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Intel Core i5-11400H

Intel Core i5-11400H: Review and Practical Guide for 2025

Relevance of the Processor in 2025 and Key Features

Despite the release of new generations of CPUs, the Intel Core i5-11400H remains a popular choice for budget gaming and work laptops. This chip, released in 2021, is still found in entry-level and mid-range devices due to its balance of price and performance. Let's explore who this processor is suitable for in 2025 and what to pay attention to when choosing a laptop.

Architecture and Technology Process: 10 nm SuperFin and 6 Cores

Tiger Lake: Evolution of the 11th Generation

The processor is built on the Tiger Lake architecture (10 nm SuperFin), which represents a step forward for Intel after issues with the 10 nm technology process. SuperFin is an enhanced version of the technology that reduces power consumption and increases frequency stability.

Key Specifications:

- 6 cores, 12 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading.

- Base frequency: 2.7 GHz, maximum turbo frequency: 4.5 GHz (for one core).

- L3 cache: 12 MB — sufficient for handling multi-threaded tasks.

- Integrated graphics: Intel UHD Xe (48 EU) with support for DirectX 12.1.

iGPU Features:

The integrated UHD Xe graphics allow gameplay at 720p resolution on low settings (e.g., _CS:GO_ — 50–60 FPS, _Fortnite_ — 35–45 FPS). For professional tasks, hardware acceleration is supported for video in H.265 and AV1 formats.

Power Consumption and TDP: Balance Between Power and Battery Life

The nominal TDP of the processor is 35 W, but in reality, consumption can reach 45–50 W in turbo mode. This requires an efficient cooling system. In compact laptops (e.g., ASUS VivoBook Pro 15), the chip is often limited to 25–30 W to reduce heat, which affects performance.

Power-Saving Technologies:

- Intel Dynamic Tuning 2.0: automatically adjusts power based on load.

- Speed Shift: instantly changes frequencies to save charge.

Performance: Office, Multimedia, and Gaming

Real-World Usage Scenarios

- Office tasks (Chrome, Excel, Zoom): the processor handles 20+ tabs and background applications without lag.

- Multimedia: converting 4K video in HandBrake takes ~12 minutes (compared to 8–9 minutes for Ryzen 5 6600H).

- Gaming: paired with a discrete GPU (e.g., NVIDIA RTX 3050) achieves 60+ FPS in _Apex Legends_ on medium settings (1080p).

Turbo Boost Mode:

Under short bursts of load (e.g., opening a heavy application), the frequency rises to 4.5 GHz, but under prolonged stress (rendering), it stabilizes around 3.8–4.0 GHz due to throttling.

Use Cases: Who is the i5-11400H Suitable For?

1. Students and office workers: for document work, webinars, and light video editing.

2. Budget gamers: when paired with an RTX 3050 or RX 6600M GPU.

3. Freelancers: photo processing in Lightroom, layout in Figma.

Examples of 2025 Laptops with this CPU:

- Acer Nitro 5 (price: $850–$950): RTX 3050, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD.

- Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 ($800–$900): RX 6600M, 120 Hz display.

Battery Life: How Long Will the Battery Last?

Laptops with the i5-11400H are usually equipped with 50–60 Wh batteries. Real-world usage times:

- Web browsing: 6–7 hours.

- Video (1080p): 5–6 hours.

- Gaming: 1.5–2 hours (with discrete graphics enabled).

Tip: choose models with a _Hybrid Graphics_ feature that disables the discrete GPU in power-saving mode.

Comparison with Competitors

AMD Ryzen 5 6600H

- Pros of AMD: better multi-threaded performance (+15% in Cinebench R23), PCIe 4.0 support.

- Cons: weaker in single-threaded tasks (Geekbench 6 Single: 1710 vs 1815).

Apple M2 (in MacBook Air)

- Pros of Apple: battery life up to 18 hours, runs cool.

- Cons: limited compatibility with Windows programs, weaker graphics for gaming.

Intel Core i5-12450H

A newer 12th generation, but in 2025 laptops with it cost $200–$300 more for similar performance.

Pros and Cons of the i5-11400H

Strengths:

- High single-threaded performance.

- Support for Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6.

- Affordable device pricing.

Weaknesses:

- Heating under load (requires quality cooling).

- Lags behind Ryzen in multi-threaded tasks.

Recommendations for Choosing a Laptop

1. Type of Device:

- Gaming Laptop: at least 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 120 Hz display.

- Workstation: IPS display covering 100% sRGB, Thunderbolt 4 ports.

2. What to Look For:

- Cooling System: 2 fans and 3 heat pipes — optimal.

- Battery: at least 60 Wh for mobility.

Final Conclusion

The Intel Core i5-11400H in 2025 is a choice for those looking for an affordable laptop for work, study, and light gaming. Its key advantages include:

- Compatibility with modern software and games.

- Support for current standards (Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6).

- Device prices starting from $800.

Suitable For:

- Students, freelancers, office workers.

- Gamers with a budget up to $1000.

If you don’t need ultra-modern technologies like AI acceleration or 8K rendering, the i5-11400H remains a practical option. However, for professional editing or streaming, it is better to consider processors with 8 cores (e.g., Ryzen 7 6800H).

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

May 2021

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i5-11400H

Code Name

Tiger Lake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

4.50 GHz

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

Yes

L3 Cache

12 MB

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCBGA1787

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

10 nm SuperFin

TDP

35 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100°C

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16+1x4 | 2x8+1x4 | 1x8+3x4

Microprocessor PCIe Revision

Gen 4

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

Up to 3200 MT/s

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

128 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

8 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

51.2 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® UHD Graphics for 11th Gen Intel® Processors

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

350 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.45 GHz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

12.1

Execution Units

The Execution Unit is the foundational building block of Intel’s graphics architecture. Execution Units are compute processors optimized for simultaneous Multi-Threading for high throughput compute power.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

7680x4320@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096x2304@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

Graphics Output defines the interfaces available to communicate with display devices.

eDP 1.4b | DP 1.4 | HDMI 2.0b

Miscellaneous

Intel Image Processing Unit

6.0

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2 | Intel® AVX-512

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

12 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel High Definition Audio

Yes

Intel Volume Management Device (VMD)

Intel® Volume Management Device (VMD) provides a common, robust method of hot plug and LED management for NVMe-based solid state drives.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel Control-Flow Enforcement Technology

CET - Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) helps protect against the misuse of legitimate code snippets through return-oriented programming (ROP) control-flow hijacking attacks.

Yes

Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost)

Yes

Intel Flex Memory Access

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.6

OpenCL Support

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.

3.0

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

1815

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

6320

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

1407

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

6155

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

3014

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

15752

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

EPYC 9454

2033 +12%

Ryzen 7 5700X3D

1926 +6.1%

Core i5-11400H

1815

Ryzen 9 3950X

1700 -6.3%

Xeon E-2286G

1648 -9.2%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i7-9800X X-series

7090 +12.2%

Xeon E5-1660 v4

6683 +5.7%

Core i5-11400H

6320

Xeon D-1735TR

5874 -7.1%

Core i7-5820K

5537 -12.4%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Xeon Platinum 8462Y+

1551 +10.2%

Core i5-1240P

1471 +4.5%

Core i5-11400H

1407

Core i9-10900KF

1342 -4.6%

Core i5-11500T

1298 -7.7%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i5-10600K

6939 +12.7%

Xeon E5-2608L v4

6558 +6.5%

Core i5-11400H

6155

Xeon Silver 4215

5910 -4%

Ryzen 5 6600U

5590 -9.2%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Ryzen 5 PRO 6650U

3188 +5.8%

Xeon Silver 4410T

3094 +2.7%

Core i5-11400H

3014

Core i5-10600KF

2934 -2.7%

Ryzen 5 230

2865 -4.9%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i7-7820X

17228 +9.4%

Core i7-10700E

16418 +4.2%

Core i5-11400H

15752

Xeon E-2286M

15151 -3.8%

Core i7-9700

14501 -7.9%