All Core i3 Models

Introduction

The Core i3 is a CPU series manufactured by Intel aimed at entry-level computers. In this tutorial, we will present a series of quick reference tables for you to compare the main differences between all models released to date.

By the way, the correct name of this line of processors is “Core i3,” not “Intel i3.”

Currently, there are three different generations of Core i3 processors available. In the table below, we describe the main differences between these generations.

Model	5xx	3xx	21xx	23xx
Market	Desktop	Mobile	Desktop	Mobile
Generation	First	First	Second	Second
Microarchitecture	Nehalem	Nehalem	Sandy Bridge	Sandy Bridge
Manufacturing Process	32 nm	32 nm	32 nm	32 nm
Number of Cores	2	2	2	2
Hyper-Threading	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
L1 cache (per core)	32 kiB+32 kiB	32 kiB+32kiB	32 kiB+32 kiB	32 kiB+32kiB
L2 cache (per core)	256 kiB	256 kiB	256 kiB	256 kiB
L3 cache (total)	4 MiB	3 MiB	3 MiB	3 MiB
DMI bus	1 GB/s	1 GB/s	2 GB/s	2 GB/s
Memory (DDR3)	1066, 1333	800, 1066	1066, 1333	1066, 1333, 1600
DDR3L and DDR3L-RS	No	No	No	No
Graphics Engine	HD Graphics	HD Graphics	HD 2000 or HD 3000	HD 3000
DirectX	10	10	10.1	10.1
Graphics Processors	6	6	6 or 12	12
Graphics Base Clock	733 MHz	166 MHz or 500 MHz	650 MHz or 850 MHz	350 MHz or 650 MHz
Graphics Boost Clock	No	500 MHz or 667 MHz	1.1 GHz	1 GHz or 1.15 GHz
Displays Supported	2	2	2	2
PCIe Controller	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
PCIe Configuration	1×16, 2×8	1×16	1×16, 2×8, 1×8, 2×4	1×16, 2×8, 1×8, 2×4
Turbo Boost	No	No	No	No
EM64T	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Virtualization	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SSE4.2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AES-NI	No	No	No	No
AVX	No	No	Yes	Yes
AVX2	No	No	No	No
Base Clock	133 MHz	133 MHz	100 MHz	100 MHz
Pinout	LGA1156	G1 or BGA1288	LGA1155	G2 or BGA1023

 

Model	32xx	3xxx	4xxx	4xxx
Market	Desktop	Mobile	Desktop	Mobile
Generation	Third	Third	Fouth	Fourth
Microarchitecture	Ivy Bridge	Ivy Bridge	Haswell	Haswell
Manufacturing Process	22 nm	22 nm	22 nm	22 nm
Number of Cores	2	2	2	2
Hyper-Threading	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
L1 cache (per core)	32 kiB+32kiB	32 kiB+32 kiB	32 kiB+32 kiB	32 kiB+32 kiB
L2 cache (per core)	256 kiB	256 kiB	256 kiB	256 kiB
L3 cache (total)	3 MiB	3 MiB	3 MiB or 4 MiB	3 MiB
DMI bus	2 GB/s	2 GB/s	2 GB/s	2 GB/s
Memory (DDR3)	1333, 1600	1333, 1600	1333, 1600	1333, 1600
DDR3L and DDR3L-RS	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Graphics Engine	HD 2500 or HD 4000	HD 4000
DirectX	11	11	11.1	11.1
Graphics Processors	6 or 12	12	HD 4400 or HD 4600	HD 4200, HD 4400, HD 4600 or Iris 5100
Graphics Base Clock	650 MHz	350 MHz or 650 MHz	HD 4400 or HD 4600	HD 4200, HD 4400, HD 4600 or Iris 5100
Graphics Boost Clock	1.05 GHz	1.05 GHz or 1 GHz	HD 4400 or HD 4600	HD 4200, HD 4400, HD 4600 or Iris 5100
Displays Supported	3	3	3	3
PCIe Controller	2.0	2.0	3.0	2.0
PCIe Configuration	1×16, 2×8, 1×8, 2×4	1×16, 2×8, 1×8, 2×4	1×16, 2×8, 1×8, 2×4	1×16, 2×8, 1×8, 2×4 ou 1×4, 4×1
Turbo Boost	No	No	No	No
EM64T	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Virtualization	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SSE4.2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AES-NI	No	No	Yes	Yes
AVX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AVX2	No	No	Yes	Yes
Base Clock	100 MHz	100 MHz	100 MHz	100 MHz
Pinout	LGA1155	G2 or BGA1023	LGA1150	FCPGA946 or FCBGA1168

Let’s now take a detailed look at all Core i3 models launched so far.