A8-3870K vs. Core i3-2105 CPU Review

How We Tested

During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions, the only variable device was the CPU being tested and the motherboard, which had to be replaced to match the different CPU sockets.

Hardware Configuration

• Motherboard (Socket FM1): Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H (F5 BIOS)
• Motherboard (Socket LGA1155): Intel DH67BL (1050 BIOS)
• CPU Cooler: Intel/AMD stock
• Memory: 4 GB DDR3-1866, two G.Skill Ripjaws XF3-14900CL9D-4GBXL memory modules
• Hard Disk Drive: Western Digital Black Caviar 1 TB (WD1001FALS, SATA-300, 7,200 rpm, 32 MB buffer)
• Video Card: Radeon HD 6570 (used on only some tests)
• Video Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 932BW
• Power Supply: OCZ StealthXStream 400 W

Operating System Configuration

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• NTFS
• Video resolution: 1440×90 60 Hz

Driver Versions

• AMD video driver version: 11.12
• AMD chipset driver version: 8.863
• Intel video driver version: 8.15.10.2559
• Intel Inf chipset driver version: 9.2.0.1030

Software Used

• PCMark 7 1.0.4
• VirtualDub 1.9.5 + MPEG-2 Plugin 3.1 + DivX 6.9.2
• Media Espresso 6.5
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended + GamingHeaven Photoshop Benchmark V3
• Adobe After Effects CS4
• WinZip 15.5
• iTunes 10.2
• Cinebench 11.529
• Call of Duty 4 – Patch 1.7
• Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty &nda
  sh; Patch 1.4.2
• Far Cry 2 – Patch 1.03
• Battlefield 3
• 3DMark 11 1.0.1

Error Margin

We adopted a 3% error margin. Thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.