Athlon X4 850 vs Phenom II X3 N870
Aggregate performance score
Athlon X4 850 outperforms Phenom II X3 N870 by a whopping 100% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2420 | 1865 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop processor |
| Series | 3x AMD Phenom II | no data |
| Power efficiency | 2.87 | 3.09 |
| Architecture codename | Champlain (2010−2011) | Godaveri (2014−2016) |
| Release date | 16 December 2010 (13 years ago) | July 2015 (9 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850 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 | 3 (Tri-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 3 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | no data | 3.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.3 GHz | 3.9 GHz |
| Bus rate | 3600 MHz | no data |
| L1 cache | 384 KB | 256K |
| L2 cache | 1.5 MB | 4 MB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 28 nm |
| Die size | no data | 245 mm2 |
| Number of transistors | no data | 2,411 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | no data |
| Unlocked multiplier | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850 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 | no data | 1 |
| Socket | S1 (S1g4) | FM2+ |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 65 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | 86x MMX(+), 3DNow!(+), SSE(1,2,3,4A),-64, AMD-V | no data |
| AES-NI | - | + |
| FMA | - | + |
| AVX | - | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR3-2133 |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850.
| PCIe version | no data | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 16 |
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.06 | 2.12 |
| Physical cores | 3 | 4 |
| Threads | 3 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 65 Watt |
Phenom II X3 N870 has 85.7% lower power consumption.
Athlon X4 850, on the other hand, has a 100% higher aggregate performance score, 33.3% more physical cores and 33.3% more threads, and a 60.7% more advanced lithography process.
The Athlon X4 850 is our recommended choice as it beats the Phenom II X3 N870 in performance tests.
Be aware that Phenom II X3 N870 is a notebook processor while Athlon X4 850 is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom II X3 N870 and Athlon X4 850, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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