Intel Core i7-1260P vs Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-1260P CPU1 vs CPU2 Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
Intel Core i7-1260P Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i7-1260P and the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i7-1260P 12 core processor released in Q1/2022 with the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2023.
Intel Core i7 (298) Family AMD Ryzen 5 (86)
Intel Core i 1200P/1200U (21) CPU group AMD Sephiroth (Steam Deck Refresh 2023) (1)
12 Generation 4
Alder Lake U Architecture Sephiroth (Zen 2)
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
Intel Core i7-1360P Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-1260P is a 12 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.10 GHz (4.70 GHz). The processor can compute 16 threads at the same time. The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) clocks with 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz), has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
12 Cores 4
16 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.10 GHz (4.70 GHz)
4x Golden Cove
A-Core 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz)
1.50 GHz (3.40 GHz)
8x Gracemont
B-Core --

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck)
0.40 GHz GPU frequency 1.00 GHz
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.60 GHz
13 GPU Generation --
10 nm Technology 7 nm
4 Max. displays 2
96 Compute units 8
768 Shader 512
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 GB Max. GPU Memory 8 GB
12.1 DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 64 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i7-1260P, while the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 Memory LPDDR5-6400
64 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
83.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
No ECC No
9.00 MB L2 Cache 2.00 MB
18.00 MB L3 Cache 4.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 3.0
28 PCIe lanes 8
55.1 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 7.9 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i7-1260P has a TDP of 28 W. The TDP of the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is 15 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
28 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
64 W TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down 4 W
100 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-1260P has 27.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 10 nm. The cache of Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is at 6.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 6 nm.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
10 nm Technology 6 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
BGA 1744 Socket FF3
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization AMD-V, SVM
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems SteamOS (Arch Linux)
Q1/2022 Release date Q4/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Core i7-1260P to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.6 stars (30 ratings). Rate now:
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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-1260P (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) (64%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-1260P (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) (63%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
73 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
57 (78%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
300 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
275 (92%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
1773 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
975 (55%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
11420 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4359 (38%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
2151 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1296 (60%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
7655 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
4510 (59%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) @ 1.40 GHz
2146 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz
1638 (76%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
1607 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
9088 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
612 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
4017 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
17345 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
235 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
1778 (100%)
Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-1260P Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
Unknown Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)

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