Core i3-8121U vs Core 2 Duo E4600
Aggregate performance score
Core i3-8121U outperforms Core 2 Duo E4600 by a whopping 450% 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 | 3190 | 1979 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Intel Core i3 |
| Power efficiency | 0.73 | no data |
| Designer | Intel | Intel |
| Manufacturer | no data | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Allendale (2006−2009) | Coffee Lake-U (2018−2019) |
| Release date | October 2007 (18 years ago) | 5 May 2018 (7 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Core 2 Duo E4600 and Core i3-8121U 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) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 2 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | 2.4 GHz | 2.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.4 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| Bus type | no data | OPI |
| Bus rate | 800 MHz | 4 GT/s |
| Multiplier | no data | 22 |
| L1 cache | 64 KB | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 2 MB | 256K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 4 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 65 nm | 10 nm |
| Die size | 111 mm2 | 123 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 73 °C | 105 °C |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 72 °C |
| Number of transistors | 167 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| VID voltage range | 0.85V-1.5V | no data |
Compatibility
Information on Core 2 Duo E4600 and Core i3-8121U 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 (Uniprocessor) |
| Socket | LGA775 | Intel BGA1440 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core 2 Duo E4600 and Core i3-8121U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | - | + |
| AVX | - | + |
| vPro | no data | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| QuickAssist | no data | - |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| My WiFi | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | - | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | - | + |
| Idle States | + | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | + |
| Flex Memory Access | no data | + |
| Smart Response | no data | + |
| Demand Based Switching | - | - |
| FSB parity | - | no data |
| HD Audio | no data | + |
| RST | no data | + |
Security technologies
Core 2 Duo E4600 and Core i3-8121U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | - | - |
| EDB | + | + |
| Secure Key | no data | + |
| MPX | - | + |
| SGX | no data | - |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core 2 Duo E4600 and Core i3-8121U are enumerated here.
| VT-d | no data | + |
| VT-x | - | + |
| VT-i | no data | - |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core 2 Duo E4600 and Core i3-8121U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR1, DDR2, DDR3 | DDR4 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 32 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 38.397 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | Iris Pro Plus |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core 2 Duo E4600 and Core i3-8121U.
| PCIe version | no data | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 16 |
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 | 0.44 | 2.42 |
| Threads | 2 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 65 nm | 10 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 15 Watt |
i3-8121U has a 450% higher aggregate performance score, 100% more threads, a 550% more advanced lithography process, and 333.3% lower power consumption.
The Intel Core i3-8121U is our recommended choice as it beats the Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 in performance tests.
Note that Core 2 Duo E4600 is a desktop processor while Core i3-8121U is a notebook one.
Other comparisons
We've compiled a selection of CPU comparisons, ranging from closely matched processors to other comparisons that may be of interest.
