Phenom II X3 P840 vs i7-3520M

Place in the ranking	2015	2594
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Core i7	3x AMD Phenom II
Power efficiency	4.84	3.09
Architecture codename	Ivy Bridge (2012−2013)	Champlain (2010−2011)
Release date	3 June 2012 (12 years ago)	4 October 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$346	no data

Detailed specifications

Core i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840 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	2.9 GHz	no data
Boost clock speed	3.6 GHz	1.9 GHz
Bus rate	5 GT/s	3600 MHz
L1 cache	64K (per core)	384 KB
L2 cache	256K (per core)	1.5 MB
L3 cache	4 MB (shared)	no data
Chip lithography	22 nm	45 nm
Die size	118 mm²	no data
Maximum core temperature	105 °C	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840 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	no data
Socket	FCBGA1023,FCPGA988	S1
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	25 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	Virtualization, AMD64, Advanced Virus Protection, SSE(1,2,3,4a)
AES-NI	+	-
AVX	+	-
VirusProtect	-	+
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 i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840 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 i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840 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 i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
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	Intel HD Graphics 4000	no data
Quick Sync Video	+	-
Clear Video HD	+	no data
Graphics max frequency	1.25 GHz	no data
InTru 3D	+	no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840 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 i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840.

PCIe version	3.0	no data
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.

i7-3520M 1.80
+120%

Phenom II X3 P840 0.82

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.

i7-3520M 10467
+137%

Phenom II X3 P840 4425

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.

i7-3520M 15.43
+79.5%

Phenom II X3 P840 27.7

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.80	0.82
Recency	3 June 2012	4 October 2010
Physical cores	2	3
Threads	4	3
Chip lithography	22 nm	45 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	25 Watt

i7-3520M has a 119.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, 33.3% more threads, and a 104.5% more advanced lithography process.

Phenom II X3 P840, on the other hand, has 50% more physical cores, and 40% lower power consumption.

The Core i7-3520M is our recommended choice as it beats the Phenom II X3 P840 in performance tests.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-3520M and Phenom II X3 P840, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.