Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) vs Intel Core i3-8121U
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CPU comparison with benchmarks
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| Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) | Intel Core i3-8121U | |
CPU comparisonValve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) or Intel Core i3-8121U - 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 Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has 4 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) was released in Q4/2021. The Intel Core i3-8121U has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i3-8121U was released in Q2/2018. |
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| AMD Ryzen 5 (86) | Family | Intel Core i3 (205) |
| AMD Aerith (Steam Deck) (1) | CPU group | Intel Core i 8000U (CL) (1) |
| 3 | Generation | 8 |
| Aerith (Zen 2) | Architecture | Cannon Lake U |
| Mobile | Segment | Mobile |
| -- | Predecessor | -- |
| Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) | Successor | -- |
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CPU Cores and Base FrequencyThe Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz). The Intel Core i3-8121U has 2 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.20 GHz (3.20 GHz). |
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| Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) | Characteristic | Intel Core i3-8121U |
| 4 | Cores | 2 |
| 8 | Threads | 4 |
| normal | Core architecture | normal |
| Yes | Hyperthreading | Yes |
| No | Overclocking ? | No |
| 2.40 GHz | Frequency | 2.20 GHz |
| 3.50 GHz | Turbo Frequency (1 Core) | 3.20 GHz |
| 2.80 GHz | Turbo Frequency (All Cores) | 2.70 GHz |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)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. |
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| AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) | GPU | no iGPU |
| 1.00 GHz | GPU frequency | -- |
| 1.60 GHz | GPU (Turbo) | -- |
| -- | GPU Generation | -- |
| 7 nm | Technology | |
| 2 | Max. displays | |
| 8 | Compute units | -- |
| 512 | Shader | -- |
| No | Hardware Raytracing | No |
| No | Frame Generation | No |
| 8 GB | Max. GPU Memory | -- |
| 12 | DirectX Version | -- |
Hardware codec supportA 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. |
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| AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) | GPU | no iGPU |
| Decode / Encode | Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) | No |
| Decode / Encode | Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) | No |
| Decode / Encode | Codec h264 | No |
| Decode / Encode | Codec VP9 | No |
| Decode / Encode | Codec VP8 | No |
| No | Codec AV1 | No |
| Decode / Encode | Codec AVC | No |
| Decode | Codec VC-1 | No |
| Decode / Encode | Codec JPEG | No |
Memory & PCIeThe Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i3-8121U can connect up to 32 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. |
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| Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) | Characteristic | Intel Core i3-8121U |
| LPDDR5-5500 | Memory | LPDDR4-2400, DDR4-2400 |
| 16 GB | Max. Memory | 32 GB |
| 4 (Quad Channel) | Memory channels | 2 (Dual Channel) |
| 88.0 GB/s | Max. Bandwidth | 38.4 GB/s |
| No | ECC | No |
| 2.00 MB | L2 Cache | -- |
| 4.00 MB | L3 Cache | 4.00 MB |
| 3.0 | PCIe version | 3.0 |
| 8 | PCIe lanes | 16 |
| 7.9 GB/s | PCIe Bandwidth | 15.8 GB/s |
Thermal ManagementThe TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has a TDP of 15 W, that of the Intel Core i3-8121U is 15 W. |
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| Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) | Characteristic | Intel Core i3-8121U |
| 15 W | TDP (PL1 / PBP) | 15 W |
| -- | TDP (PL2) | -- |
| -- | TDP up | -- |
| 4 W | TDP down | -- |
| 100 °C | Tjunction max. | 105 °C |
Technical detailsThe Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) has a 6.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i3-8121U cache has a total of 4.00 MB. |
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| Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) | Characteristic | Intel Core i3-8121U |
| 7 nm | Technology | 10 nm |
| Monolithic | Chip design | Monolithic |
| x86-64 (64 bit) | Instruction set (ISA) | x86-64 (64 bit) |
| SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3 | ISA extensions | SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512 |
| FF3 | Socket | BGA 1356 |
| AMD-V, SVM | Virtualization | VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d |
| Yes | AES-NI | Yes |
| SteamOS (Arch Linux) | Operating systems | Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux |
| Q4/2021 | Release date | Q2/2018 |
| -- | Release price | -- |
| show more data | show more data | |
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2C 4T @ 2.20 GHz (3.20 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!
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Rate these processors
Average performance in benchmarks
⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz |
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Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz |
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Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)
The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
@ 0.00 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz |
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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.
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Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz |
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Devices using this processor |
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| Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) | Intel Core i3-8121U |
| Valve Steam Deck | Unknown |
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