Core i5-1230U vs Core i5-11320H

The Core i5-1230U packs 10 cores / 12 threads, while the Core i5-11320H offers 4 cores / 8 threads — the Core i5-1230U has 6 more cores. Boost clocks reach 4.4 GHz on the Core i5-1230U versus 4.5 GHz on the Core i5-11320H — a 2.2% clock advantage for the Core i5-11320H (base: 1 GHz vs 2.5 GHz). The Core i5-1230U uses the Alder Lake-U (2022) architecture (Intel 7 nm), while the Core i5-11320H uses Tiger Lake-H35 (2021) (10 nm SuperFin). In PassMark, the Core i5-1230U scores 10,995 against the Core i5-11320H's 10,879 — a 1.1% lead for the Core i5-1230U. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 1,625 vs 1,447, a 11.6% lead for the Core i5-1230U that directly translates to higher frame rates. L3 cache: 12 MB (total) on the Core i5-1230U vs 8 MB (total) on the Core i5-11320H.

The Core i5-1230U uses the FCBGA1781 socket (PCIe 5.0), while the Core i5-11320H uses FCBGA1449 (PCIe 4.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Maximum memory speed reaches LPDDR5-5200 on the Core i5-1230U versus DDR4-3200 on the Core i5-11320H — the Core i5-1230U supports 22.2% faster memory, which can translate to measurable gains in memory-sensitive workloads. Both support up to 64 GB of RAM. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. PCIe lanes: 14 (Core i5-1230U) vs 20 (Core i5-11320H) — the Core i5-11320H offers 6 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives.

Neither processor supports overclocking. Only the Core i5-11320H supports AVX-512 instructions — important for machine learning and scientific applications. Both support VT-x, VT-d, EPT virtualization. Both include integrated graphics — Iris Xe Graphics 80EU (Core i5-1230U) and Iris Xe Graphics (96 EU) (Core i5-11320H) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i5-1230U targets Thin & Light Laptop, Core i5-11320H targets Productivity. Direct competitor: Core i5-1230U rivals Ryzen 5 5600U; Core i5-11320H rivals Ryzen 5 5600H.