Intel Core i3-2120 vs Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400

Core i3-2120 vs Core 2 Quad Q9400 benchmarks

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i3-2120 performs better than the Core 2 Quad Q9400. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core 2 Quad Q9400 in all gaming tests too.

With info from our database, we find that the Core 2 Quad Q9400 has significantly more cores with 4 cores whereas the Core i3-2120 has 2 cores. But they both have the same number of threads. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i3-2120 has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core 2 Quad Q9400. A Core i3-2120 CPU outputs less heat than a Core 2 Quad Q9400 CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. Indeed, the Core i3-2120 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.