Athlon X4 840 vs Ryzen 9 3900X
Aggregate performance score
Ryzen 9 3900X outperforms Athlon X4 840 by a whopping 882% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 269 | 1874 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 20.91 | no data |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Series | AMD Ryzen 9 | 4x Athlon |
| Power efficiency | 15.54 | 3.04 |
| Architecture codename | Matisse (Zen 2) (2019−2020) | Kaveri (2014−2015) |
| Release date | 7 July 2019 (5 years ago) | August 2014 (10 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $499 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840 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 | 12 (Dodeca-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 24 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | 3.8 GHz | 3.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4.6 GHz | 3.8 GHz |
| L1 cache | 96K (per core) | 256K |
| L2 cache | 512K (per core) | 4 MB |
| L3 cache | 64 MB | no data |
| Chip lithography | 7 nm, 12 nm | 28 nm |
| Die size | no data | 245 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 95 °C | no data |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 72 °C |
| Number of transistors | 19,200 million | 2,411 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | + |
Compatibility
Information on Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840 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 |
| Socket | AM4 | Socket FM2+ |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 65 watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| AES-NI | + | + |
| FMA | - | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| Precision Boost 2 | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4 Dual-channel | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | 128 GB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 2 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 51.196 GB/s | no data |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840.
| PCIe version | no data | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 16 |
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 20.53 | 2.09 |
| Recency | 7 July 2019 | on August 2014 |
| Physical cores | 12 | 4 |
| Threads | 24 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 7 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 65 Watt |
Ryzen 9 3900X has a 882.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, 200% more physical cores and 500% more threads, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.
Athlon X4 840, on the other hand, has 92.3% lower power consumption.
The Ryzen 9 3900X is our recommended choice as it beats the Athlon X4 840 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Ryzen 9 3900X and Athlon X4 840, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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.
