Pentium N3520 vs i3-2120

Place in the ranking	2322	2702
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.14	no data
Market segment	Desktop processor	Laptop
Series	no data	Intel Pentium
Power efficiency	1.79	9.08
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Bay Trail-M (2013−2014)
Release date	20 February 2011 (13 years ago)	1 December 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$95	$161

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520 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)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	4	4
Base clock speed	3.3 GHz	2.17 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.3 GHz	2.42 GHz
Bus rate	5 GT/s	no data
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	224 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	2 MB
L3 cache	3 MB (shared)	2 MB
Chip lithography	32 nm	22 nm
Die size	131 mm²	no data
Maximum core temperature	69 °C	105 °C
Number of transistors	504 million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520 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	1
Socket	FCLGA1155	FCBGA1170
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	7.5 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	-	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
Smart Connect	no data	+
FDI	+	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data
RST	no data	-

Security technologies

Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	no data
EDB	+	+
Secure Key	no data	+
Identity Protection	+	-
Anti-Theft	no data	-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520 are enumerated here.

VT-d	-	-
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3L-1333
Maximum memory size	32 GB	8 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	21 GB/s	no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card Compare	Intel HD Graphics 2000	Intel HD Graphics for Intel Atom Processor Z3700 Series
Quick Sync Video	+	-
Clear Video HD	+	-
Graphics max frequency	1.1 GHz	854 MHz
InTru 3D	+	-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520.

PCIe version	2.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	16	4
USB revision	no data	3.0 and 2.0
Total number of SATA ports	no data	2
Number of USB ports	no data	5

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i3-2120 1.23
+70.8%

Pentium N3520 0.72

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

i3-2120 1956
+70.7%

Pentium N3520 1146

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

i3-2120 497
+186%

Pentium N3520 174

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

i3-2120 1022
+108%

Pentium N3520 491

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.23	0.72
Integrated graphics card	0.55	0.77
Recency	20 February 2011	1 December 2013
Physical cores	2	4
Chip lithography	32 nm	22 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	7 Watt

i3-2120 has a 70.8% higher aggregate performance score.

Pentium N3520, on the other hand, has 40% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 2 years, 100% more physical cores, a 45.5% more advanced lithography process, and 828.6% lower power consumption.

The Core i3-2120 is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium N3520 in performance tests.

Note that Core i3-2120 is a desktop processor while Pentium N3520 is a notebook one.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core i3-2120 and Pentium N3520, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.