Nintendo Switch vs Intel Core i3-7300 Benchmark, comparison and differences


Nintendo Switch		Intel Core i3-7300
CPU comparison In this CPU comparison, we compare the Nintendo Switch and the Intel Core i3-7300 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster. We compare the Nintendo Switch 8 core processor released in Q1/2017 with the Intel Core i3-7300 which has 2 CPU cores and was introduced in Q1/2017.

NVIDIA Tegra (2)	Family	Intel Core i3 (205)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (2)	CPU group	Intel Core i 7000 (17)
2	Generation	7
Cortex-A57/-A53	Architecture	Kaby Lake S
Mobile	Segment	Desktop / Server
--	Predecessor	Intel Core i3-6300
--	Successor	Intel Core i3-8300

CPU Cores and Base Frequency The Nintendo Switch is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz). The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Intel Core i3-7300 clocks with 4.00 GHz, has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel.
Nintendo Switch	Characteristic	Intel Core i3-7300
8	Cores	2
8	Threads	4
hybrid (big.LITTLE)	Core architecture	normal
No	Hyperthreading	Yes
No	Overclocking ?	No
1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz) 4x Cortex-A57	A-Core	4.00 GHz
1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz) 4x Cortex-A53	B-Core	--
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.
Nintendo Switch	Characteristic	Intel Core i3-7300
--	AI hardware	--
--	AI specifications	--

Internal Graphics Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell)	GPU	Intel HD Graphics 630
0.30 GHz	GPU frequency	0.35 GHz
0.77 GHz	GPU (Turbo)	1.15 GHz
1	GPU Generation	9.5
20 nm	Technology	14 nm
1	Max. displays	3
2	Compute units	24
256	Shader	192
No	Hardware Raytracing	No
No	Frame Generation	No
2 GB	Max. GPU Memory	64 GB
12	DirectX Version	12

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.
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell)	GPU	Intel HD Graphics 630
Decode	Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit)	Decode / Encode
Decode	Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit)	Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode	Codec h264	Decode / Encode
Decode	Codec VP9	Decode / Encode
Decode	Codec VP8	Decode / Encode
No	Codec AV1	No
Decode	Codec AVC	Decode / Encode
Decode	Codec VC-1	Decode
Decode / Encode	Codec JPEG	Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe Up to 4 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Nintendo Switch, while the Intel Core i3-7300 supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 38.4 GB/s enabled.
Nintendo Switch	Characteristic	Intel Core i3-7300
LPDDR4-3200	Memory	DDR4-2400, DDR3-1600
4 GB	Max. Memory	64 GB
2 (Dual Channel)	Memory channels	2 (Dual Channel)
25.6 GB/s	Max. Bandwidth	38.4 GB/s
No	ECC	No
2.50 MB	L2 Cache	--
--	L3 Cache	4.00 MB
--	PCIe version	3.0
--	PCIe lanes	16
--	PCIe Bandwidth	15.8 GB/s
Thermal Management The Nintendo Switch has a TDP of 5 W. The TDP of the Intel Core i3-7300 is 51 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.
Nintendo Switch	Characteristic	Intel Core i3-7300
5 W	TDP (PL1 / PBP)	51 W
--	TDP (PL2)	--
--	TDP up	--
5 W	TDP down	--
--	Tjunction max.	100 °C
Technical details The Nintendo Switch has 2.50 MB cache and is manufactured in 20 nm. The cache of Intel Core i3-7300 is at 4.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 14 nm.
Nintendo Switch	Characteristic	Intel Core i3-7300
20 nm	Technology	14 nm
Chiplet	Chip design	Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit)	Instruction set (ISA)	x86-64 (64 bit)
--	ISA extensions	SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
--	Socket	LGA 1151
None	Virtualization	VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No	AES-NI	Yes
	Operating systems	Windows 10, Linux
Q1/2017	Release date	Q1/2017
--	Release price	--

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Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save! Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz buy now on Amazon and save!

Rate these processors

Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks

Nintendo Switch (22%)

Intel Core i3-7300 (100%)

⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks

Nintendo Switch (28%)

Intel Core i3-7300 (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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz	270 (22%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	1242 (100%)

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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz	702 (28%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	2493 (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.


	Nintendo Switch NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) @ 0.77 GHz	393 (89%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 Intel HD Graphics 630 @ 1.15 GHz	442 (100%)

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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	1030 (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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	2325 (100%)

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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	419 (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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	1084 (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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	4561 (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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	172 (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.


	Nintendo Switch 8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz	0 (0%)
	Intel Core i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	436 (100%)


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Nintendo Switch vs Intel Core i3-7300

CPU comparison with benchmarks

CPU comparison

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Internal Graphics

Hardware codec support

Memory & PCIe

Thermal Management

Technical details