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The Pentium G4500 is a low-cost desktop CPU from Intel, with two cores, 3.5 GHz clock, based on the “Skylake” architecture and compatible with LGA1151 socket. Let’s check if is it a good choice for a budget PC.
Basic CPUs like the Pentium G4500 are usually used in office PCs or simple home PCs, for simple tasks like text editing or web browsing, that don’t require a huge processing power.
The Pentium G4500 has two cores, 3.5 GHz clock, Intel HD 530 graphics engine and, as we mentioned before, uses the LGA1151 socket. Actually, there is not much difference between Pentium and Celeron on the LGA1151 socket; they differ only on the lower clock and smaller L3 cache on the Celeron models. On the other hand, the desktop Core i3 models differ by the presence of the Hyper-Threading technology, that simulate two logical cores for each physical core. This means we can say the recent Pentium CPUs are actually Core i3 processors with the Hyper-Threading technology disabled.
Figure 1 unveils the box of the Pentium G4500 we used in our tests.
Figure 1: box of the Pentium G4500
Figure 2 shows the box contents: a manual, a case sticker, the CPU itself, and a cooler.
Figure 2: box contents
Figure 3 unveils the Pentium G4500 CPU.
Figure 3: the Pentium G4500 CPU
Figure 4 shows the bottom of the CPU.
Figure 4: underside of the Pentium G4500
In our tests, we compared the Pentium G4500 to the AMD FX-4300, which has a similar price. You need to keep in mind, however, that the Pentium G4500 has integrated video, while the FX-4300 has no iGPU, so it requires a discrete video card, or a motherboard that offers this feature.
So, we tested both CPUs with a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti video card installed, as a way to check the pure processing performance of each one of the tested CPUs.
Let’s 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.
| CPU | Cores | HT | IGP | Internal Clock | Turbo Clock | Core | Tech. | TDP | Socket | Price |
| Pentium G4500 | 2 | No | Yes | 3.5 GHz | – | Skylake | 14 nm | 51 W | LGA1151 | USD 86 |
| FX-4300 | 4 | No | No | 3.8 GHz | 4.0 GHz | Vishera | 32 nm | 95 W | AM3+ | USD 80 |
Below you can see the memory configuration for each CPU.
| CPU | L2 Cache | L3 Cache | Memory Support | Memory Channels |
| Pentium G4500 | 2 x 256 kiB | 3 MiB | Up to DDR4-2133 or DDR3L-1600 | 2 |
| FX-4300 | 2 x 2 MiB | 8 MiB | Up to DDR3-1866 | 2 |
[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions, the only variable devicand 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 AM3+): ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer
- Memory (DDR3): 16 GiB DDR3-2133, four G.Skill Ripjaws F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH 4 GiB memory modules configured at 1,866 MHz
- Memory (DDR4): 16 GiB DDR4-2133, two G.Skill Ripjaws V F4-2133C15D-16GVR 8 GiB memory modules configured at 2133 MHz
- Boot drive: Kingston HyperX Savage 480 GB
- Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
- Video Monitor: Philips 236VL
- Power Supply: Corsair CX600
Operating System Configuration
- Windows 10 Home 64-bit
- NTFS
- Video resolution: 1920 x 1080 60 Hz
Driver Versions
- NVIDIA driver version: 375.95
Software Used
- 3DMark 1.5.915
- Cinebench R15
- CPU-Z 1.78
- DivX 10.6
- Media Espresso 6.7
- PCMark 8 2.4.304
- Photoshop CC
- WinRAR 4.2
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
- Dirt Rally
- GTA V
- Hitman
- Rise of the Tomb Rider
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, that 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 PCMark 8 Home benchmark, the Pentium G4500 was 20% faster than the FX-4300.
On the Creative benchmark, the Pentium G4500 was also 20% faster than the FX-4300.
On the Work benchmark, the Pentium G4500 was 17% faster than the FX-4300.
[nextpage title=”3DMark”]
3DMark is a program with a set of several 3D benchmarks. Fire Strike runs a “heavy” DirectX 11 simulation. Sky Diver also 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, so we don’t ran it.
Keep in mind that we used a GeForce GTX 950 VGA in this test on all CPUs.
On Fire Strike, the Pentium G4500 performed similarly to the FX-4300.
On the Sky Diver benchmark, the Pentium G4500 had the same performance of the FX-4300 too.
On the Cloud Gate benchmark, the Pentium G4500 was 5% slower than the FX-4300.
[nextpage title=”Performance in programs”]
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.
On Cinebench R15 CPU benchmark, the Pentium G4500 was 5% slower than the FX-4300.
CPU-Z
On its current version, the well-known hardware identification software CPU-Z comes with a benchmarking tool, which measures CPU performance for one core and for all available cores.
On the single thread benchmark, the Pentium G4500 was 57% faster than the FX-4300.
On the multiple thread benchmark, the Pentium G4500 was 21% slower than the FX-4300.
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 an .avi file, using the “HD 1080p” output profile. The results below are given in seconds, so the lower the better. 
On DivX encoding, the Pentium G4500 was 34% faster than the FX-4300.
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 Pentium G4500 was 41% faster than the FX-4300.
Photoshop CC
The best way to measure the performance of a CPU is by using real programs. The problem, of course, is to create a methodology that offers precise results. For Photoshop CC, we used a script named “Retouch Artist Speed Test,” which applies a series of filters to a standard image and gives the time Photoshop takes to run all of them. The results are given in seconds, so the less, the best.
In this test, the Pentium G4500 was 53% faster than the FX-4300.
WinRAR
Another task where the CPU is very demanded is on file compacting. We ran a test compacting a folder with 8 GiB on 6.813 files to a file, using WinRAR 4.2. The graph below shows the time taken on each test.
On WinRAR, the Pentium G4500 was 16% faster than the FX-4300.
[nextpage title=”Gaming Performance”]
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an action RPG with FPS elements, launched in August 2016, that uses the Dawn engine, being compatible with DirectX 12. We tested it using the benchmark included in the game, with DirectX 12 enabled, graphic options “medium” and MSAA off.
The results below, in Full HD, are expressed in frames per second.
On Deus Ex: Mankind Divided the Pentium G4500 performed similarly to the FX-4300.
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 “medium” and MSAA off.
The results below are expressed in frames per second (fps).
In this game, the Pentium G4500 was 42% faster than the FX-4300.
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 Full HD, with all image quality set at the minimum.
The results below are expressed in frames per second.
On GTA V, the Pentium G4500 was 25% slower than the FX-4300.
Hitman
Hitman is an action/stealth game, launched in March 2016, that uses a DirectX 12 compatible version of the Glacier 2 engine. To measure performance in this game, we ran the benchmark in it, measuring the framerate with FRAPS. We ran this game with DirectX 12 enabled, with image quality set as “high” and FXAA on.
The results below, in Full HD and 4K, are expressed in frames per second.
On Hitman, both CPUs performed the same way.
Rise of the Tomb Rider
Rise of the Tomb Rider is an adventure/action game launched in January of 2016, based on Foundation engine. In order to measure the performance using this game, we ran the benchmark included on it, using Full HD resolution and graphics quality set to “medium”.
The results below are expressed in frames per second.
Also on Rise of the Tomb Rider, the performance was the same on both CPUs.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
When we tested the Pentium G4400, we concluded it has a reasonable performance, even close to the Core i3-6100 on some tests. As the Pentium G4500 has a 200 MHz higher clock (and a better integrated video), we concluded it is a great CPU for budget PCs for office and home tasks, and even for casual gamers.
Compared to the FX-4300 from AMD, which is a direct competitor in terms of price, it is clear that the Intel CPU is faster in most applications, with exceptions only when the extra cores of the FX-4300 are effectively used. The performance per core of the Intel processor is clearly higher.
So, if you are looking for an inexpensive CPU with good performance, and don’t intend to use applications that take advantage of more than two cores, the Pentium G4500 is a great choice.