Ryzen 9 3900XT vs Athlon II X2 280
Aggregate performance score
Ryzen 9 3900XT outperforms Athlon II X2 280 by a whopping 2291% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2838 | 373 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 4.52 | 22.65 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Series | no data | AMD Ryzen 9 |
| Power efficiency | 0.50 | 7.46 |
| Designer | AMD | AMD |
| Manufacturer | no data | TSMC |
| Architecture codename | Regor (2009−2013) | Matisse 2 (2020) |
| Release date | 6 February 2013 (12 years ago) | 16 June 2020 (5 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $100 | $499 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Ryzen 9 3900XT has 401% better value for money than Athlon II X2 280.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
Athlon II X2 280 and Ryzen 9 3900XT basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 2 (Dual-core) | 12 (Dodeca-Core) |
| Threads | 2 | 24 |
| Base clock speed | 3.6 GHz | 3.8 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.6 GHz | 4.7 GHz |
| L1 cache | 128 KB | 768 KB |
| L2 cache | 1 MB | 6 MB |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 64 MB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 7 nm, 12 nm |
| Die size | 117 mm2 | 74 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 95 °C |
| Number of transistors | 410 million | 3,800 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Athlon II X2 280 and Ryzen 9 3900XT compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 1 | 1 |
| Socket | AM3 | AM4 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 105 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Ryzen 9 3900XT. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| AES-NI | - | + |
| AVX | - | + |
| Precision Boost 2 | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Ryzen 9 3900XT are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | - | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Ryzen 9 3900XT. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR2, DDR3 | DDR4-3200 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 128 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 51.196 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | - | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Ryzen 9 3900XT.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 4.0 |
Synthetic benchmarks
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
GeekBench 5 Single-Core
GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.
GeekBench 5 Multi-Core
GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.77 | 18.41 |
| Recency | 6 February 2013 | 16 June 2020 |
| Physical cores | 2 | 12 |
| Threads | 2 | 24 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 7 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 105 Watt |
Athlon II X2 280 has 61.5% lower power consumption.
Ryzen 9 3900XT, on the other hand, has a 2290.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, 500% more physical cores and 1100% more threads, and a 542.9% more advanced lithography process.
The AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT is our recommended choice as it beats the AMD Athlon II X2 280 in performance tests.
Other comparisons
We've compiled a selection of CPU comparisons, ranging from closely matched processors to other comparisons that may be of interest.
