AMD FX-8120 Vs Intel Core i3-2120
The AMD’s FX-8120 is bulldozer processor that comes with a substantially better performance than the Intel’s dual core Sandy Bridge Core i3-2120 processor.
A quick price check reveal that AMD’s FX-8120 is priced at $159 while the Intel’s Core i3-2120 is at 124.99. Is the extra prices that AMD demands justified.
It depends. If you are making use of the HD Graphics 2000 GPU in Core i3-2120 – then the value provided by the CPU plus the GPU is worth the price. The GPU however is not good enough for gaming and you may have to buy a graphics card any way. In that situation, the AMD’s FX-8120 plus a graphics card will provide better performance than the i3-2120 plus a GPU card at slight extra cost.
Table : AMD FX-8120 Vs Core i3-2120 Feature Differences
| Feature | AMD FX-8120 | Core i3-2120 |
| Core Frequency | 3.10 GHz | 3.30 GHz |
| No. Of Cores | 8 | 2 (4 Hyperthreads) |
| Cache Organization | 4 x 2MB L2 and Upto 8 MB L3 | 3 MB L3 Smart Cache |
| Turbo Frequency | 4.00 GHz ( 4 Cores), 3.40 GHz ( 8 Cores) | No Turbo |
| TDP Rating | 125 Watts | 65 Watts |
| 64 Bit Support | Y | Y |
| Lithography | 32 nm | 32 nm |
| Integrated Memory Controller | DDR3-1866 | DDR3-1333 |
| Integrated Graphics | None | Yes, Base 850 MHz, Turbo 1.10 GHz |
Table : AMD FX-8120 Vs Core i3-2120 Benchmarking Comparison
| Benchmarks | AMD FX-8120 | Core i3-2120 |
| PassMark CPU Mark Score | 7136 | 3960 |
| Super Pi 2M | Not available | Not available |
| 3D Mark 06 CPU | 5252 | 3920 |
| Windows 7 Experience Score | 7.5 | 7.6 |
Some more details of AMD FX-8120
The AMD’s FX-8150 is an 8 Core bulldozer processor that will perform great, especially in cases where all 8 of its core can be put into use. It supports Turbo boost and can be overclocked. The bulldoze architecture is based upon modules – with each module having two integer cores. Each of these two core have their own L1 Data Cache.
Some more details of Core i3-2120
The Core i3-2120 is the second generation Intel Core i3 processor ( Also called Sandy Bridge Processor) improving significantly upon the architecture that evolved from Arrandale. Although turbo boost is not available in the core i3-2120 ( The newer turbo 2.0 technology, that increases the time for which processor can be in the boosted state, is available only on the second generation core i5 and i7 processors), the processor still shows significant performance improvement over similarly clocked 1st generation core i3 processor. The more significant improvement has been in the area of integrated graphics unit.
