Intel's 12th Generation Core Mobile Processors are finally on schedule, and as we said in the first test, the hybrid architecture of the new Performance Core and Energy Efficiency Core has brought a lot of changes and performance improvements to this generation of Core processors. Many new notebooks with a new generation of processors have now been launched, including our old friend Thor notebooks. This time, Thor brought a new product with a Chinese style element in its name - Thor 911 Air Xuanwu. So how does it perform?
Product parameters
Operating system: Windows 11 Home (64-bit)
Display: 15.6-inch screen (1920×1080, 144Hz)
Processor: Intel Core i7-12700H (14 core 20 threads, 6P8E, 3.5GHz~4.7GHz)
Memory: Samsung 16GB DDR4 3200 (8GB×2, Samsung M47A1K43EB1)
Hard disk: Jianxing 512GB NVMe SSD
GPU：NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop（4GB GDDR6）
Battery: 51.2Wh
Size: 359.2mm×253.8mm×23.09mm
Weight: 2.15kg (without power adapter)
Reference price: 6799 yuan
Powered by a Core i7-12700H processor
Intel's 12th Generation Core Mobile Processor and 12th Generation Core Desktop Edition Processor are technically identical, including the core code name Is Alder Lake, using the new Intel 7 production process, using Intel's new performance core and performance core design, supporting up to 6 performance cores and 8 performance cores, composing up to 24 threads. In addition, in terms of processor architecture, Gracemont and Golden Cove are not absent, bringing a significant increase in multi-threaded performance and single-threaded performance to the new generation of processors.
The Core H series family is also divided into Core i5, i7 and i9 three product series, of which the Core i7 series has a total of three products, namely Core i7-12800H, Core i7-12700H and Core i7-12650H, the first batch of 12th generation Core new notebooks mostly use Core i7-12700H processors, Thor 911 Air Xuanwu is no exception. The Core i7-12700H processor is equipped with 6 performance cores, 8 energy efficiency cores, and 14 cores and 20 threads (because the energy efficiency core does not support hyper-threading, so the maximum 20 threads). In terms of frequency, the performance core of the Core i7-12700H can reach a maximum frequency of 4.7GHz, and the maximum frequency of the energy-efficient core can reach 3.5GHz, and its performance core has a maximum frequency of 100MHz higher than that of the 11th generation Core i7-11800H. In addition, Intel now does not emphasize the processor's TDP, so on the Intel official website we can see that the core i7-12700H processor base power consumption is 45W, the maximum acceleration power consumption can reach 115W, and this processor has 24MB intelligent cache, and integrates the Intel Iris Xe core display, supporting DDR4 and DDR5 memory.
▲The Core i7-12700H processor is equipped with 6 performance cores and 8 energy efficiency cores, forming 14 cores and 20 threads.
▲The unique base frequency of this machine is 1222MHz, the Boost frequency is 1485MHz, and the maximum power consumption is 70W.
How much of a performance boost is there on the new processor? We turned on "Rampage Mode" on Thor 911 Air Xuanwu to find out through CINEBENCH R23. In the end, the machine got a single-threaded score of 1445pts and a multi-threaded score of 15970pts. In comparison, the Core i7-12700H's single-threaded performance is comparable to that of the Core i7-11800H, but the multi-threaded performance is completely ahead, with a lead of 32%, after all, the new generation of processors have more threads. This is more convenient for new notebooks equipped with this generation of processors, which can be more comfortable in dealing with tasks that rely on the multi-threaded performance of processors, such as video transcoding and decompression. In fact, we transcoded a 505MB flac lossless audio into an mp3 audio file in the foobar2000 software, and the Thor 911 Air Xuanwu took only 5 seconds.
▲This machine got a single-threaded score of 1445pts and a multi-threaded score of 15970pts in CINEBENCH R23.
In terms of other configurations, the machine we got is equipped with 16GB DDR4 3200 dual-channel memory (composed of two 8GB Samsung M47A1K43EB1 dual-channel), may be due to cost considerations, this machine is not equipped with the latest DDR5 memory, but the processor is supported for new memory, users with this need can upgrade and install. Judging from the test of AIDA64, the performance of DDR4 3200 dual-channel memory is also good, with a read speed of 49624MB/s and a delay of about 77.4ns.
▲ This machine is equipped with Samsung 16GB DDR4 3200 dual-channel memory.
In terms of hard disk, Thor 911 Air Xuanwu is equipped with a 512GB NVMe SSD from Jianxing, its performance can meet the needs of most gamers, AS SSD Benchmark (1GB) test data shows that its continuous write speed is 473.71MB/s, continuous read speed is 2362.02MB/s, with a total score of 2404 points. It is worth mentioning that this machine also reserves a PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD expansion interface inside, which is convenient for players to upgrade later.
▲AS SSD Benchmark test results at a glance
Play the light chasing game
The Thor 911 Air Xuanwu has a variety of specifications on the display, and the machine we tested is equipped with the RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU. The GPU uses NVIDIA Ampere architecture, 8nm production process, equipped with the second generation RT core and the third generation Tensor core, with 4GB GDDR6 video memory, support dynamic Boost 2.0. From the GPU-Z detection, the unique base frequency of this machine is 1222MHz, and the Boost frequency is 1485MHz. In addition, the maximum power consumption of this machine is 70W.
In the 3DMark Time Spy, the Thor 911 Air Xuanwu scored a graphics card score of 5656 points, which is slightly better than some models equipped with the Core i7-11800H and RTX 3050 Ti Laptop (75W) (about 5591 points), which is really good. In the DX11-based 3DMark Fire Strike, the machine scored a graphics card score of 14671, which is also slightly superior to some models with Core i7-11800H and RTX 3050 Ti Laptop (75W points) (about 14599 points).
As a product positioned in the mainstream price segment, Thor 911 Air Xuanwu can also cope well with most popular AAA games with the blessing of the RTX 3050 Ti Laptop.
From the actual measurements, it can be found that this machine can smoothly run various AAA masterpieces at 1080p and high quality, such as achieving an average of 78fps under the 1080p high-quality (RT off, DLSS off) setting of "Far Cry 6". Even Borderlands 3, which "eats" hardware, can maintain an average frame rate of 60.59fps at 1080p high quality. Since the RTX 3050 Ti Laptop supports light chasing and DLSS, we can also turn on light chase to feel a more realistic game picture in some games with higher frame rates, and in some games with lower actual frame rates, we can also increase the frame rate by turning on the DLSS function, such as the average frame rate of this machine in the "Tomb Raider: Shadow" 1080p high quality (RT off, DLSS off) setting is only 86fps, keeping the same settings on." DLSS Balanced" can increase the average frame rate to 102fps.
Thermal test
The air outlet of Thor 911 Air Xuanwu is designed on the back of the fuselage, and there is no separate air outlet on the left and right sides, and the machine is equipped with a twin-turbo inverter fan and two heat dissipation copper tubes in series, so how about the heat dissipation performance of this machine under high load?
We tested the machine in "rampage mode" at 20.5°C with AIDA64 and Furmark software. After 30 minutes of the grill, in the case of the CPU and GPU are fully loaded, we observed that the maximum temperature of the keyboard surface of the machine is maintained at 45.8 ° C (the right side of the keyboard), and the temperature of the WASD key is maintained at about 28 ° C, that is to say, when daily use encounters a limit scenario like double baking, the low temperature of the WASD button will not have a feel.
▲After 30 minutes of double baking at 20.5 °C, the maximum temperature of the keyboard surface of this machine is maintained at 45.8 °C (the right side of the keyboard).
Exterior design
Thor 911 Air Xuanwu in the fuselage design continues the style of the previous Thor 911 Air series products, such as the overall design is light and thin, the thinnest part of the fuselage is only 19mm, the weight without power adapter is about 2.15kg, compared to most of the 2.5kg traditional game products, Thor 911 Air Xuanwu has a lighter fuselage.
In terms of overall design, the color of this machine is the same as its name, "Xuan" is the meaning of black, which is a typical pure black color notebook, but the difference is that the A side of this machine uses a skin-friendly material shell, which feels delicate and smooth, and the A-side lamp strip also adopts the lightsaber design on the Thor 911 Star Wars series notebook, with the "new blue" Thor brand Logo color, giving people a feeling of tradition and not limited to tradition.
▲The sRGB color gamut coverage area of the measured screen is 64%, and the performance is average.
Thor 911 Air Xuanwu uses a 15.6-inch 1080p high refresh rate screen, the refresh rate of the screen reaches the 144Hz e-sports screen standard, and the sRGB color gamut coverage area of our measured screen is 64%, that is to say, this is an ordinary color gamut screen, which is slightly insufficient in color performance. However, it is worth mentioning that although this machine has a small body of 15.6 inches, the C-side still retains the numeric keypad design commonly used by gamers, which adds a lot of convenience to the actual use.
▲Retains the numeric keypad design commonly used by gamers, adding a lot of convenience to practical use.
In addition, the C side of this machine is made of metal material and added sandblasting process, compared to the plastic material, the C side of the metal material enhances the wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and the paint will not fall off after a long time of use.
In terms of interface, Raytheon 911 Air Xuanwu is equipped with interfaces commonly used by gamers, such as two USB-A 3.1 Gen1 interfaces, a USB-C interface (supporting DP 1.2 video output), an HDMI 2.0 interface, a card reader slot and a 3.5mm audio interface.
▲A list of interfaces on the left and right sides of the fuselage
summary
As the pioneer officer of the 12th generation of Core mobile processors, the biggest highlight of Thor 911 Air Xuanwu is the new Core i7-12700H processor, which does bring stronger processor performance, to a certain extent, can also empower the unique display, resulting in stronger graphics and overall performance. In addition to the new processor, this machine also has a 144Hz high brush screen and plenty of internal expansion space, for most gamers, if you only play mainstream hit games at 1080p resolution, then the RTX 3050 Ti Laptop with Thor 911 Air Xuanwu can meet your needs very well. Of course, this machine also has shortcomings, such as screen color gamut, if you also have high requirements for screen color performance, then you may be able to wait to see if there is a high color gamut version.