AMD Athlon 300U vs Intel Core i3-8121U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks

-VS-

CPU lineage

AMD Athlon 300U or AMD Athlon 300U – which processor offers superior performance? In this comparison, we examine disparities and assess which of these two CPUs outperforms the other. We delve into technical specifications and benchmark outcomes.
The AMD Athlon 300U features 2 processor cores and has the capability to manage 4 threads concurrently.
It was released in Q1/2019 and belongs to the 6 generation of the AMD Athlon series.
To use the AMD Athlon 300U, you'll need a motherboard with a FP5 socket.
The Intel Core i3-8121U features 2 processor cores and has the capability to manage 4 threads concurrently.
It was released in Q2/2018 and belongs to the 8 generation of the Intel Core i3 series.
To use the Intel Core i3-8121U, you'll need a motherboard with a BGA 1356 socket.
AMD Athlon 300 Group Intel Core i 8000U
6 Generation 8
AMD Athlon 300U Name Intel Core i3-8121U
Mobile Segment Mobile
AMD Athlon Family Intel Core i3
 
 

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The AMD Athlon 300U has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel.
The clock frequency of the AMD Athlon 300U is 2.4 GHz
and turbo frequency for one core is 3.3 GHz.
The Intel Core i3-8121U has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel.
The clock frequency of the Intel Core i3-8121U is 2.2 GHz
and turbo frequency for one core is 3.2 GHz.
2.4 GHz Turbo Frequency (all cores) 2.7 GHz
3.3 GHz Turbo Frequency (1 core) 3.2 GHz
normal Core architecture normal
2.4 GHz Frequency 2.2 GHz
2 CPU Cores 2
No Overclocking No
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
2x Cores 2x
4 Threads 4
 
 

Internal Graphics

The AMD Athlon 300U has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short.
Specifically, the AMD Athlon 300U uses the AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics, which has 192 texture shaders
and 3 execution units.
The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.
The Intel Core i3-8121U does not have integrated graphics.
-- GPU (Turbo) --
14 nm Technology --
12 Direct X --
2.0 GB Max. GPU Memory 0 bytes
3 Execution units --
Q1/2018 Release date --
AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics GPU name
192 Shaders --
1.0 GHz GPU frequency --
8 Generation --
-- Max. displays --
 
 

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

-- AI specifications --
-- AI hardware --
 
 

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.
Decode / Encode h265 / HEVC (8 bit) --
Decode / Encode VP9 --
Decode / Encode VP8 --
Decode VC-1 --
Decode / Encode JPEG --
Decode / Encode h264 --
Decode / Encode h265 / HEVC (10 bit) --
Decode / Encode AVC --
No AV1 --
 
 

Memory & PCIe

The processor supports a maximum memory capacity of 32.0 GB distributed across 2 memory channels. It offers a peak memory bandwidth of 38.4 GB/s. Both the type and quantity of memory can have a substantial impact on the overall system performance.
DDR4-2400 Memory type DDR4-2400, LPDDR4-2400
38.4 GB/s Bandwidth 38.4 GB/s
Yes AES-NI Yes
Yes ECC No
pci PCIe pci
32.0 GB Max. Memory 32.0 GB
2 Memory channels 2
 
 

Thermal Management

The processor has a thermal design power (TDP) of 15 W watts.
TDP indicates the cooling solution needed to effectively manage the processor's heat. It generally provides an approximate indication of the actual power consumption of the CPU itself.
15 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 15 W
105 °C Tjunction max 105 °C
 
 

Technical details

The AMD Athlon 300U is manufactured using a 12 nm process.
A smaller manufacturing process indicates a more contemporary and energy-efficient CPU.
In total, this processor boasts a generous 4.0 MB cache.
A substantial cache can significantly enhance the processor's performance, particularly in scenarios like gaming.
The Intel Core i3-8121U is manufactured using a 10 nm process.
AMD-V, SVM Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
12 nm Technology 10 nm
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, FMA3, AVX2 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512
-- Part Number --
-- Chip design Monolithic
Q1/2019 Release date Q2/2018
-- Release price --
0 bytes L2-Cache 0 bytes
Technical data sheet Documents Technical data sheet
4.0 MB L3-Cache 4.0 MB
FP5 Socket BGA 1356
Operating systems Windows 10, Linux, Windows 11
Picasso (Zen+) Architecture Cannon Lake U
 
 

Benchmarks

Geekbench 3, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.2 GHz
7794
7794
AMD Athlon 300U
2C 4T @ 2.4 GHz
5960
5960

Geekbench 3, 64bit (Single-Core)

Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.2 GHz
4078
4078
AMD Athlon 300U
2C 4T @ 2.4 GHz
3045
3045

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.2 GHz
2414
2414
AMD Athlon 300U
2C 4T @ 2.4 GHz
1967
1967

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.2 GHz
1987
1987
AMD Athlon 300U
2C 4T @ 2.4 GHz
1723
1723

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.2 GHz
1114
1114
AMD Athlon 300U
2C 4T @ 2.4 GHz
962
962

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

AMD Athlon 300U
2C 4T @ 2.4 GHz
344
344
Intel Core i3-8121U
2C 4T @ 2.2 GHz
305
305