Athlon Gold 3150U vs i3-8121U

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Aggregate performance score

Core i3-8121U
2018
2 cores / 4 threads, 15 Watt
2.76
+10%
Athlon Gold 3150U
2020
2 cores / 4 threads, 15 Watt
2.51

Core i3-8121U outperforms Athlon Gold 3150U by a moderate 10% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking16981755
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i3AMD Picasso (Ryzen 3000 APU)
Power efficiency9.3315.84
Architecture codenameCoffee Lake-U (2018−2019)Dali (Zen) (2020)
Release date15 May 2018 (6 years ago)6 January 2020 (4 years ago)

Detailed specifications

Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U 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 cores2 (Dual-core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads44
Base clock speed2.2 GHz2.4 GHz
Boost clock speed3.2 GHz3.3 GHz
Bus typeOPIno data
Bus rate4 GT/sno data
Multiplier2224
L1 cache128 KB192 KB
L2 cache512 KB1 MB
L3 cache4 MB (shared)4 MB
Chip lithography10 nm14 nm
Die size123 mm2no data
Maximum core temperature105 °C95 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °Cno data
Number of transistorsno data4500 Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility-+

Compatibility

Information on Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U 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 configuration1 (Uniprocessor)no data
SocketIntel BGA1440FP5
Power consumption (TDP)15 Watt15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4A, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, BMI2, ABM, FMA, ADX, SMEP, SMAP, SMT, CPB, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA, SME
AES-NI++
FMA-+
AVX++
vPro-no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)+no data
QuickAssist-no data
Speed Shift+no data
My WiFi+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0no data
Hyper-Threading Technology+no data
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring+-
Flex Memory Access+no data
Smart Response+no data
Demand Based Switching-no data
HD Audio+no data
RST+no data
Precision Boost 2no data+

Security technologies

Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT-no data
EDB+no data
Secure Key+no data
MPX+-
SGX-no data
OS Guard+no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4DDR4
Maximum memory size32 GB32 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth38.397 GB/s38.397 GB/s
ECC memory support-+

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIris Pro PlusAMD Radeon RX Vega 3 ( - 1000 MHz)

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U.

PCIe version3.03.0
PCI Express lanes1612

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.

i3-8121U 2.76
+10%
Athlon Gold 3150U 2.51

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.

i3-8121U 4391
+10.1%
Athlon Gold 3150U 3989

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.

i3-8121U 1165
+43.1%
Athlon Gold 3150U 814

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.

i3-8121U 2367
+41.8%
Athlon Gold 3150U 1669

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i3-8121U 4314
+3%
Athlon Gold 3150U 4189

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i3-8121U 318
Athlon Gold 3150U 352
+10.8%

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i3-8121U 133
+13.7%
Athlon Gold 3150U 117

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 2.76 2.51
Recency 15 May 2018 6 January 2020
Chip lithography 10 nm 14 nm

i3-8121U has a 10% higher aggregate performance score, and a 40% more advanced lithography process.

Athlon Gold 3150U, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i3-8121U and Athlon Gold 3150U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i3-8121U
Core i3-8121U
AMD Athlon Gold 3150U
Athlon Gold 3150U

Similar processor comparisons

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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