Introduction
Contents
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.
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