Intel Core i3-8121U vs AMD Athlon PRO 200U

Processor comparisons 20-01-2022

   Let's say you can't decide which CPU to buy, you can make a decision after reading the detailed tests Intel Core i3-8121U vs AMD Athlon PRO 200U and understand which is better for games or normal use for programming, streaming, video editing, rendering, machine learning. Here is all information from real streaming and video editing tests or several benchmarks. A thorough analysis of all the technical characteristics, to make it easier to understand, is presented in the form of the table.
   From the comparison video, you can get the results of parallel examination in software tests such as GeekBench 6, 5.2, RealBench, Blender, MATLAB, 7zip, Cinebench 23 (20, 15), AIDA64, DaVinci Resolve Studio, World of Tanks enCore Benchmark, VeraCrypt, Dolphin Emulator, PCMark 10, Prime95, 3DMark, WPrime, Handbrake, SuperPi, Furmark, UserBenchmark, Blender, Gears 5, PassMark.
   Gaming performance of processors in:

Death Stranding
Fallout 76
Last Man Standing
Valheim
Cyberpunk 2077
Red Dead Redemption 2
Valorant
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone
Grand Theft Auto V
Overwatch
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Watch Dogs Legion
Rainbow Six Siege
Apex Legends
Fortnite
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Borderlands 3
DOOM: Eternal
Halo Infinite

After looking at the data of parallel benchmarks and videos, you can already make an briefed decision about which processor is better to buy for gaming AMD Athlon PRO 200U or Intel Core i3-8121U.

Summary benchmark results

As a percentage of the maximum value based on a sample from the entire base of all processors
Processor Benchmark

Core i3-8121U

51%

Athlon PRO 200U

51%

Gaming performance
Summary result of all game benchmarks.

Core i3-8121U

51%

Athlon PRO 200U

51%

The maximum result in this parameter is 100 percent, which is the performance of the most powerful processor currently available. And it is clear that this is a server processor, on which no one will run games. Because the cost of this processor reaches several tens of thousands of dollars. And if it seems to you that the selected CPU has a little game result, look at the FPS that it produces in real games in the summary table below.
List of other games in which CPU comparisons were performed: Microsoft Flight Simulator, NBA 2K20, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS GO), PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Control, Monster Hunter World, DOTA 2A, Ghostrunner, Battlefield V, Hitman 3, League of Legends (LOL), Half-Life: Alyx, Metro Exodus, Horizon Zero Dawn, Forza Horizon 4, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Gaming benchmark

Fortnite	90.1	89.8
Valorant	102.4	102.0
Cyberpunk 2077	57.3	57.1
Apex Legends	96.2	95.9
Call of Duty Warzone	76.8	76.5
Overwatch	82.9	82.6
Red Dead Redemption 2	70.6	70.4
DOOM Eternal	51.2	51.0
Warzone	79.9	79.6
Assassin's Creed	86.0	85.7
Valheim	85.0	84.7

The numbers in this table indicate the maximum FPS that was received on the device with the corresponding processor. Depending on the configuration of the computer (RAM size and Video Card) and graphics quality settings (Ultra, Medium, Normal), the results may differ quite significantly. We recommend that you better study the results of the Cinebench, GeekBench and Passmark becnmarks.
The computers participating in the comparing not only were the equipped with different amounts of RAM and different video cards. But users also tested them at different screen resolutions: 2K, 4K or FullHD. Therefore, the game benchmark data is approximate. But all video cards met the average system requirements of games. You will get more accurate information about how powerful the processor will be in games, if you compare it in one assembly with the video card that is installed in your computer.

Power consumption

Core i3-8121U

200%

Athlon PRO 200U

185%

To make a finishing choice on which processor is better, you should also consider the generation of its core. The newer the processor generation, the better its performance in games and benchmarks, as well as its energy efficiency. In this case the Core i3-8121U is more energy efficient than the Athlon PRO 200U as it consumes less power: 15W vs. 15W. Power consumption is especially important for laptops. Also, when choosing a processor cooling system, you must know its TDP. It is necessary to calculate so that the TDP data specified in the cooler specification is greater than the TDP of the compared processor.

Software benchmarks

Let's say you want to use the processor not only for gaming, but also for machine learning, programming, streaming, video rendering or video editing, then first of all you need to pay attention to the performance in multi-threaded mode. In this mode, to achieve maximum performance, the processor uses all cores and threads that it has. You will learn this data from the benchmark tables below. Before you take into account the data from these tests, be sure to check whether the program you are going to use on your computer supports multi-threaded mode. Because there are still many programs that use only one core to run, and all the advantages of multi-core mode turns out to be unnecessary.

Cinebench 23, 20 an 15
The results of this benchmark show Single-threaded and Multi-threaded CPU performance

	Intel Core i3-8121U	AMD Athlon PRO 200U
Cinbench 15 Single-core	139	131
Cinbench 15 Multi-core	305	366
Cinbench 20 Single-core	340	308
Cinbench 20 Multi-core	598	772
Cinbench 23 Single-core	563	489
Cinbench 23 Multi-core	2184	2355

Passmark
This popular benchmark displays Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Intel Core i3-8121U	AMD Athlon PRO 200U
Single-Core	1939	1748
Multi-Core	4369	4150

GeekBench 6, 5.2
This benchmark shows Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Intel Core i3-8121U	AMD Athlon PRO 200U
Single-Core	901	835
Multi-Core	2063	1728

Comparison of specifications

In the specification comparison table, the most useful will be the release date of the processor and the possibility of overclocking it. The newer the processor, the longer it will last you. And the easier it will be to upgrade the system in the future. The same can be said about overclocking. If the processor can be overclocked, thereby increasing its performance, then it will continue to maintain maximum FPS in the newest games. Accordingly, you do not need to buy a new CPU to enjoy the games any longer. The savings are obvious!

	Intel Core i3-8121U	AMD Athlon PRO 200U
Announcement date	July 07, 2018	October 01, 2019
Type	Laptop	Laptop
Socket	Unknown	FP5
Core name	Cannon Lake	Raven Ridge
Architecture	x86	Zen
Generation	8	1
Turbo Frequency	3.2 MHz	3.2 MHz
Frequency	2.2 MHz	2.3 MHz
Cores	2	2
Threads	4	4
Bus rate	4 GT/s
Bit	64	64
Lithography	10 nm	14 nm
Transistors count	1800 millions	1600 millions
Power consumption (TDP)	15 W	15 W
Memory type	DDR4-2400, LPDDR4/x-2400
Max. Memory	32 Gb
Memory Frequency		2400
Memory bandwidth	37.5 GB/s
L1 cache		192KB
L2 cache		1MB
L3 cache	4 MB	4MB
Overclocking	No	No
Supports ECC	No	No
Part number		YM200UC4T2OFB

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here Athlon PRO 200U is 4% better than Core i3-8121U in terms of CPU frequency. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption (relevant for laptops).

Result:
The number of parameters for which Intel Core i3-8121U is better: 24
The number of parameters for which AMD Athlon PRO 200U is better: 9
However, it should be understood that all the figures in the article above do not mean that taking them into account you should undividedly trust a simple quantitative comparison. Better to watch the testing video and read the reviews of real owners of Intel Core i3-8121U and AMD Athlon PRO 200U before deciding which processor to buy for gaming and which not.

Intel Core i3-8121U - all data

• Cinebench r15 score
• Cinebench r20 score
• Cinebench r23 score
• GeekBench 6, 5.2 score

• Intel Core i3-8121U specs and review.

AMD Athlon PRO 200U - all data

• Cinebench r15 score
• Cinebench r20 score
• Cinebench r23 score
• GeekBench 6, 5.2 score

• AMD Athlon PRO 200U specs and review.