Phenom II X3 N870 vs i5-2515E

Place in the ranking	2364	2434
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Core i5	3x AMD Phenom II
Power efficiency	3.19	2.87
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Champlain (2010−2011)
Release date	1 February 2011 (13 years ago)	16 December 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$266	no data

Detailed specifications

Core i5-2515E 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	4	3
Base clock speed	2.5 GHz	no data
Boost clock speed	2.5 GHz	2.3 GHz
Bus type	DMI 2.0	no data
Bus rate	4 × 5 GT/s	3600 MHz
Multiplier	25	no data
L1 cache	64K (per core)	384 KB
L2 cache	256K (per core)	1.5 MB
L3 cache	3 MB (shared)	no data
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm
Die size	149 mm²	no data
Number of transistors	624 million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i5-2515E 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 (Uniprocessor)	no data
Socket	Intel BGA1023	S1 (S1g4)
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-2515E 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
AES-NI	+	-
FMA	+	-
AVX	+	-
vPro	+	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data

Security technologies

Core i5-2515E and Phenom II X3 N870 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT

no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-2515E 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 i5-2515E and Phenom II X3 N870. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	16 GB	no data
Max memory channels	2	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	21.335 GB/s	no data
ECC memory support	+	-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

Intel HD Graphics 3000

no data

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.18	1.06
Recency	1 February 2011	16 December 2010
Physical cores	2	3
Threads	4	3
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm

i5-2515E has a 11.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 month, 33.3% more threads, and a 40.6% more advanced lithography process.

Phenom II X3 N870, on the other hand, has 50% more physical cores.

The Core i5-2515E is our recommended choice as it beats the Phenom II X3 N870 in performance tests.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-2515E and Phenom II X3 N870, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.