Core i3-1215U vs Atom x5-Z8500
Aggregate performance score
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by a whopping 789% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 2507 | 925 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 20 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | 5x Intel Atom | Intel Alder Lake-M |
| Architecture codename | Cherry Trail (2016) | Alder Lake-U (2022) |
| Release date | 2 March 2015 (9 years ago) | 23 February 2022 (2 years ago) |
| Current price | $191 | no data |
Detailed specifications
Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U 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) | 6 (Hexa-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | 1.44 GHz | 1.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.24 GHz | 4.4 GHz |
| L1 cache | no data | 80K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 2 MB | 1.25 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 10 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | Intel 7 nm |
| Maximum core temperature | 90 °C | 100 °C |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | No | No |
Compatibility
Information on Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U 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 (Uniprocessor) | 1 |
| Socket | UTFCBGA1380 | FCBGA1744 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | no data | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| FMA | no data | + |
| AVX | no data | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| TSX | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | no data | + |
| Flex Memory Access | no data | + |
| Status | Discontinued | Launched |
Security technologies
Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | no data | + |
| EDB | no data | + |
| Secure Boot | + | no data |
| Secure Key | no data | + |
| Identity Protection | + | no data |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U are enumerated here.
| VT-d | no data | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4, DDR5 |
| Maximum memory size | 8 GB | 64 GB |
| Max memory channels | 2 | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 25.6 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | no data | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel HD Graphics | Intel® UHD Graphics for 12th Gen Intel® Processors |
| Max video memory | 8 GB | no data |
| Quick Sync Video | no data | + |
| Graphics max frequency | 600 MHz | 1.1 GHz |
| Execution Units | 12 | 64 |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 3 | 4 |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| Max resolution over HDMI 1.4 | 3840x2160 | 4096 x 2304 @ 60Hz |
| Max resolution over eDP | 2560x1600 | 4096 x 2304 @ 120Hz |
| Max resolution over DisplayPort | no data | 7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | no data | 12.1 |
| OpenGL | no data | 4.6 |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 2 | 20 |
| USB revision | 3.0 | no data |
| Number of USB ports | 3 | no data |
Synthetic benchmark performance
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. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 789% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 68%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 790% in Passmark.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 42%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 989% in GeekBench 5 Single-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.
Benchmark coverage: 42%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 906% in GeekBench 5 Multi-Core.
Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core
Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.
Benchmark coverage: 20%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 576% in Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core.
Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core
Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.
Benchmark coverage: 19%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 445% in Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core.
Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core
Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.
Benchmark coverage: 17%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 733% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core.
Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core
Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.
Benchmark coverage: 15%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 660% in Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core.
Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core
Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.
Benchmark coverage: 15%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 513% in Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core.
Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core
Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.
Benchmark coverage: 14%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 549% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core.
TrueCrypt AES
TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.
Benchmark coverage: 13%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 1713% in TrueCrypt AES.
WinRAR 4.0
WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.
Benchmark coverage: 13%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 811% in WinRAR 4.0.
x264 encoding pass 2
x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.
Benchmark coverage: 13%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 593% in x264 encoding pass 2.
x264 encoding pass 1
x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.
Benchmark coverage: 13%
Core i3-1215U outperforms Atom x5-Z8500 by 445% in x264 encoding pass 1.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.80 | 7.11 |
| Recency | 2 March 2015 | 23 February 2022 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 6 |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
The Core i3-1215U is our recommended choice as it beats the Atom x5-Z8500 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Atom x5-Z8500 and Core i3-1215U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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