Core i3-N305 vs Pentium 987
Primary details
Comparing Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | not rated | 982 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | Intel Pentium | no data |
| Architecture codename | Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) | Alder Lake-N |
| Release date | 1 February 2013 (11 years ago) | 3 January 2023 (1 year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $134 | no data |
Detailed specifications
Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 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) | 8 (Octa-Core) |
| Threads | 2 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | 1.5 GHz | 0.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1.5 GHz | 3.8 GHz |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | 96 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | 2 MB (per module) |
| L3 cache | 2 MB (shared) | 6 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | Intel 7 nm |
| Die size | 131 mm2 | no data |
| Maximum core temperature | 100 °C | 105 °C |
| Number of transistors | 504 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | No | No |
Compatibility
Information on Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 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 |
| Socket | FCBGA1023 | FCBGA1264 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 17 Watt | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 |
| AES-NI | - | + |
| FMA | + | + |
| AVX | no data | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| My WiFi | - | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | - | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | - | - |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | + |
| Flex Memory Access | + | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | - | no data |
| GPIO | no data | + |
| FDI | + | no data |
| Fast Memory Access | + | no data |
| Status | Discontinued | Launched |
Security technologies
Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | - | + |
| EDB | + | no data |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
| Anti-Theft | - | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | - | + |
| VT-x | - | + |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4, DDR5 |
| Maximum memory size | 16.38 GB | 16 GB |
| Max memory channels | 2 | 1 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 21.3 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | - | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors | Intel UHD Graphics |
| Quick Sync Video | - | + |
| Graphics max frequency | 1 GHz | 1.25 GHz |
| Execution Units | no data | 32 |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 2 | 3 |
| eDP | + | no data |
| DisplayPort | + | no data |
| HDMI | + | no data |
| SDVO | + | no data |
| CRT | + | no data |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| 4K resolution support | no data | + |
| Max resolution over HDMI 1.4 | no data | 4096 x 2160@60Hz |
| Max resolution over DisplayPort | no data | 4096 x 2160@60Hz |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305 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 Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 16 | 9 |
| USB revision | no data | 2.0/3.2 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
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-N305 outperforms Pentium 987 by 1460% in Passmark.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 19%
Core i3-N305 outperforms Pentium 987 by 511% in 3DMark06 CPU.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 18%
Pentium 987 outperforms Core i3-N305 by 34% in wPrime 32.
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-N305 outperforms Pentium 987 by 903% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-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-N305 outperforms Pentium 987 by 247% 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-N305 outperforms Pentium 987 by 5400% 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-N305 outperforms Pentium 987 by 205% in WinRAR 4.0.
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 1 February 2013 | 3 January 2023 |
| Physical cores | 2 | 8 |
| Threads | 2 | 8 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 17 Watt | 15 Watt |
We couldn't decide between Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium 987 and Core i3-N305, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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