Intel Launches 11th Gen Tiger Lake-H Mobile Processors

The long anticipated 11th Generation Core processors are finally coming to market. The 10th generation mobile processors were a nice step up, but once again Intel is stepping up its game and offering even more with its 11th generation lineup. Not only do we have some high-end desktop-like SKUs, but we also have a revamped platform with the latest in connectivity such as PCI-E 4.0 and in some cases Thunderbolt 4.

Here are Intel’s major product categories aimed at different consumers from the very basic to the very overdone gaming/production mobile notebooks. It looks like Intel’s H-series processors will be in everything from essential to ultra portable to thin enthusiasts and finally halo enthusiast mobile products.

PC gaming is where things are going these days as the market grows, but now with everyone making video content and streaming, creation capability is also quite important for consumers. Instead of Sunny Cove we find a Willow Cove Core architecture, which is the next generation above Sunny Cove. It is based on the 10nm process, and Intel touts that it has the world fastest single threaded performance in a mobile processor. The CPU also has a bunch of new capabilities including PCI-E 4.0, which offers double the bandwidth as PCI-E 3.0. There are also more electrical and feature updates we will cover below.

Intel is aiming at creators and gamers, which are two of the fastest growing segments in the mobile market. Many vendors are onboard to launch products with the new processor and platform ecosystem. All the big names are listed above, and we are excited to see what they will offer when it is time for product rollout.

Here we can see that Intel has worked for a while with select OEMs/ODMs to produce a decent amount of launch models from all the different vendors. Some of the processors that are being launched today have higher power usage, which in turn requires better cooling so it is no surprise we are seeing a higher number of enthusiast products.

Now this is the exciting; Intel’s new mobile platform looks more like its recently launched high-end mainstream consumer desktop platform. For starters, Intel has added PCI-E 4.0 capability to the CPU resulting in a total of 20 lanes of PCI-E 4.0. They also upgraded the DMI bandwidth from x4 to x8 (Still DMI 3.0), which is a big deal, as it is the same change they made from the Z490 to Z590 platforms on the desktop. Thunderbolt 4.0 support is built into the CPU now as is Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E (wireless AC), new Optane drives, and a ton of connectivity. For a notebook platform it is overkill, which we are not complaining about at this time considering we don’t know the product prices nor launch configurations.

Intel is once bringing their overclocking software, Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU), into the picture. It supports a lot of new features, but also on-the-fly overclocking capabilities. Intel’s Turbo Boost Max 3.0 is also included on this platform. Intel’s Turbo Boost Max 3.0 actually will detect the best CPU cores, mainly though voltage frequency curves. It will determine which core can handle higher performance, and then will rank each core and boost the best. It is a nice and effective technology.

Intel has been collaborating with Killer Networks for a while, and the AX1675 is basically an Intel made wireless NIC with Killer software that looks to optimize data streams. Thunderbolt 3.0 has always been a pinnacle data transfer technology with extreme versatility and backwards compatibility, so we are looking forward to Thunderbolt 4.0.

Intel standardized all hardware and ran some tests with similarly positioned competitor CPUs and they are doing quite well in these games with the 11400H.

We don’t like to make judgments on vendor provided performance charts, but if what we see is true, Intel’s flagship 11980HK is outperforming AMD’s 5900HX in gaming with lower power usage. There gains are quite big, but we are unsure if the power numbers (TDPs) will actually hold up in real life scenarios.

Intel’s new Xe graphics technology is on display here with built in support for the latest streaming codecs and dedicated decode hardware so you can stream without stressing the CPU out more than needed.

Intel is still catering to the business world with the addition of vPro models.

The vPro processor varients will offer Xeon + Error Correcting Code (ECC) support, new Intel security technologies, and deep learning features.

Here we can see what Intel’s Hardware Shield actually entails. Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology and Intel Threat Detection Technology with the latter utilizing silicon-based AI to detect threats.

Here we have more performance numbers from Intel themselves for generation over generation performance. We see huge increases, and we are talking quite huge. However, we will hold judgement until we actually have a chance to test these numbers out for ourselves.

Here is Intel’s lineup for 11th Generation Tiger Lake-H CPUs. It seems that Intel is ushering in a lot of 8-core processors that operate at quite high frequencies.

To summarize Intel’s 11th Generation Core H-series processors Intel reminds us that the CPU works off a new microarchitecture (first time in many years), a brand new platform design, and a steady supply and selection for launch. As for timing, this all coincides with a correct launch date for availability this Summer/Fall.