Intel Core i3-4120U vs AMD Athlon II X2 270u

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i3-4120U CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD Athlon II X2 270u
Intel Core i3-4120U AMD Athlon II X2 270u

CPU comparison

Intel Core i3-4120U or AMD Athlon II X2 270u - 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 Core i3-4120U has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.00 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i3-4120U was released in Q2/2014.

The AMD Athlon II X2 270u has 2 cores with 2 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Athlon II X2 270u was released in Q3/2010.
Intel Core i3 (205) Family AMD Athlon II (52)
Intel Core i 4000U (26) CPU group AMD Athlon II X2 (Propus) (18)
4 Generation 1
Haswell U Architecture Propus
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i3-4120U is a 2 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.00 GHz. The AMD Athlon II X2 270u has 2 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.00 GHz.
Intel Core i3-4120U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X2 270u
2 Cores 2
4 Threads 2
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.00 GHz Frequency 2.00 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 Core i3-4120U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X2 270u
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.
Intel HD Graphics 4400 GPU no iGPU
0.20 GHz GPU frequency --
1.00 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
7.5 GPU Generation --
22 nm Technology
3 Max. displays
20 Compute units --
160 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory --
11.1 DirectX Version --

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.
Intel HD Graphics 4400 GPU no iGPU
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) No
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) No
Decode / Encode Codec h264 No
No Codec VP9 No
No Codec VP8 No
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC No
Decode Codec VC-1 No
Decode Codec JPEG No

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i3-4120U supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Athlon II X2 270u can connect up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.
Intel Core i3-4120U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X2 270u
LPDDR3-1600, DDR3-1600 Memory DDR3-1333
16 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
25.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 21.3 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 2.00 MB
3.00 MB L3 Cache --
2.0 PCIe version 2.0
12 PCIe lanes --
6.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i3-4120U has a TDP of 15 W, that of the AMD Athlon II X2 270u is 25 W.
Intel Core i3-4120U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X2 270u
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 25 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i3-4120U has a 3.00 MB cache, while the AMD Athlon II X2 270u cache has a total of 2.00 MB.
Intel Core i3-4120U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X2 270u
22 nm Technology 45 nm
Monolithic Chip design Unknown
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions MMX, 3DNow!, SSE3, SSE4a
BGA 1168 Socket AM3
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization AMD-V
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q2/2014 Release date Q3/2010
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i3-4120U (100%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u (60%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i3-4120U (100%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u (43%)

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 Core i3-4120U Intel Core i3-4120U
2C 4T @ 2.00 GHz
462 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u AMD Athlon II X2 270u
2C 2T @ 2.00 GHz
278 (60%)

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 Core i3-4120U Intel Core i3-4120U
2C 4T @ 2.00 GHz
1071 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u AMD Athlon II X2 270u
2C 2T @ 2.00 GHz
529 (49%)

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 Core i3-4120U Intel Core i3-4120U
2C 4T @ 2.00 GHz
1965 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u AMD Athlon II X2 270u
2C 2T @ 2.00 GHz
722 (37%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 Core i3-4120U Intel Core i3-4120U
2C 4T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u AMD Athlon II X2 270u
2C 2T @ 2.00 GHz
287 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 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 Core i3-4120U Intel Core i3-4120U
2C 4T @ 2.00 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u AMD Athlon II X2 270u
2C 2T @ 2.00 GHz
531 (100%)

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 Core i3-4120U Intel Core i3-4120U
Intel HD Graphics 4400 @ 1.00 GHz
320 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X2 270u AMD Athlon II X2 270u
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Intel Core i3-4120U AMD Athlon II X2 270u
Unknown Unknown

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