Athlon II X2 215 vs i3-330M

Place in the ranking	2753	2783
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	8.66
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop processor
Series	Intel Core i3	no data
Power efficiency	1.73	0.89
Architecture codename	Arrandale (2010−2011)	Regor (2009−2013)
Release date	7 January 2010 (14 years ago)	20 October 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$49	$45

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215 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)	2 (Dual-core)
Threads	4	2
Base clock speed	2.13 GHz	2.7 GHz
Boost clock speed	0.13 GHz	2.7 GHz
Bus type	DMI 1.0	no data
Bus rate	1 × 2.5 GT/s	no data
Multiplier	16	no data
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	128 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	512 KB
L3 cache	3 MB (shared)	0 KB
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm
Die size	81+114 mm²	117 mm²
Maximum core temperature	90 °C for rPGA, 105 °C for BGA	no data
Number of transistors	382 million	410 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215 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 (Uniprocessor)	1
Socket	BGA1288,PGA988	AM3
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2	no data
FMA	+	-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
PAE	36 Bit	no data
FDI	+	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data

Security technologies

Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215 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 i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3-800, DDR3-1066	DDR3
Maximum memory size	8 GB	no data
Max memory channels	2	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	17.051 GB/s	no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	Intel® HD Graphics for Previous Generation Intel® Processors	On certain motherboards (Chipset feature)
Clear Video	+	no data
Clear Video HD	+	no data
Graphics max frequency	667 MHz	no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported

no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215.

PCIe version	2.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	16	no data

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.

i3-330M 0.64
+4.9%

Athlon II X2 215 0.61

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.

i3-330M 1022
+5%

Athlon II X2 215 973

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.

i3-330M 272

Athlon II X2 215 273
+0.4%

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.

i3-330M 566
+19.7%

Athlon II X2 215 473

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.64	0.61
Recency	7 January 2010	20 October 2009
Threads	4	2
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	65 Watt

i3-330M has a 4.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 months, 100% more threads, a 40.6% more advanced lithography process, and 85.7% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215.

Be aware that Core i3-330M is a notebook processor while Athlon II X2 215 is a desktop one.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core i3-330M and Athlon II X2 215, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.