Intel Core i5-3437U vs AMD Athlon II X4 640

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i5-3437U CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD Athlon II X4 640
Intel Core i5-3437U AMD Athlon II X4 640

CPU comparison

Intel Core i5-3437U or AMD Athlon II X4 640 - 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 i5-3437U has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.90 GHz. Up to 32 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-3437U was released in Q1/2013.

The AMD Athlon II X4 640 has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.00 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Athlon II X4 640 was released in Q2/2010.
Intel Core i5 (331) Family AMD Athlon II (52)
Intel Core i 3000U (12) CPU group AMD Athlon II X4 (Propus) (10)
3 Generation 1
Ivy Bridge U Architecture Propus
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor AMD Athlon II X4 740

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i5-3437U has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i5-3437U is 1.90 GHz (2.90 GHz) while the AMD Athlon II X4 640 has 4 CPU cores and 4 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the AMD Athlon II X4 640 is at 3.00 GHz.

Intel Core i5-3437U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 640
2 Cores 4
4 Threads 4
normal Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
1.90 GHz Frequency 3.00 GHz
2.90 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 i5-3437U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 640
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i5-3437U or AMD Athlon II X4 640 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.

Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU no iGPU
0.65 GHz GPU frequency --
1.20 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
7 GPU Generation --
22 nm Technology
3 Max. displays
16 Compute units --
128 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory --
11.0 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 4000 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 i5-3437U can use up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 25.6 GB/s. The AMD Athlon II X4 640 supports up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 21.3 GB/s.

Intel Core i5-3437U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 640
DDR3-1600 Memory DDR3-1333
32 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
16 PCIe lanes --
8.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i5-3437U is 17 W, while the AMD Athlon II X4 640 has a TDP of 95 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Core i5-3437U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 640
17 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 95 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
105 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i5-3437U is manufactured in 22 nm and has 3.00 MB cache. The AMD Athlon II X4 640 is manufactured in 45 nm and has a 2.00 MB cache.

Intel Core i5-3437U Characteristic AMD Athlon II X4 640
22 nm Technology 45 nm
Monolithic Chip design Unknown
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX ISA extensions MMX, 3DNow!, SSE3, SSE4a
BGA 1023 Socket AM3
VT-x, VT-x EPT Virtualization AMD-V
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Linux
Q1/2013 Release date Q2/2010
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i5-3437U (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 (68%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i5-3437U (93%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 (98%)

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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 2.90 GHz
610 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
386 (63%)

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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 1.90 GHz
1305 (98%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
1332 (100%)

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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 1.90 GHz
2294 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
2161 (94%)

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 Core i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 2.90 GHz
99 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
71 (72%)

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 Core i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 1.90 GHz
223 (81%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
274 (100%)

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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 2.90 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
389 (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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 1.90 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
1471 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Intel Core i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 2.90 GHz
484 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Intel Core i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 1.90 GHz
1096 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 2.90 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
152 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 1.90 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
582 (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 i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
Intel HD Graphics 4000 @ 1.20 GHz
307 (100%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i5-3437U Intel Core i5-3437U
2C 4T @ 1.90 GHz
0 (0%)
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AMD Athlon II X4 640
4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz
557 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i5-3437U AMD Athlon II X4 640
Unknown Unknown

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