.8% lead for the Core i7-1160G7 that directly translates to higher frame rates. L3 cache: 6 MB (total) on the Core i5-1038NG7 vs 12 MB (total) on the Core i7-1160G7.

The Core i5-1038NG7 uses the FCBGA1344 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i7-1160G7 uses FCBGA1598 (PCIe 4.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Both support up to LPDDR4-3733 memory speed. The Core i5-1038NG7 supports up to 64 GB of RAM compared to 32 GB — 66.7% more capacity for professional workloads. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. PCIe lanes: 16 (Core i5-1038NG7) vs 4 (Core i7-1160G7) — the Core i5-1038NG7 offers 12 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives.

Neither processor supports overclocking. Both support AVX-512 instructions, benefiting scientific computing, AI inference, and encryption workloads. Both support VT-x, VT-d, EPT virtualization. Both include integrated graphics — Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Core i5-1038NG7) and Iris Xe Graphics 96EU (Core i7-1160G7) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i5-1038NG7 targets Premium Laptop, Core i7-1160G7 targets Premium Ultrabook/Tablet. Direct competitor: Core i5-1038NG7 rivals Ryzen 7 4800U; Core i7-1160G7 rivals Ryzen 7 4800U.