Pentium N3520 vs i5-3230M

VS

Aggregate performance score

Core i5-3230M
2013
2 cores / 4 threads, 35 Watt
1.61
+124%
Pentium N3520
2013
4 cores / 4 threads, 7 Watt
0.72

Core i5-3230M outperforms Pentium N3520 by a whopping 124% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking21032702
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i5Intel Pentium
Power efficiency4.359.08
Architecture codenameIvy Bridge (2012−2013)Bay Trail-M (2013−2014)
Release date1 January 2013 (11 years ago)1 December 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$225$161

Detailed specifications

Core i5-3230M 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 cores2 (Dual-core)4 (Quad-Core)
Threads44
Base clock speed2.6 GHz2.17 GHz
Boost clock speed3.2 GHz2.42 GHz
Bus rate5 GT/sno data
L1 cache64K (per core)224 KB
L2 cache256K (per core)2 MB
L3 cache3 MB (shared)2 MB
Chip lithography22 nm22 nm
Die size118 mm2no data
Maximum core temperature105 °C105 °C
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--

Compatibility

Information on Core i5-3230M 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 configuration11
SocketFCPGA988FCBGA1170
Power consumption (TDP)35 Watt7.5 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® AVXno data
AES-NI+-
AVX+-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
My WiFi+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0-
Hyper-Threading Technology+-
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring+-
Flex Memory Access+no data
Demand Based Switching-no data
Smart Connectno data+
FDI+no data
Fast Memory Access+no data
RSTno data-

Security technologies

Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

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

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR3L-1333
Maximum memory size32 GB8 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth25.6 GB/sno data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card
Compare
Intel HD Graphics 4000Intel HD Graphics for Intel Atom Processor Z3700 Series
Quick Sync Video+-
Clear Video HD+-
Graphics max frequency1.1 GHz854 MHz
InTru 3D+-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported32
eDP+no data
DisplayPort+-
HDMI+-
SDVO+no data
CRT+no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520.

PCIe version3.02.0
PCI Express lanes164
USB revisionno data3.0 and 2.0
Total number of SATA portsno data2
Number of USB portsno data5

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
+124%
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.

i5-3230M 2562
+124%
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.

i5-3230M 506
+191%
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.

i5-3230M 1020
+108%
Pentium N3520 491

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i5-3230M 4268
+241%
Pentium N3520 1252

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

i5-3230M 9159
+112%
Pentium N3520 4328

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.

i5-3230M 3760
+62.1%
Pentium N3520 2320

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i5-3230M 17.83
+57%
Pentium N3520 28

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i5-3230M 3
+68.8%
Pentium N3520 2

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

i5-3230M 258
+79.2%
Pentium N3520 144

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.

i5-3230M 105
+176%
Pentium N3520 38

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark 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 loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i5-3230M 1.25
+184%
Pentium N3520 0.44

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i5-3230M 1.5
+477%
Pentium N3520 0.3

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i5-3230M 3219
+167%
Pentium N3520 1204

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i5-3230M 11
+12.7%
Pentium N3520 10

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i5-3230M 60
+17.8%
Pentium N3520 51

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 1.61 0.72
Integrated graphics card 1.18 0.77
Recency 1 January 2013 1 December 2013
Physical cores 2 4
Power consumption (TDP) 35 Watt 7 Watt

i5-3230M has a 123.6% higher aggregate performance score, and 53.2% faster integrated GPU.

Pentium N3520, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 11 months, 100% more physical cores, and 400% lower power consumption.

The Core i5-3230M is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium N3520 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-3230M and Pentium N3520, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite CPU.


Intel Core i5-3230M
Core i5-3230M
Intel Pentium N3520
Pentium N3520

Similar processor comparisons

We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.

Community ratings

Here you can see how users rate the processors, as well as rate them yourself.


3.8 1117 votes

Rate Core i5-3230M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.2 82 votes

Rate Pentium N3520 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about Core i5-3230M or Pentium N3520, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.