Phenom II X3 N870 vs Core 2 Duo E8400

Place in the ranking	2685	2434
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Desktop processor	Laptop
Series	no data	3x AMD Phenom II
Power efficiency	1.06	2.86
Architecture codename	Wolfdale (2008−2010)	Champlain (2010−2011)
Release date	1 January 2008 (16 years ago)	16 December 2010 (14 years ago)

Detailed specifications

Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores	2 (Dual-core)	3 (Tri-Core)
Threads	2	3
Base clock speed	3 GHz	no data
Boost clock speed	3 GHz	2.3 GHz
Bus rate	1333 MHz	3600 MHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	384 KB
L2 cache	6 MB (shared)	1.5 MB
L3 cache	0 KB	no data
Chip lithography	45 nm	45 nm
Die size	104 mm²	no data
Maximum case temperature (TCase)	72 °C	no data
Number of transistors	410 million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
VID voltage range	0.85V-1.3625V	no data

Compatibility

Information on Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration	1	no data
Socket	LGA775	S1 (S1g4)
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	no data	86x MMX(+), 3DNow!(+), SSE(1,2,3,4A),-64, AMD-V
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
FSB parity	-	no data

Security technologies

Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	no data
EDB	+	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870 are enumerated here.

AMD-V	-	+
VT-d	+	no data
VT-x	+	no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types

DDR1, DDR2, DDR3

DDR3

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

On certain motherboards (Chipset feature)

no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870.

PCIe version

2.0

no data

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.73	1.06
Recency	1 January 2008	16 December 2010
Physical cores	2	3
Threads	2	3
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	35 Watt

Phenom II X3 N870 has a 45.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, 50% more physical cores and 50% more threads, and 85.7% lower power consumption.

The Phenom II X3 N870 is our recommended choice as it beats the Core 2 Duo E8400 in performance tests.

Note that Core 2 Duo E8400 is a desktop processor while Phenom II X3 N870 is a notebook one.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core 2 Duo E8400 and Phenom II X3 N870, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.