Intel Core i3-8121U Benchmark, Test and specs

Last updated: 2023-04-13

The Intel Core i3-8121U has 2 cores with 4 threads and is based on the 8. gen of the Intel Core i3 series. The processor uses a mainboard with the BGA 1356 socket and was released in Q2/2018. The Intel Core i3-8121U scores 810 points in the Geekbench 5 single-core benchmark. In the Geekbench 5 multi-core benchmark, the result is 1,987 points.

CPU lineage The segment in which we have classified the Intel Core i3-8121U. Here you can see if it is a desktop processor or a mobile processor or which processor may be the successor of the Intel Core i3-8121U.
Name:	Intel Core i3-8121U
Family:	Intel Core i3
CPU group:	Intel Core i 8000U
Segment:	Mobile
Generation:	8
Predecessor:	--
Successor:	--

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i3-8121U has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i3-8121U is 2.20 GHz (3.20 GHz). The number of CPU cores greatly affects the speed of the processor and is an important performance indicator.

CPU Cores / Threads:	2 / 4
Core architecture:	normal
Cores:	2x

Hyperthreading / SMT:	Yes
Overclocking:	No
Frequency:	2.20 GHz
Turbo Frequency (1 Core):	3.20 GHz
Turbo Frequency (2 Cores):	2.70 GHz

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.

AI hardware:	--
AI specifications:	--

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i3-8121U has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. Specifically, the Intel Core i3-8121U uses the no iGPU, which has texture shaders and execution units. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

GPU name:	no iGPU
GPU frequency:
GPU (Turbo):	No turbo
Execution units:
Shader:
Max. GPU Memory:	--

Max. displays:
Generation:
Direct X:	--
Technology:
Release date:

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.

h265 / HEVC (8 bit):	No
h265 / HEVC (10 bit):	No
h264:	No
VP8:	No
VP9:	No

AV1:	No
AVC:	No
VC-1:	No
JPEG:	No

Memory & PCIe The processor can use up to 32 GB memory in 2 (Dual Channel) memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 38.4 GB/s. The memory type as well as the amount of memory can greatly affect the speed of the system.

Memory type:	DDR4-2400 LPDDR4-2400
Max. Memory:	32 GB
Memory channels:	2 (Dual Channel)
Bandwidth:	38.4 GB/s
ECC:	No
PCIe:	3.0 x 16
AES-NI:	Yes

Thermal Management The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the processor is 15 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently. The TDP usually gives a rough idea of the actual power consumption of the CPU.

TDP (PL1 / PBP):	15 W
TDP (PL2):	--
TDP up:	--
TDP down:	--
Tjunction max.:	105 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i3-8121U is made in 10 nm. The smaller the manufacturing process of a CPU, the more modern and energy-efficient it is. Overall, the processor has 4.00 MB cache. A large cache can greatly speed up the processor's speed in some cases such as games.

Technology:	10 nm
Chip design:	Monolithic
Socket:	BGA 1356
L2-Cache:	--
L3-Cache:	4.00 MB
Architecture:	Cannon Lake U
Operating systems:	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux

Virtualization:	VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Instruction set (ISA):	x86-64 (64 bit)
ISA extensions:	SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512
Release date:	Q2/2018
Release price:	--
Part Number:	--
Documents:	Technical data sheet

Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.20 GHz (3.20 GHz)

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Benchmark results

The benchmark results for the Intel Core i3-8121U have been carefully checked by us. We only publish benchmark results that have been created by us or that have been submitted by a visitor and then checked by a team member. All results are based on and fullfill our benchmark guidelines.

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.


	AMD Ryzen 7 1700 8C 16T @ 3.70 GHz	1117
	Intel Core i5-4590S 4C 4T @ 3.70 GHz	1116
	AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 1700X 8C 16T @ 3.70 GHz	1115
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz	1114
	MediaTek Dimensity 1200 8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz	1114
	Intel Core i5-4570 4C 4T @ 3.60 GHz	1114
	Intel Core i5-7360U 2C 4T @ 3.60 GHz	1112

Show all Geekbench 6 (Single-Core) results

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 Atom C5325 8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz	2418
	Intel Core i7-2700K 4C 8T @ 3.90 GHz	2418
	Intel Core i7-3770 4C 8T @ 3.90 GHz	2418
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz	2414
	Intel Core i3-8140U 2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz	2403
	Intel Core i3-4360 2C 4T @ 3.70 GHz	2398
	Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus 8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz	2397

Show all Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core) results

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 i3-4130 2C 4T @ 3.40 GHz	812
	Intel Core i5-3470T 2C 4T @ 3.60 GHz	811
	Intel Xeon E5-2650 v4 12C 24T @ 2.90 GHz	811
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz	810
	Intel Core i5-2550k 4C 4T @ 3.80 GHz	810
	Intel Core i5-4300M 2C 4T @ 3.30 GHz	808
	Intel Core i7-2600K 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	808

Show all Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core) results

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 i3-4360 2C 4T @ 3.70 GHz	2001
	AMD FX-6200 6C 6T @ 4.10 GHz	1992
	Intel Atom x6413E 4C 4T @ 2.40 GHz	1988
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz	1987
	Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G 8C 8T @ 2.80 GHz	1975
	Intel Core i3-8140U 2C 4T @ 3.10 GHz	1974
	Intel Core i5-2400S 4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz	1966

Show all Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core) results

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 i3-6320 2C 4T @ 3.90 GHz	4400
	Intel Pentium Gold G6505 2C 4T @ 4.20 GHz	4400
	Intel Pentium Gold G6600 2C 4T @ 4.20 GHz	4400
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz	4395
	AMD FX-4200 4C 4T @ 3.30 GHz	4395
	Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G 8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz	4389
	Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus 8C 8T @ 2.96 GHz	4389

Show all Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark results

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 i5-4570 4C 4T @ 3.60 GHz	140
	Intel Core i5-4570S 4C 4T @ 3.60 GHz	140
	Intel Xeon E3-1225 v3 4C 4T @ 3.60 GHz	140
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz	139
	AMD Athlon 3000G 2C 4T @ 3.50 GHz	139
	Intel Core i5-8400T 6C 6T @ 3.30 GHz	139
	Intel Xeon Gold 5119T 14C 28T @ 3.20 GHz	139

Show all Cinebench R15 (Single-Core) results

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.


	AMD A8-6600K 4C 4T @ 4.20 GHz	306
	Intel Core i3-3240 2C 4T @ 3.40 GHz	306
	Intel Core i3-3245 2C 4T @ 3.40 GHz	306
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz	305
	AMD Phenom II X4 B95 4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz	304
	AMD Phenom II X4 945 4C 4T @ 3.00 GHz	304
	AMD A10-9700 4C 4T @ 3.50 GHz	303

Show all Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core) results

Geekbench 3, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 3 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 i3-7300 2C 4T @ 4.00 GHz	4096
	Intel Xeon E5-1680 v3 8C 16T @ 3.80 GHz	4096
	Intel Core i7-5775R 4C 8T @ 3.80 GHz	4083
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz	4078
	Intel Core i7-6700T 4C 8T @ 3.60 GHz	4060
	Intel Core i5-7500 4C 4T @ 3.80 GHz	4055
	Intel Core i3-4370 2C 4T @ 3.80 GHz	4051

Show all Geekbench 3, 64bit (Single-Core) results

Geekbench 3, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 3 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 i5-7300U 2C 4T @ 3.50 GHz	7943
	Intel Core i3-4150 2C 4T @ 3.50 GHz	7830
	Intel Pentium G4600 2C 4T @ 3.60 GHz	7816
	Intel Core i3-8121U 2C 4T @ 2.70 GHz	7794
	AMD FX-6100 6C 6T @ 3.90 GHz	7737
	AMD Athlon X4 835 4C 4T @ 3.40 GHz	7673
	Intel Core i5-4590T 4C 4T @ 2.50 GHz	7662

Show all Geekbench 3, 64bit (Multi-Core) results

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (SC)
1,597 entries

Geekbench 6 (MC)
1,546 entries

Geekbench 5 (SC)
2,357 entries

Geekbench 5 (MC)
2,330 entries

PassMark CPU-Mark
2,290 entries

Cinebench R15 (SC)
1,098 entries

Cinebench R15 (MC)
1,093 entries

Geekbench 3 (SC)
941 entries

Geekbench 3 (MC)
937 entries

Leaderboards

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