i3-8121U vs Phenom II X4 955 (125W)
Primary details
Comparing Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | 1683 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Intel Core i3 |
| Power efficiency | no data | 17.46 |
| Architecture codename | Deneb (2009−2011) | Coffee Lake-U (2018−2019) |
| Release date | 1 April 2009 (15 years ago) | 15 May 2018 (6 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U 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 | 4 (Quad-Core) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 4 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 2.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| Bus type | no data | OPI |
| Bus rate | no data | 4 GT/s |
| Multiplier | no data | 22 |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 128 KB |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 512 KB |
| L3 cache | 6 MB (shared) | 4 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 10 nm |
| Die size | 258 mm2 | 123 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 105 °C |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 72 °C |
| Number of transistors | 758 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U 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 (Uniprocessor) |
| Socket | AM3 | Intel BGA1440 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | - | + |
| AVX | - | + |
| vPro | no data | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
| QuickAssist | no data | - |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| My WiFi | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| Idle States | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | - | + |
| Flex Memory Access | no data | + |
| Smart Response | no data | + |
| Demand Based Switching | no data | - |
| HD Audio | no data | + |
| RST | no data | + |
Security technologies
Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | no data | - |
| EDB | no data | + |
| Secure Key | no data | + |
| MPX | - | + |
| SGX | no data | - |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | no data | + |
| VT-x | no data | + |
| VT-i | no data | - |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 32 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 38.397 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | On certain motherboards (Chipset feature) | Iris Pro Plus |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 16 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 1 April 2009 | 15 May 2018 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 10 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 15 Watt |
Phenom II X4 955 (125W) has 100% more physical cores.
i3-8121U, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 9 years, a 350% more advanced lithography process, and 733.3% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U. We've got no test results to judge.
Note that Phenom II X4 955 (125W) is a desktop processor while Core i3-8121U is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom II X4 955 (125W) and Core i3-8121U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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