Intel Core i5-11400H Review: Mainstream Ryzen Challenger

The Core i5-11400H mobile CPU comes as a mastermind rival to AMD ‘s Ryzen 5 5600H, which means it ‘s used across many mainstream, low-cost laptops normally offered as the entry-level option in many popular laptop series. If you don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate want to grab a Core i7-11800H, which we ’ ve already reviewed, then what is the Core i5-11400H bring to the H-series CPU segment ?
The i5-11400H is a Tiger Lake H45 processor, so it comes with all the architectural upgrades we ’ ve talked about before : 10nm SuperFin summons, Tiger Lake architecture with improvements to cache sizes, clock speeds, and efficiency, plus modern features like support for PCIe 4.0. It besides comes with an integrated xenon GPU, though the GPU has been cut down importantly compared to top end Tiger Lake models .
Unlike the Core i7 and Core i9 models which pack 8 cores, the Core i5-11400H uses a cut down version with 6 cores and 12 threads, along with 12 MB of L3 cache. The base clock at 45W is higher as it doesn ’ t need to be split across as many cores, sitting at 2.7 GHz, however boost clocks are besides reduced relative to higher end models. The 11400H tops extinct at 4.5 GHz individual core and 4.1 GHz all-core .

Reading: Intel Core i5-11400H Review: Mainstream Ryzen Challenger

What Intel has left out of this chart are accurate GPU specifications. You ’ ll see here that it ’ s listed as having UHD Graphics with the same clock speeds as other processors, but what Intel is n’t telling you is that the Core i5 model has good 16 execution units in its Xe GPU, compared to 32 on higher tier models. This means the 11400H requires a discrete GPU to get adequate graphics performance .
The test system for today ’ s revue is the XMG Core 17, the same screen of laptop we ’ ve been using for our latest look into the GeForce RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti. however we should mention that this Core 17 version is a review sample only, as XMG has decided to launch lone higher specification models with GPUs such as the RTX 3060, at least for now .

internally, there is an Intel Core i5-11400H central processing unit and 16GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory, dependable quality stuff that doesn ’ thymine back operation. There ’ mho besides a 1080p 144Hz IPS display and 1TB of SSD storehouse in this review unit. As for the discrete GPU, it ’ s a GeForce RTX 3050 that runs at between 80 and 95W with dynamic hike enabled, the highest configuration Nvidia allows for this part .

As with all of our previous laptop examination, benchmarks have been conducted at the central processing unit ’ second default TDP which for Intel H-series parts is 45W, allowing for apples-to-apples comparisons across all the CPUs we ’ ve tested .
Boost behavior is left unaltered. We ’ ll besides be looking at office scaling late on, so you can see how higher power configurations available with some laptops compare. Results in the charts are an average of benchmarks taken with the same shape, the full tilt of laptops used for testing is available here. On to the charts … !

Benchmarks

Starting out with Cinebench R20 multi-threading, it ’ s not bad of a result for the Core i5-11400H. We ’ ra already seeing performance only merely shy of the last-generation Core i9-10980HK and above that of AMD ’ s Ryzen 5 4600H, however the result however falls a little short of the newer Ryzen 5 5600H .
All improving, the 11400H ends up 8 percentage slower than the 5600H and quite a substantial 19 percentage slower than the 11800H, indicating that Intel ’ s eight-core design is a becoming total more efficient despite the same 45W baron limit .

With the Core i5-11400H being limited to good 4.5 GHz on a single effect, it ’ randomness no storm to see it perform below that of other Tiger Lake processors, as this turbo clock is the lowest of any model I ’ ve tested so far. In fact it ’ s a doubling whammy, as not only is the clock amphetamine lower, but the 11400H besides lone has half the L3 cache of the 11800H, then in sum operation is gloomy 4 percentage in this benchmark. however this is still enough for the 11400H to beat the Ryzen 5 5600H, to the tune of 5 percentage .

In Handbrake video recording encode, the 11400H ’ mho performance is quite similar to what was shown in Cinebench multi-threading. The 11400H is slightly faster than the Ryzen 5 4600H, and slightly slower than the Core i9-10980HK. Compared to current genesis processors that puts it 5 percentage behind the Ryzen 5 5600H at 45W, and 13 percentage behind Intel ’ s Core i7-11800H .

In Blender, the 11400H doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate perform quite equally well as in Handbrake, now just matching the 4600H in this test. This puts performance 8 percentage behind the Ryzen 5 5600H and 17 percentage behind the Core i7-11800H, so these sorts of heavy multi-threading workloads aren ’ t the best on this Tiger Lake six-core processor .

however in a workload like Chromium code compilation, it ’ s a bit different. The 11400H performs quite well here, slenderly outperforming the Ryzen 5 5600H and on-par with last-generation eight kernel processors. While this is a strong leave comparing Core i5 to Ryzen 5, operation is placid 19 percentage slower than the Core i7-11800H, so there ’ randomness enough of reason to get the Core i7 model if you need more work power .

Matlab is another good result for the Core i5-11400H. The Tiger Lake central processing unit is only marginally behind early models in the line-up, allowing it to outperform every Ryzen 5000 central processing unit in this short-circuit quiz. This comes down a combination of factors and Intel CPUs tend to be quite strong in these sorts of collapse workloads that hit the high turbo frequencies on offer .

On the throw side, in Microsoft Excel, the Core i5-11400H suffers heavy due to the decrease in L3 cache from 24MB with higher tier models to barely 12MB with this model. performance is down over 30 percentage compared to the 11800H as a leave, and while this is silent competitive with the Ryzen 5 5600H – merely 3 percentage slower – in the eight-core bracket this benchmark was a a lot more make noise win to Intel .

7-Zip Compression besides appears to suffer from the decrease in hoard with the 11400H, along with lower boost frequencies compared to other Intel processors. The result is silent better performance than the 5600H, although the margin is a minute 4 %, however it doesn ’ t very get near the eight-core parts like the 11800H or 5800H .

then in decompression, the 11400H can ’ thymine keep up with any of AMD ’ s Ryzen processors. This is a identical strong benchmark for AMD, so performance is even a little bit lower than the 4600H, and 17 percentage behind the 5600H. We ’ re besides seeing a 27 percentage reduction on the 11800H which benefits from more cache, more cores and higher frequencies .

In Acrobat PDF export, the Core i5-11400H performs identical similarly to both the Ryzen 5 5600H and Ryzen 7 5800H, we ’ re talking about merely a few percentage either way. however performance is 6 percentage slower than the 11800H in this heavy single-threaded benchmark .

then we get to Adobe Photoshop with the Puget Systems workload. The Core i5-11400H international relations and security network ’ t a regretful performer, but results are quite similar to the battle between the 5800H and 11800H, in that the Ryzen processor ( the 5600H ) is marginally faster. With that said the dispute international relations and security network ’ t identical significant, so you can expect basically the lapp Photoshop performance whether you get a 5600H or an 11400H, with only higher end parts providing a more hearty difference .

last a quick look at Adobe Premiere exporting, where the Ryzen 5 5600H and Core i5-11400H perform reasonably similarly, nothing besides surprise and distinctly this makes it far superior than Intel ’ s purportedly “ Core i7 ” model in the 11370H which is just a quad core and doesn ’ thymine perform well at all despite having an RTX 3070 GPU .

Gaming Benchmarks

adjacent up we ‘re going to show merely a few gambling benchmarks, the results don ’ metric ton tell us a whole lot as the GPU we ’ rhenium using is the RTX 3050 which doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate provide us with much of a CPU constriction in games. however, lower-end GPUs are more probable to be paired with a mainstream CPU such as the Core i5-11400H, and we can compare this apples-to-apples with a Core i7-11800H shape with the lapp GPU to see if there are any differences .

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the two RTX 3050 Laptop GPU configurations deliver like performance, although the Core i5-11400H system is slightly slower, in both modal and 1 % lows. The 1 % low trope is 6 percentage lower on the Core i5 system, but average frame rates are just 2 percentage behind .

following up we have Resident Evil 2 running at 1080p using Balanced settings and again there just isn ’ t a lot between the 11800H and 11400H in this test. At most we ’ ra seeing a 4 % remainder when comparing 1 % lows, with the 11400H as the boring system.

again very similar in Borderlands 3, the 11400H configuration is 3 percentage slower in average frame rates, and 6 percentage dull in 1 % lows, which is about expected in this kind of game with the differences between the two CPUs. Nothing excessively concerning .

In Rainbow Six Siege I was able to report the same operation with the RTX 3050 and Core i5-11400H as I was with the Core i7-11800H. There were several other titles like this where operation is practically unchanged, including in Cyberpunk 2077 as one exercise where the game plainly overwhelms the RTX 3050 GPU running at these sorts of quality settings .

I could go on with these sorts of examples where operation is within a few percentage, but alternatively I ’ ll jump straight to one of the largest margins which was in Hitman 3 using the CPU heavy Dartmoor benchmark .
In this test, I saw the largest remainder in average ensnare rates, the 11400H was 6 percentage slower than the 11800H, and a boastfully 15 % slower in 1 % lows. When you have a game that can make use of the extra CPU cores on offer in the 11800H, along with its improved efficiency and higher clock speeds, some games can benefit even with an RTX 3050, though this is an outlier .

Drawing Comparisons

There ’ s very not much to say about the gambling performance of the 11400H, at least with these configurations .
On average the 11400H was under 2 percentage slower which is negligible, and flush with 1 % lows we ’ re lone seeing a 4 % deviation on average which is hardly lawsuit for concern .
You will see larger margins with higher GPU configurations, but like I said I don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate expect besides many systems to be pairing a Core i5-11400H with something like an RTX 3080 Laptop GPU .

then when looking at productivity performance, it ’ second no surprise to see a larger gross profit between the Core i5-11400H and Core i7-11800H .

heavy multi-threaded tests are upwards of 15 % slower on the six-core model as it merely doesn ’ t have the congress of racial equality count or efficiency to compete. lightly thread tests are besides slower, and where the 11400H in truth gets punished is in anything that utilizes hoard, which is halved on this model compared to the Core i7 line .

This is in truth only relevant for those looking at whether the 11800H or 11400H is a better value buy though. The real battle is between the 11400H and AMD ’ s Ryzen 5 5600H, which is looking like a very tight competition at 45W .
In longer, heavily multi-threaded workloads, the AMD CPU does have the advantage, however in the majority of these cases the 11400H is less than 10 percentage slower. interim in more lightly threaded applications, the two parts end up very finale .
In Cinebench, for example, the 11400H is less than 5 percentage faster and the two models deal blows in an application like Photoshop. then there are some benchmarks that more powerfully favor Intel, like MATLAB .

When compared to a previous generation part like the Ryzen 5 4600H, the Core i5-11400H is distinctly the better processor .
Single-thread operation is miles ahead with the Tiger Lake design, and multi-thread performance is broadly either even or slightly ahead with the 11400H a well. On a arrant performance perspective, you ’ five hundred want the 11400H over the 4600H in your budget laptop .
impressively, the Core i5-11400H international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine besides far off the Core i9-10980HK, which I think highlights the large derail in performance that Intel has made this coevals .

impressively, the Core i5-11400H international relations and security network ’ metric ton besides far off the Core i9-10980HK, which I think highlights the large leap in performance that Intel has made this generation. The 11400H doesn ’ metric ton always beat the anterior generation eight-core flagship mannequin, but it does get close in some workloads, particularly those that can benefit from Tiger Lake ’ s superior IPC and larger hoard .

Power Scaling

In this final section of our benchmarks, ability scale is where things get super interesting for the battle between the Core i5-11400H and Ryzen 5 5600H. At 45W, as we ’ ve shown in many of our multi-thread benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 5600H is broadly the fast CPU, and that ’ sulfur true in this chart adenine well. But the gap closes and is wholly nullified at 65W and above, with both the 5600H and 11400H delivering equivalent performance in this power range .
This is due to Tiger Lake ’ s superior world power scale at higher baron levels, as we ’ ve shown with previous models. The merely confining factor are all-core turbo frequencies, which like the 5600H degree off at the maximal the CPU can do at around 70W .
If the 11400H ’ mho all-core turbo clock of 4.1 GHz was raised I expect the 11400H would well beat the 5600H at higher might levels like 80W or more, but as it stands the best the 11400H can offer is equivalent performance .

conversely, the 5600H is far superior at lower world power ranges, such as when the TDP is configured down to 35W. What this means for laptop buyers is that in slender and lighter systems – think a 15-inch ultraportable with Max-Q type discrete graphics – the Ryzen 5 5600H is going to be either adequate to or faster than the Core i5-11400H as we ’ ve shown throughout this revue. however in beefier laptops, particularly higher specification gaming systems that have the cooling system capacity to handle higher wattages, the Core i5-11400H is going to at worst match the Ryzen 5 5600H like in this scale chart, or in most cases outperform it .
Of course, what is shown hera doesn ’ triiodothyronine apply to thinly thread workloads, it doesn ’ thyroxine apply arsenic much to burst workloads and you ’ ll besides by and large be limited to 45W or so in applications that use both the CPU and GPU ( which is why it ’ s the default TDP ), but the advantage to the 11400H in CPU alone workloads in systems with lots of cooling and higher power limits is clean .

What We Learned

overall we ‘re quite shanghai with the Intel Core i5-11400H and honestly we think this is the best mobile CPU that Intel has produced in quite some time. It ’ s the most competitive region we have with Ryzen 5000 APUs of the same class, and I think there ’ s a strong casing to be made that the 11400H is the better product .
In a head to head struggle with the Ryzen 5 5600H, the Core i5-11400H trades blows depending on the application and what aspects to the CPU it ’ s stress. The 5600H does have the advantage at 45W in heavy multi-threading, but in most other tasks the 11400H is either close to the 5600H, or outperforms it. This advantage to Intel only grows at higher power limits, where the 11400H is able to close the gap in multi-threading to the point where the differences are negligible .
This Core i5 volt Ryzen 5 conflict is a lot closer in performance than the Core i7 volt Ryzen 7 battles we ’ ve looked at previously
This Core i5 five Ryzen 5 struggle is much closer in performance than the Core i7 v Ryzen 7 battles we ’ ve looked at previously, which are more in AMD ‘s privilege. The 11400H international relations and security network ’ t an overwhelm winner, but things like the hoard size and clock speeds are set to just the correct sum to be very competitive without cannibalizing the Core i7-11800H which is distillery quite a bite faster .

The Core i5-11400H besides provides a big platform for bet on, at least with the mainstream RTX 3050 we tested today, as the operation dispute compared to higher tier CPUs is negligible.

On top of competitive performance with AMD, I feel the Core i5-11400H has the better chopine and fixed of features. Intel offers 20 lanes of PCIe 4.0, while AMD is stuck on PCIe 3.0, a minor consideration though it might have some implications for storage performance, but there are bigger features such as Thunderbolt 4 support that do remain a key sell point for many. Intel besides has better handiness this coevals, which is crucial in a issue constrained market, so it might be easier for you to find an 11400H laptop .
While I would broadly prefer the Core i5-11400H over the Ryzen 5 5600H, there are some drawbacks. The 11400H ’ s iGPU is weak, equally bad as 10th-gen H-series parts and less than half as fast as the 5600H ’ mho iGPU. pricing is another consideration, where by and large Intel systems are more expensive than AMD. It ’ south hard to compare price in the stream grocery store as there are wild differences between models and vendors, but in our observations we saw a 5 to 10 % higher prices to go Intel in differently equivalent builds .
A minor price dispute is still average, and with the 5600H frequently out of stock I ’ five hundred be felicitous to pay that sort of gross profit to get a laptop that ’ mho immediately available. But if you ’ re talking about needing to spend 10 or 15 % more on Intel, then the value proposition diminishes well, though in this class it ’ second surely a very finale struggle and competition is always what we like to see .