Celeron G3900 CPU Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
Today we tested the Celeron G3900, which has two cores, 2.8 GHz clock, and is based on the Skylake microarchitecture, being one of the most inexpensive CPUs based on LGA1151 socket. Let’s see if is it a good option for a basic computer.
Usually, when Intel launches a new platform, high-end models are the first ones to be publicized and, soon after, quietly, value models from the same family appear on the market. With the Skylake family (Core i sixth generation) wasn’t different: between the first models announced were the Core i7-6700K and the Core i5-6600K; then appeared simpler models like the Core i5-6400, Core i3-6100, Pentium G4400, and finally the Celeron models, which are the most inexpensive CPUs from this family.
Entry (low-end) CPUs are usually fitted for inexpensive computers aimed on office or simple home tasks, like text editing and web browsing, which don’t demand high computing power.
The Celeron G3900 has two cores, 2.8 GHz base clock (no turbo clock), Intel HD 510 graphics engine, and uses LGA1151 socket. Actually, there are no big differences between Celeron and Pentium LGA1151 families; Celeron models have a lower clock and less L3 cache memory, only.
Figure 1 shows the Celeron G3900 package.

Figure 1: the box of the Celeron G3900

Figure 2 shows the package contents: a manual, a case sticker, the CPU itself, and a cooler.

Figure 2: box contents

Figure 3 unveils the Celeron G3900 CPU.

Figure 3: the Celeron G3900

In Figure 4, you see the bottom of the processor.

Figure 4: bottom of the Celeron G3900

In our tests, we compared the Celeron G3900 to the Pentium G4400 and the A6-7400B (which is similar to the A6-7400K), because they are the most inexpensive CPUs we had available at the lab. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the Celeron G3900 costs less than both those processors.
Let us compare the main specs of the reviewed CPUs in the next page.
[nextpage title=”The Reviewed CPUs”]
In the tables below, we compare the main features of the CPUs included in our review.

Prices were researched at Newegg.com on the day this article was published. TDP means Thermal Design Power, the maximum amount of heat the CPU can dissipate.
* This price refers to the A6-7400K model, which is similar to the A6-7400B.
Below you can see the memory configuration for each CPU.

Below we have a comparison of the graphic engine of each CPU.

[nextpage title=”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, besides the motherboard and memory, which had to be replaced to match the different CPUs.
Hardware Configuration

• Motherboard (socket LGA1151): ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+
• Motherboard (socket FM2+): ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+
• CPU Cooler: Intel/AMD stock
• Memory (DDR3): 8 GiB DDR3-2133, two G.Skill Ripjaws F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH 4 GiB memory modules configured at 2,133 MHz
• Memory (DDR4): 8 GiB DDR4-2400 two G.Skill Ripjaws 4 F4-2400C15Q-16GRR 4 GiB memory modules configured at 2133 MHz
• Boot drive: Kingston HyperX Savage 480 GB
• Video Card: integrated
• Video Monitor: Philips 236VL
• Power Supply: Corsair CX500M

Operating System Configuration

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• NTFS
• Video resolution: 1920 x 1080 60 Hz

Driver Versions

• AMD driver version: 15.11
• Intel Inf chipset driver version: 10.0

Software Used

• 3DMark 1.5.915
• Adobe Photoshop CC + Retouch Artist Speed Test 1.0
• Cinebench R15
• DivX 10.2.4
• DVD Shrink 3.2
• Media Espresso 6.7
• PCMark 8 2.4.304
• Battlefield 4
• Dirt Rally
• GTA V

Error Margin
We adopted a 4% error margin. Thus, differences below 4% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 4% should be considered as having similar performance.
[nextpage title=”PCMark 8″]
PCMark 8 is a benchmarking software that uses real-world applications to measure the computer performance. We ran three tests: Home, which includes web browsing, writing, light gaming, photo editing, and video chat tests; Creative, which includes web surfing, video editing, group video chat, video conversion, and gaming; and Work, which runs tasks such as writing documents, web browsing, spreadsheets, editing, and video chatting. Let’s see the results.
On the Home benchmark, the Celeron G3900 was 12% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 12% faster than the A6-7400B.

On the Work benchmark, the Celeron G3900 was 7% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 14% faster than the A6-7400B.
[nextpage title=”3DMark”]

3DMark is a program with a set of several 3D benchmarks. Sky Diver measures DirectX 11 performance, and is aimed on average computers. The Cloud Gate benchmark measures DirectX 10 performance, and the Ice Storm Extreme measures DirectX 9 performance and is targeted to entry-level computers.

On the Sky Diver benchmark, the Celeron G3900 was 7% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 36% slower than the A6-7400B.

On Cloud Gate, the Celeron G3900 was 11% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 3% slower than the A6-7400B.

On the Ice Storm Extreme benchmark, the Celeron G3900 was 13% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 28% slower than the A6-7400B.

[nextpage title=”Photoshop CC and Cinebench R15″]

Cinebench R15

Cinebench R15 is based on the Cinema 4D software. It is very useful to measure the performance gain obtained by the presence of several processing cores while rendering heavy 3D images. Rendering is an area where a bigger number of cores helps a lot, because usually this kind of software recognize several processors (Cinebench R15, for example, can use up to 256 processing cores).
We ran the CPU benchmark, which renders a complex image using all the processing cores (real and virtual) to speed up the process. The result is given as a score.

Here the Celeron G3900 was 17% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 54% faster than the A6-7400B.

DivX

We used the DivX converter, a tool included in the DivX package, in order to measure the encoding performance using this codec. The DivX codec is capable of recognizing and using all available cores and the SSE4 instruction set.
We converted a Full HD, six-minute long .mov video file into a .avi file, using the “HD 1080p” output profile. The results below are given in seconds, so the lower the better.

On DivX encoding, the Celeron G3900 was 24% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 19% faster than the A6-7400B.

DVDShrink

DVDShrink is an old but still very useful program to “shrink” video DVDs that have more than 4.7 GiB of data to fit single-layer DVD media. We used it to compress the DVD of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” DVD to 4.7 GiB. The results below are given in seconds, so the lower the better.

On this test, the Celeron G3900 was 43% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 17% slower than the A6-7400B.

Media Espresso

Media Espresso is a video conversion program that uses the graphics processing unit of the video engine to speed up the conversion process. We converted a 1 GiB, 1920x1080i, 23,738 kbps, .mov video file to a smaller 320×200, H.264, .MP4 file for viewing on a smartphone. The results below are given in seconds, so the lower the better.

Here the Celeron G3900 was 15% slower than the Pentium G4400, and 17% faster than the A6-7400B.
[nextpage title=”Gaming Performance”]

Battlefield 4

Battlefield 4 is the latest installment in the Battlefield franchise, released in 2013. It is based on the Frostbite 3 engine, which is DirectX 11. In order to measure performance using this game, we walked our way through the first mission, measuring the number of frames per second three times using FRAPS. We ran this game at 1920 x 1080, setting overall image quality at “medium.”
The results below are expressed in frames per second (fps) and they are the mean between the three collected results.

On Battlefield 4, the Celeron G3900 was similar to the Pentium G4400, and was 43% slower than the A6-7400B.

Dirt Rally

Dirt Rally is an off-road racing game released in April 2015, using Ego engine. To measure performance using this game, we ran the performance test included in the game, in 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) resolution and image quality configured as “low” and MSAA off.
The results below are expressed in frames per second.

In this game, the Celeron G3900 performed similarly to the Pentium G4400, but was 22% slower than the A6-7400B.

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V, or simply GTA V, is an open-world action game released for PCs in April of 2015, using the RAGE engine. In order to measure the performance on this game, we ran the performance test of the game, measuring the framerate with FRAPS. We ran GTA V at 1280 x 720, with image quality set to the minimum.

The results below are expressed in frames per second.

On GTA V, all the CPUs had similar performances.

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
Some points were clean in our tests. The first one is that the Celeron G3900 is not recommended if you want to build a gaming computer, since it has not enough power to run recent games, besides its integrated video algo being too weak to run them.
Another point that was made clear is that it is a little slower than the Pentium G4400, which was expected since they are both CPUs with the same architecture, differing only by the lower clock and smaller cache of the Celeron G3900.
Compared to the A6-7400B, it was clear that the Celeron G3900 has more processing power, but the AMD CPU has a faster video engine.
Anyway, anyone who looks for a low-cost CPU like the Celeron G3900 is not looking for a processor for demanding tasks. Thus, for simple office and home applications like text editing, web browsing and even media player, it can be a good deal, because of its low cost.