Athlon Silver 7120U vs i5-3230M

Place in the ranking	2090	1931
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Core i5	no data
Power efficiency	4.35	12.43
Architecture codename	Ivy Bridge (2012−2013)	Mendocino (Zen 2) (2022−2023)
Release date	1 January 2013 (11 years ago)	20 September 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$225	no data

Detailed specifications

Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U 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	2.6 GHz	2.4 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.2 GHz	3.5 GHz
Bus rate	5 GT/s	no data
L1 cache	64K (per core)	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256K (per core)	512 KB (per core)
L3 cache	3 MB (shared)	2 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	22 nm	6 nm
Die size	118 mm²	100 mm²
Maximum core temperature	105 °C	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	no data

Compatibility

Information on Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U 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	FCPGA988	FP6
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	XFR, FMA3, SSE 4.2, AVX2, SMT
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
My WiFi	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
FDI	+	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data

Security technologies

Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

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

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR5 Dual-channel
Maximum memory size	32 GB	no data
Max memory channels	2	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card Compare	Intel HD Graphics 4000	AMD Radeon 610M ( - 1900 MHz)
Quick Sync Video	+	-
Clear Video HD	+	no data
Graphics max frequency	1.1 GHz	no data
InTru 3D	+	no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported	3	no data
eDP	+	no data
DisplayPort	+	-
HDMI	+	-
SDVO	+	no data
CRT	+	no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U.

PCIe version	3.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	16	4

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.

i5-3230M 1.61

Athlon Silver 7120U 1.97
+22.4%

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.

i5-3230M 2561

Athlon Silver 7120U 3126
+22.1%

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.

i5-3230M 506

Athlon Silver 7120U 963
+90.3%

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.

i5-3230M 1020

Athlon Silver 7120U 1587
+55.6%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.61	1.97
Integrated graphics card	1.18	2.85
Recency	1 January 2013	20 September 2022
Threads	4	2
Chip lithography	22 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	15 Watt

i5-3230M has 100% more threads.

Athlon Silver 7120U, on the other hand, has a 22.4% higher aggregate performance score, 141.5% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 9 years, a 266.7% more advanced lithography process, and 133.3% lower power consumption.

The Athlon Silver 7120U is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i5-3230M in performance tests.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-3230M and Athlon Silver 7120U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.