i7-640M vs i3-3120M

Place in the ranking	2428	2278
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Core i3	Intel Core i7
Power efficiency	2.89	3.54
Architecture codename	Ivy Bridge (2012−2013)	Arrandale (2010−2011)
Release date	30 September 2012 (12 years ago)	13 September 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$160	$346

Detailed specifications

Core i3-3120M and Core i7-640M 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	2.5 GHz	2.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.5 GHz	3.46 GHz
Bus type	no data	DMI 1.0
Bus rate	5 GT/s	1 × 2.5 GT/s
Multiplier	no data	21
L1 cache	64K (per core)	128 KB
L2 cache	256K (per core)	512 KB
L3 cache	3 MB (shared)	4 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	22 nm	32 nm
Die size	118 mm²	81+114 mm²
Maximum core temperature	90C (PGA); 105C (BGA)	105 °C
Number of transistors	no data	382 Million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i3-3120M and Core i7-640M 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	FCBGA1023,FCPGA988	BGA1288, PGA988
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i3-3120M and Core i7-640M. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	-	+
FMA	-	+
AVX	+	-
vPro	no data	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
My WiFi	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	+
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	+	+
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
PAE	no data	36 Bit
FDI	+	+
Fast Memory Access	+	+

Security technologies

Core i3-3120M and Core i7-640M 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 i3-3120M and Core i7-640M are enumerated here.

AMD-V	+	-
VT-d	-	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i3-3120M and Core i7-640M. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	32 GB	8 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	17.051 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card Compare	Intel HD Graphics 4000	Intel HD Graphics for Previous Generation Intel Processors
Quick Sync Video	+	-
Clear Video	no data	+
Clear Video HD	+	+
Graphics max frequency	1.1 GHz	766 MHz
InTru 3D	+	no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i3-3120M and Core i7-640M integrated GPUs.

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

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i3-3120M and Core i7-640M.

PCIe version	2.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	16	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.

i3-3120M 1.07

i7-640M 1.31
+22.4%

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.

i3-3120M 1696

i7-640M 2078
+22.5%

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.

i3-3120M 399

i7-640M 427
+7%

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.

i3-3120M 821
+1.7%

i7-640M 807

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.

i3-3120M 3428

i7-640M 3708
+8.2%

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.

i3-3120M 6867

i7-640M 7906
+15.1%

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.

i3-3120M 3057

i7-640M 3307
+8.2%

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.

i3-3120M 22.02

i7-640M 17.62
+25%

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.

i3-3120M 2

i7-640M 3
+2.4%

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.

i3-3120M 0.96

i7-640M 1.06
+10.4%

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.

i3-3120M 0.3

i7-640M 1.3
+420%