Pentium Gold 5405U vs i3-2120

Place in the ranking	2322	2165
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.14	no data
Market segment	Desktop processor	Laptop
Series	no data	Intel Pentium, Pentium Gold
Power efficiency	1.79	9.34
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Whiskey Lake-U (2018−2019)
Release date	20 February 2011 (13 years ago)	23 January 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$95	$161

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U 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	4	4
Base clock speed	3.3 GHz	2.3 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.3 GHz	2.3 GHz
Bus type	no data	OPI
Bus rate	5 GT/s	4 GT/s
Multiplier	no data	23
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	3 MB (shared)	2 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	32 nm	14 nm
Die size	131 mm²	no data
Maximum core temperature	69 °C	100 °C
Number of transistors	504 million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	+

Compatibility

Information on Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U 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	FCLGA1155	FCBGA1528
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	-	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Speed Shift	no data	+
My WiFi	no data	+
Turbo Boost Technology	-	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	+	+
Smart Response	no data	+
FDI	+	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data

Security technologies

Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	-
EDB	+	+
Secure Key	no data	+
Identity Protection	+	+
SGX	no data	Yes with Intel® ME
OS Guard	no data	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U are enumerated here.

VT-d	-	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3, DDR4
Maximum memory size	32 GB	64 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	21 GB/s	38.397 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card Compare	Intel HD Graphics 2000	Intel UHD Graphics for 8th Generation Intel Processors
Max video memory	no data	32 GB
Quick Sync Video	+	+
Clear Video	no data	+
Clear Video HD	+	+
Graphics max frequency	1.1 GHz	950 MHz
InTru 3D	+	no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported	2	3
eDP	no data	+
DisplayPort	-	+
HDMI	-	+
DVI	no data	+

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support	no data	+
Max resolution over HDMI 1.4	no data	4096x2304@24Hz
Max resolution over eDP	no data	4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort	no data	4096x2304@60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX	no data	12
OpenGL	no data	4.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U.

PCIe version	2.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	16	12

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.

i3-2120 1.23

Pentium Gold 5405U 1.48
+20.3%

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.

i3-2120 1955

Pentium Gold 5405U 2357
+20.6%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.23	1.48
Integrated graphics card	0.55	5.58
Recency	20 February 2011	23 January 2019
Chip lithography	32 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	15 Watt

Pentium Gold 5405U has a 20.3% higher aggregate performance score, 914.5% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 7 years, a 128.6% more advanced lithography process, and 333.3% lower power consumption.

The Pentium Gold 5405U is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i3-2120 in performance tests.

Note that Core i3-2120 is a desktop processor while Pentium Gold 5405U is a notebook one.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core i3-2120 and Pentium Gold 5405U, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.