AMD Athlon 220GE vs Intel Core i7-4600M Comparison

The Verdict

The data paints a remarkably one-sided picture. The AMD Athlon 220GE wins every single head-to-head benchmark, taking all five comparisons with a consistent margin of roughly 27%. The Intel Core i7-4600M, despite its older "i7" branding and higher launch MSRP of $346, simply cannot match the modern Zen architecture in any measured workload. The Athlon 220GE is the clear choice for anyone building or upgrading a desktop system where raw compute performance matters.

For a mobile user, the i7-4600M is the only option in this pairing because it is a mobile chip on Intel Socket G3, while the Athlon 220GE is a desktop part on AMD Socket AM4. But the benchmark data shows that the desktop Athlon delivers substantially higher scores across Cinebench R15, R20, and R23 in both single-core and multi-core tests. The i7-4600M's average benchmark score of 1093 sits essentially tied with the Athlon's 1088, yet the individual test results tell a different story: the Athlon is consistently faster, and the i7's average is buoyed by its Geekbench results, which the Athlon does not have recorded. If you need the best performance per the data, the Athlon 220GE wins outright. If you need a laptop processor, the i7-4600M is your only choice, but know that it trails significantly in every Cinebench comparison.

Architecture Differences

The two processors come from fundamentally different eras and design philosophies. The Intel Core i7-4600M is a 22nm Haswell part fabricated by Intel, featuring 960 million transistors on a 131 mm² die. It is a mobile processor with a 2.90 GHz base clock and a 3.60 GHz boost clock, drawing 37W TDP. Its cache layout includes 64 KB of L1 per core and 256 KB of L2 per core, with a shared 4 MB L3 cache. Memory support is DDR3 over a dual-channel bus, providing 25.6 GB/s of bandwidth. It uses PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes from the CPU and integrates Intel HD 4600 graphics. The chip was released in 2013 and is now end-of-life.

The AMD Athlon 220GE, by contrast, is built on GlobalFoundries' 14nm process using the Zen (Raven Ridge) architecture. It packs 4,950 million transistors into a 209.8 mm² die — over five times the transistor count of the Intel chip. It runs at a fixed 3.40 GHz base clock with no boost clock listed, at a slightly lower 35W TDP. Each core gets 96 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2, with the same 4 MB shared L3. The memory controller supports DDR4 over dual-channel, delivering 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth — a 67% higher theoretical ceiling than the i7-4600M. PCIe connectivity is Gen 3 but limited to 8 lanes, half the Intel's allocation. The integrated GPU is Radeon Vega 3. This chip launched in December 2018 and remains active in production, with a launch MSRP of $65.

The architectural gap is stark: the Athlon uses a much newer process, has vastly more transistors, supports newer and faster memory, and achieves higher performance despite a lower TDP. The Intel part relies on a higher boost clock and a longer-established platform, but the Zen core's efficiency and IPC advantage show clearly in the results. Notably, the Athlon has no boost clock, meaning its 3.40 GHz is the maximum sustained frequency, yet it still outpaces the i7-4600M, which can reach 3.60 GHz.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Athlon 220GE wins everywhere the two chips are directly compared. In multi-core Cinebench R15, the Athlon scores 379 versus the Intel's 275 — a 27.4% advantage. That gap holds almost exactly across R20 multi-core (1580 vs 1147) and R23 multi-core (3764 vs 2732). Single-core results show the same pattern: the Athlon leads by 27.8% in R20 (223 vs 161) and by 27.5% in R23 (531 vs 385).

The Intel Core i7-4600M's only recorded wins come in benchmarks the Athlon does not have — Geekbench multicore (1930) and singlecore (1018) — but those cannot be compared directly. The i7 does have an advantage in platform connectivity, offering 16 PCIe Gen 3 lanes versus the Athlon's 8, which could matter for users with multiple expansion cards or high-bandwidth storage. The Intel chip also supports only DDR3, which may be beneficial for those reusing older memory modules, though the performance ceiling is lower.

For gaming with integrated graphics, the data is limited, but the Athlon's Radeon Vega 3 is a newer architecture than Intel HD 4600. For CPU-bound tasks like rendering or encoding, the Athlon is unequivocally stronger. For a desktop builder, the Athlon's active production status and lower launch MSRP make it the sensible pick. For a laptop user, the i7-4600M is the only option, and its performance is acceptable for light workloads, but it will lag behind the Athlon in any multi-threaded or single-threaded Cinebench test.

FAQ

Q: Which CPU is faster overall?

A: The AMD Athlon 220GE wins all five head-to-head benchmarks against the Intel Core i7-4600M, with margins of 27.4% to 27.8% across Cinebench R15, R20, and R23 in both single-core and multi-core tests.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The i7-4600M has an average benchmark score of 1093, while the Athlon 220GE scores 1088. The difference is only 0.5%, but the i7's average includes Geekbench results that the Athlon lacks, while the Athlon wins every directly comparable Cinebench test.

Q: Are these chips comparable in power consumption?

A: Yes, nearly identical. The Intel Core i7-4600M has a 37W TDP, and the AMD Athlon 220GE has a 35W TDP. The Athlon achieves significantly higher performance while consuming slightly less power.

Q: Do they support the same memory type?

A: No. The Intel Core i7-4600M supports DDR3 memory with 25.6 GB/s bandwidth, while the AMD Athlon 220GE supports DDR4 with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth. The Athlon's memory bandwidth is 67% higher.

Q: Which CPU has better integrated graphics?

A: The AMD Athlon 220GE uses Radeon Vega 3, while the Intel Core i7-4600M uses Intel HD 4600. The data does not include graphics benchmarks, but the Athlon's GPU is from a newer architecture (Zen/Raven Ridge).

Q: Is the i7-4600M worth considering if I have an older laptop?

A: Yes, if you are constrained to mobile hardware. The i7-4600M is the only mobile option here (Intel Socket G3), while the Athlon 220GE is a desktop part (AMD Socket AM4). However, the data shows the i7 will be about 27% slower in Cinebench tests.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are unusually consistent, with the AMD Athlon 220GE beating the Intel Core i7-4600M by nearly the same percentage in every test. This uniformity suggests a fundamental architectural advantage rather than a workload-specific quirk.

In Cinebench R15 multi-core, the Athlon scores 379 against the Intel's 275. That is a 104-point gap, translating to a 27.4% lead for AMD. This is the oldest benchmark in the suite, yet the margin is identical to the newer tests, indicating the relative performance has not shifted with software updates.

Cinebench R20 multi-core shows the same 27.4% delta: the Athlon hits 1580, while the i7-4600M manages 1147. The raw point difference grows to 433, but the percentage stays fixed. Single-core R20 follows with a 27.8% margin — the largest of any test — with the Athlon at 223 and the Intel at 161. This 62-point gap in single-core performance is telling: even without a boost clock, the Zen core at 3.40 GHz outruns the Haswell core at 3.60 GHz by a wide margin.

Cinebench R23 multi-core continues the pattern: Athlon 3764, Intel 2732, a 27.4% difference. The 1032-point spread is the largest absolute gap in the data. Single-core R23 shows 531 versus 385, a 27.5% margin. The consistency across R15, R20, and R23 — three different rendering workloads from the same family — strongly indicates that the Athlon's IPC advantage is real and stable.

The Intel's best showing is in Geekbench, where it scores 1930 multi-core and 1018 single-core. However, there is no Athlon Geekbench result in the data, so these cannot be compared. The i7's average benchmark score of 1093 is nearly identical to the Athlon's 1088, but this is misleading: the Intel's average includes its Geekbench numbers, while the Athlon's average is based solely on Cinebench results. In every test where both chips have scores, the Athlon wins by over a quarter.

The nearest rivals data places both chips in the same performance tier: the i7-4600M's closest competitor is the Intel Core i7-4610M (deltaPct -0.1), while the Athlon 220GE's nearest match is the Intel Core i5-3350P (deltaPct 0). Both sit at the 30th percentile of all CPUs, meaning they are entry-level processors by modern standards. But within this pairing, the Athlon is decisively ahead — the i7-4600M cannot claim a single victory in any shared benchmark.