Phenom II X3 N870 vs Athlon II X4 638
Aggregate performance score
Athlon II X4 638 outperforms Phenom II X3 N870 by a substantial 34% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Athlon II X4 638 and Phenom II X3 N870 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2188 | 2414 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | no data | 3x AMD Phenom II |
| Power efficiency | 2.06 | 2.87 |
| Architecture codename | Llano (2011−2012) | Champlain (2010−2011) |
| Release date | 6 February 2012 (12 years ago) | 16 December 2010 (13 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Athlon II X4 638 and Phenom II X3 N870 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 | 4 (Quad-Core) | 3 (Tri-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 3 |
| Base clock speed | 2.7 GHz | no data |
| Boost clock speed | 2.7 GHz | 2.3 GHz |
| Bus rate | no data | 3600 MHz |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 384 KB |
| L2 cache | 1 MB (per core) | 1.5 MB |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | no data |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | 228 mm2 | no data |
| Number of transistors | 1,178 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Athlon II X4 638 and Phenom II X3 N870 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 | no data |
| Socket | FM1 | S1 (S1g4) |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 35 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon II X4 638 and Phenom II X3 N870. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | 86x MMX(+), 3DNow!(+), SSE(1,2,3,4A),-64, AMD-V |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Athlon II X4 638 and Phenom II X3 N870 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon II X4 638 and Phenom II X3 N870. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR3 |
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.47 | 1.10 |
| Recency | 6 February 2012 | 16 December 2010 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 3 |
| Threads | 4 | 3 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 45 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 35 Watt |
Athlon II X4 638 has a 33.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, 33.3% more physical cores and 33.3% more threads, and a 40.6% more advanced lithography process.
Phenom II X3 N870, on the other hand, has 85.7% lower power consumption.
The Athlon II X4 638 is our recommended choice as it beats the Phenom II X3 N870 in performance tests.
Note that Athlon II X4 638 is a desktop processor while Phenom II X3 N870 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Athlon II X4 638 and Phenom II X3 N870, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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