Intel Core i5 4200U vs 3230M

Released July, 2013

Reasons to buy the Intel Core i5 4200U

	Significantly lower typical power consumption 12.19W		Better performance per watt 27.72 pt/W
	Significantly lower annual home energy cost 3.61 $/year		Marginally newer Jul, 2013

Released January, 2013

Reasons to buy the 3230M

	Significantly higher clock speed 2.6 GHz		Higher turbo clock speed 3.2 GHz
	More l2 cache 1 MB		Much higher GPU clock speed 650 MHz

The Intel Core i5 4200U versus the Intel Core i5 3230M asks the question, “Is the 4th generation of Core processors worth the upgrade?” Let’s take a closer look at these dual core processors and see which comes out on top.
Here we have two laptop processors which are geared towards different purposes. The newer 4200U is designed for Ultraportables, and because of this flexibility, it comes in at an underclocked 1.6 GHz. Thankfully, it packs a higher model HD 4400 GPU while still managing to keep power consumption low at 35W.
In stark contrast is the 3230M, geared for more performance in laptops. It clocks in at 2.6 GHz, an HD 4000 GPU, and a standard 35W TDP. It should be noted that these two CPUs are hyperthreaded, which results to better core efficiency.
Onto the results: it’s surprising that these CPUs are neck and neck in terms of single core performance, with merely a hundred points separating them in the PassMark benchmark. As for other benchmarks, the bulkier 3230M is consistently faster at around 500 points.
Overall, the Intel Core i5 3230M comes out on top when comparing from a purely performance standpoint. However, if you're looking towards a power efficient and portable laptop, don't look further than the Intel Core i5 4200U.

	Performance
	Benchmark performance using all cores
Core i5 4200U 6.7 Core i5 3230M 7.3
3DMark06 (CPU) and Passmark

	Single-core Performance
	Individual core benchmark performance
Core i5 4200U 8.2 Core i5 3230M 8.6
Passmark (Single Core)

	Power Consumption
	How much power does the processor require?
Core i5 4200U 5.6 Core i5 3230M 5.3
TDP

	Features
	How does CPUBoss rank the features of each product?
Core i5 4200U 3.4 Core i5 3230M 4.1
Features and specifications that differ between products

No winner declared

Too close to call

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Reasons to consider the
Intel Core i5 4200U

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Significantly lower typical power consumption

12.19W

28.44W

2.3x lower typical power consumption

Better performance per watt

27.72 pt/W

16.1 pt/W

More than 70% better performance per watt

Significantly lower annual home energy cost

3.61 $/year

8.43 $/year

2.3x lower annual home energy cost

Marginally newer

Jul, 2013

Jan, 2013

Release date 5 months later

Reasons to consider the
Intel Core i5 3230M

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Significantly higher clock speed

2.6 GHz

1.6 GHz

Around 65% higher clock speed

Higher turbo clock speed

3.2 GHz

2.6 GHz

Around 25% higher turbo clock speed

More l2 cache

1 MB

0.5 MB

2x more l2 cache; more data can be stored in the l2 cache for quick access later

Much higher GPU clock speed

650 MHz

200 MHz

3.2x higher GPU clock speed

Supports more RAM

32,768 MB

16,384 MB

Supports 2x more RAM

Significantly better performance per dollar

2.5 pt/$

1.48 pt/$

Around 70% better performance per dollar

More l2 cache per core

0.5 MB/core

0.25 MB/core

2x more l2 cache per core

Better turbo clock speed

1,100 MHz

1,000 MHz

10% better turbo clock speed

Better 3DMark06 CPU score

3,760

2,450

Around 55% better 3DMark06 CPU score

Higher Maximum Operating Temperature

105 °C

100 °C

5% higher Maximum Operating Temperature

Better PassMark (Single core) score

1,583

1,406

Around 15% better PassMark (Single core) score

Slightly better PassMark score

3,989

3,330

Around 20% better PassMark score

3D Mark 06 (CPU)

Core i5 4200U

2,450

Core i5 3230M

3,760

notebookcheck.net

Passmark

Core i5 4200U

3,330

Core i5 3230M

3,989

Core i5 4200U Core i5 3230M @ cpubenchmark.net

Passmark (Single Core)

Core i5 4200U

1,406

Core i5 3230M

1,583

cpubenchmark.net

summary	Core i5 4200U	3230M
Clock speed	1.6 GHz	2.6 GHz
Turbo clock speed	2.6 GHz	3.2 GHz
Cores	Dual core	Dual core
Is unlocked	No	No
Is hyperthreaded	Yes	Yes
features
Has a NX bit	Yes	Yes
Supports trusted computing	No	No
Has vitualization support	Yes	Yes
Instruction-set-extensions
MMX
SSE
SSE4.2
AVX
SSE3
SSE2
Supplemental SSE3
SSE4.1
SSE4
AVX 2.0
AES
Supports dynamic frequency scaling	Yes	Yes
power consumption
TDP	15W	35W
Annual home energy cost	3.61 $/year	8.43 $/year
Performance per watt	27.72 pt/W	16.1 pt/W
Typical power consumption	12.19W	28.44W
bus
Architecture	FSB	DMI
Number of links	1	1
Transfer rate	5,000 MT/s	5,000 MT/s

details	Core i5 4200U	3230M
Architecture	x86-64	x86-64
Threads	4	4
L2 cache	0.5 MB	1 MB
L2 cache per core	0.25 MB/core	0.5 MB/core
L3 cache	3 MB	3 MB
L3 cache per core	1.5 MB/core	1.5 MB/core
Manufacture process	22 nms	22 nms
Max CPUs	1	1
Operating temperature	Unknown - 100°C	Unknown - 105°C
gpu
GPU	GPU	GPU
Label	Intel® HD Graphics 4400	Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Number of displays supported	3	3
GPU clock speed	200 MHz	650 MHz
Turbo clock speed	1,000 MHz	1,100 MHz
memory controller
Memory controller	Built-in	Built-in
Memory type
DDR3-1600
DDR3-1333
DDR3L-1600
DDR3L-1333
LPDDR3-1600
LPDDR3-1333
Channels	Dual Channel	Dual Channel
Supports ECC	No	No
Maximum bandwidth	12,800 MB/s	25,600 MB/s
Maximum memory size	16,384 MB	32,768 MB

Intel Core i5 4200U

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Intel Core i5 3230M

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Comments

Showing 7 comments.

Ran (04:34 PM, April 14, 2014)

which is better i5 - 4200u (4th gen) or the i5- 3230M (3rd gen) ? i hear that 3230 has better clock speed but 4200 has lesser power consumption and a bit more features . I'am confused as i want to buy a laptop that fits for gaming as well as software development ... please help !

Chris Xu (03:14 AM, April 3, 2014)

i have a asus laptop with the 3230m and it's pretty solid performance wise but the battery life is not great

Guest (05:49 PM, March 17, 2014)

Sorry not much faster but equally fast in everyday performance

Guest (05:46 PM, March 17, 2014)

As the description explained the 4200U is for ultraportables and is 15W tdp, the battery life will be much better on the 4200U but the 4th gen will be much faster for most everyday users while the 3230M will be more powerful for those obsessed with benchmarks...The 3230M is a great CPU - there is no reason to upgrade from the 3230M but both are equally fast as computers and cpus have hit a "plateau" a while back where each new generation on the similar TDP suffix is only 5-10% better than the last generation. P.S. I am typing this on a 4200U powered computer and its amazingly fast!

MGHM (03:17 PM, March 10, 2014)

I have the 3230, it can perform better than written, and have never reached 80^c, also very high speed reading and writing in ram with only 1 channel used with a 4gb 1600 DDR3 ram, 14000 mb writing and 17000 mb reading on AID 64.

Marcis (07:51 AM, January 16, 2014)

Error in main intro text - 4200U is 15W not 35W.

Abdul Hamid (12:18 PM, January 11, 2014)

its bullshit the processor 4200u is 4th generation and the other 3230m is 3rd generation there is no compare of them.

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