Athlon II X3 420e vs Phenom II X4 905e
Aggregate performance score
Phenom II X4 905e outperforms Athlon II X3 420e by a significant 24% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2323 | 2475 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.08 | 0.09 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Series | 4x Phenom II (Desktop) | no data |
| Power efficiency | 1.78 | 2.06 |
| Architecture codename | Deneb (2009−2011) | Rana (2009−2011) |
| Release date | 2 June 2009 (15 years ago) | 21 September 2010 (14 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $212 | $116 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Athlon II X3 420e has 13% better value for money than Phenom II X4 905e.
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e 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) | 3 (Tri-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 3 |
| Base clock speed | 2.5 GHz | 2.6 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.5 GHz | 2.6 GHz |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 128 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 512 KB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 6 MB (shared) | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | 258 mm2 | 169 mm2 |
| Number of transistors | 758 million | 300 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e 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 | AM3 | AM3 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 45 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | 45 nm, 1.25 | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR3 |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | On certain motherboards (Chipset feature) | no data |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
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.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.22 | 0.98 |
| Recency | 2 June 2009 | 21 September 2010 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 3 |
| Threads | 4 | 3 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 45 Watt |
Phenom II X4 905e has a 24.5% higher aggregate performance score, and 33.3% more physical cores and 33.3% more threads.
Athlon II X3 420e, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year, and 44.4% lower power consumption.
The Phenom II X4 905e is our recommended choice as it beats the Athlon II X3 420e in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom II X4 905e and Athlon II X3 420e, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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