Athlon X4 970 vs Pentium G3420

Primary Details

Comparing Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	2189	1930
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation	0.33	no data
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Architecture codename	Haswell (2013−2015)	Bristol Ridge (2016−2019)
Release date	1 September 2013 (10 years ago)	27 July 2017 (6 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$252	no data
Current price	$29 (0.1x MSRP)	$59

Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Detailed Specifications

Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 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)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	2	4
Base clock speed	3.2 GHz	3.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.2 GHz	4 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	128 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	512 KB (per core)
L3 cache	3 MB (shared)	0 KB
Chip lithography	22 nm	28 nm
Die size	177 mm2	246 mm2
Maximum core temperature	72 °C	no data
Maximum case temperature (TCase)	72 °C	74 °C
Number of transistors	1,400 million	1,178 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	Yes

Compatibility

Information on Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 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	FCLGA1150	AM4
Power consumption (TDP)	53 Watt	65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2	no data
AES-NI	-	+
FMA	no data	+
AVX	no data	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	no data
TSX	-	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	no data
SIPP	-	no data
Status	Discontinued	no data

Security technologies

Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	-	no data
EDB	+	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR4 Dual-channel
Maximum memory size	32 GB	no data
Max memory channels	2	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	no data
ECC memory support	+	no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	Intel® HD Graphics for 4th Generation Intel® Processors	no data
Max video memory	1.7 GB	no data
Quick Sync Video	+	no data
Graphics max frequency	1.15 GHz	no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 integrated GPUs.

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

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.4	1920x1080@60Hz	no data
Max resolution over eDP	2560x1600@60Hz	no data
Max resolution over DisplayPort	2560x1600@60Hz	no data
Max resolution over VGA	1920x1200@60Hz	no data

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX	11.1/12	no data
OpenGL	4.3	no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970.

PCIe version	Up to 3.0	no data
PCI Express lanes	16	no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

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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.

Athlon X4 970 outperforms Pentium G3420 by 37% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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Pros & Cons Summary

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Performance score	1.25	1.71
Recency	1 September 2013	27 July 2017
Physical cores	2	4
Threads	2	4
Chip lithography	22 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	53 Watt	65 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium G3420 and Athlon X4 970, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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