Intel Atom C3958 vs Intel Celeron 2981U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Atom C3958 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Celeron 2981U
Intel Atom C3958 Intel Celeron 2981U

CPU comparison

Intel Atom C3958 or Intel Celeron 2981U - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Intel Atom C3958 has 16 cores with 16 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.00 GHz. Up to 256 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Atom C3958 was released in Q3/2017.

The Intel Celeron 2981U has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 1.40 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Celeron 2981U was released in Q3/2013.
Intel Atom (108) Family Intel Celeron (165)
Intel Atom C3000 (20) CPU group Intel Celeron 2000 (7)
5 Generation 4
Denverton Architecture Haswell U
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Atom C3958 has 16 CPU cores and can calculate 16 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Atom C3958 is 2.00 GHz while the Intel Celeron 2981U has 2 CPU cores and 2 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Celeron 2981U is at 1.40 GHz.

Intel Atom C3958 Characteristic Intel Celeron 2981U
16 Cores 2
16 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.00 GHz Frequency 1.40 GHz
-- Turbo Frequency (1 Core) --
-- Turbo Frequency (All Cores) --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Intel Atom C3958 Characteristic Intel Celeron 2981U
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Intel Atom C3958 or Intel Celeron 2981U has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

no iGPU GPU Intel HD Graphics (Haswell GT1)
GPU frequency 0.20 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.00 GHz
-- GPU Generation 7.5
Technology 22 nm
Max. displays 3
-- Compute units 10
-- Shader 80
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
-- DirectX Version 11.1

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

no iGPU GPU Intel HD Graphics (Haswell GT1)
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode / Encode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Atom C3958 can use up to 256 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 38.4 GB/s. The Intel Celeron 2981U supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 25.6 GB/s.

Intel Atom C3958 Characteristic Intel Celeron 2981U
DDR4-2400 Memory LPDDR3-1600, DDR3L-1600
256 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
38.4 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 25.6 GB/s
Yes ECC No
16.00 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 2.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 2.0
16 PCIe lanes 12
15.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 6.0 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Atom C3958 is 31 W, while the Intel Celeron 2981U has a TDP of 15 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Atom C3958 Characteristic Intel Celeron 2981U
31 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Atom C3958 is manufactured in 14 nm and has 16.00 MB cache. The Intel Celeron 2981U is manufactured in 22 nm and has a 2.00 MB cache.

Intel Atom C3958 Characteristic Intel Celeron 2981U
14 nm Technology 22 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2
BGA 1310 Socket BGA 1168
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q3/2017 Release date Q3/2013
449 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Intel Atom C3958 (94%)
Intel Celeron 2981U (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Atom C3958 (100%)
Intel Celeron 2981U (21%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Atom C3958 Intel Atom C3958
16C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
332 (94%)
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
354 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Atom C3958 Intel Atom C3958
16C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
4134 (100%)
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
694 (17%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Intel Atom C3958 Intel Atom C3958
16C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
4281 (100%)
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
1024 (24%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Intel Atom C3958 Intel Atom C3958
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
Intel HD Graphics (Haswell GT1) @ 1.00 GHz
160 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Atom C3958 Intel Atom C3958
16C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
63 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Atom C3958 Intel Atom C3958
16C 16T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Celeron 2981U Intel Celeron 2981U
2C 2T @ 1.40 GHz
124 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Atom C3958 Intel Celeron 2981U
Unknown Unknown

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