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Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
The entry point into Intel's first Core Ultra generation, pairing two Performance and eight Efficient cores (plus two low-power E-cores) with a 4 Xe-core iGPU and NPU at a 15W base. Lower clocks than the 155U keep it aimed at budget-to-mainstream thin laptops rather than compute-heavy work.
Pros
- Keeps the NPU and full Meteor Lake media/display engine at entry-level pricing
- 12-core/14-thread layout copes well with everyday multitasking
- Efficient at its 15W base power for thin chassis
- Supports LPDDR5X-7467 and DDR5-5600 memory up to 96GB
Cons
- Lower base and boost clocks than the 155U cut into single- and multi-core throughput
- 4 Xe-core iGPU is modest for anything beyond light graphics work
- NPU throughput falls short of Microsoft's Copilot+ requirement
Average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U
General
- Announced
- 2023
- Process
- 7 nm
- Base TDP
- 15 W
- Max TDP
- 57 W
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 12
- Performance cores
- 2
- Efficiency cores
- 10
- Threads
- 14
- Base clock
- 1.3 GHz
- Boost clock
- 4.3 GHz
- L3 cache
- 12 MB
Integrated GPU
- iGPU
- Intel Graphics (4 Xe)
- iGPU clock
- 1,850 MHz
Memory
- Memory support
- LPDDR5X-7467 / DDR5-5600
- Max memory
- 96 GB
Benchmarks
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,566Bottom 38%
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 9,593Bottom 35%
- PassMark
- 16,674Bottom 38%
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U good in 2026?
The Intel Core Ultra 5 125U earns an Inno Score of 53.7/100 (“Average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. The entry point into Intel's first Core Ultra generation, pairing two Performance and eight Efficient cores (plus two low-power E-cores) with a 4 Xe-core iGPU and NPU at a 15W base. Lower clocks than the 155U keep it aimed at budget-to-mainstream thin laptops rather than compute-heavy work.
Does the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U count as "Core i7 or equivalent"?
Its PassMark CPU Mark average is 16,674 (cpubenchmark.net, retrieved Sep 26, 2026), which puts it in Tier B of our CPU tier checker: recent mainstream Core i7 / Ryzen 7, plus older H-series chips. Requirement pages word this differently, so check the exact wording with your department.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U?
Cores: 12 · Threads: 14 · Boost clock: 4.3 GHz · Base TDP: 15 W
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core Ultra 5 226V, AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS, Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-64-100 — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.
