Intel Core i3-3220 vs Intel Core 2 Duo E8400

Core i3-3220 vs Core 2 Duo E8400 specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i3-3220 performs better than the Core 2 Duo E8400. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core 2 Duo E8400 in all gaming tests too.

Our spec comparison shows that they have an identical amount of cores but the Core i3-3220 has more threads. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i3-3220 has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core 2 Duo E8400. A Core i3-3220 CPU outputs less heat than a Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU because of its slightly 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 i3-3220 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.