Core i3-3120M vs Core 2 Extreme QX9300

Place in the ranking	2374	2407
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Core 2 Extreme	Intel Core i3
Power efficiency	2.39	2.89
Architecture codename	Penryn (2008−2011)	Ivy Bridge (2012−2013)
Release date	August 2008 (16 years ago)	30 September 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$160

Detailed specifications

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M 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)	2 (Dual-core)
Threads	4	4
Base clock speed	2.53 GHz	2.5 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.53 GHz	2.5 GHz
Bus rate	1066 MHz	5 GT/s
L1 cache	64 KB	64K (per core)
L2 cache	12 MB	256K (per core)
L3 cache	0 KB	3 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	45 nm	22 nm
Die size	2x 107 mm²	118 mm²
Maximum core temperature	100 °C	90C (PGA); 105C (BGA)
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	+	-
VID voltage range	1.05V-1.175V	no data

Compatibility

Information on Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M 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	2	1
Socket	PGA478	FCBGA1023,FCPGA988
Power consumption (TDP)	45 Watt	35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	no data	Intel® AVX
AVX	-	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
My WiFi	no data	+
Turbo Boost Technology	-	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	+
Idle States	no data	+
Thermal Monitoring	-	+
Flex Memory Access	no data	+
Demand Based Switching	-	-
FDI	no data	+
Fast Memory Access	no data	+
AMT	+	no data
FSB parity	-	no data

Security technologies

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	-
EDB	+	+
Identity Protection	-	+
Anti-Theft	no data	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M are enumerated here.

AMD-V	-	+
VT-d	no data	-
VT-x	+	+
EPT	no data	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	no data	DDR3
Maximum memory size	no data	32 GB
Max memory channels	no data	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	no data	25.6 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	no data	Intel HD Graphics 4000
Quick Sync Video	-	+
Clear Video HD	no data	+
Graphics max frequency	no data	1.1 GHz
InTru 3D	no data	+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported	no data	3
eDP	no data	+
DisplayPort	-	+
HDMI	-	+
SDVO	no data	+
CRT	no data	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core i3-3120M.

PCIe version	no data	2.0
PCI Express lanes	no data	16

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 2 Extreme QX9300 1.18
+6.3%

i3-3120M 1.11

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.

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 1805
+6.1%

i3-3120M 1701

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.

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 3114

i3-3120M 3428
+10.1%

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.

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 10882
+58.5%

i3-3120M 6867

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 3780
+23.7%

i3-3120M 3057

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 15.74
+39.9%

i3-3120M 22.02

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.

Core 2 Extreme QX9300 3
+6.9%

i3-3120M 2