Ryzen 5 3500X vs Pentium 997

Place in the ranking	2868	907
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop processor
Series	Intel Pentium	AMD Ryzen 5
Power efficiency	2.84	12.06
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Matisse (2019−2020)
Release date	1 September 2012 (12 years ago)	24 September 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$134	no data

Detailed specifications

Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X 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)	6 (Hexa-Core)
Threads	2	6
Base clock speed	1.6 GHz	3.6 GHz
Boost clock speed	1.6 GHz	4.1 GHz
Bus type	DMI 2.0	no data
Bus rate	4 × 5 GT/s	no data
Multiplier	16	no data
L1 cache	64K (per core)	96K (per core)
L2 cache	256K (per core)	512K (per core)
L3 cache	2 MB (shared)	32 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	32 nm	7 nm, 12 nm
Die size	131 mm²	no data
Maximum core temperature	100 °C	no data
Number of transistors	504 million	4,800 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	+
Unlocked multiplier	-	+

Compatibility

Information on Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X 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)	1 (Uniprocessor)
Socket	FCBGA1023	AM4
Power consumption (TDP)	17 Watt	65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2	no data
AES-NI	-	+
FMA	+	-
AVX	-	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
My WiFi	-	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	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
Precision Boost 2	no data	+

Security technologies

Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	-	no data
EDB	+	no data
Anti-Theft	-	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X 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 Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR4 Dual-channel
Maximum memory size	16 GB	128 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	21.335 GB/s	51.196 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors	-
Clear Video HD	-	-
Graphics max frequency	1 GHz	-
InTru 3D	-	-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported	2	-
eDP	+	-
DisplayPort	+	-
HDMI	+	-
SDVO	+	-
CRT	+	-

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X.

PCIe version	2.0	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.

Pentium 997 0.51

Ryzen 5 3500X 8.28
+1524%

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.

Pentium 997 809

Ryzen 5 3500X 13160
+1527%

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.

Pentium 997 241

Ryzen 5 3500X 1580
+556%

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.

Pentium 997 425

Ryzen 5 3500X 5936
+1297%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.51	8.28
Recency	1 September 2012	24 September 2019
Physical cores	2	6
Threads	2	6
Chip lithography	32 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	17 Watt	65 Watt

Pentium 997 has 282.4% lower power consumption.

Ryzen 5 3500X, on the other hand, has a 1523.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, 200% more physical cores and 200% more threads, and a 357.1% more advanced lithography process.

The Ryzen 5 3500X is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium 997 in performance tests.

Be aware that Pentium 997 is a notebook processor while Ryzen 5 3500X is a desktop one.

Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium 997 and Ryzen 5 3500X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.