Intel Core i3-4350 vs Intel Core i7-2820QM Comparison

The recorded data tells an unexpectedly one-sided story. The Intel Core i7-2820QM, a mobile Sandy Bridge part, sweeps every head-to-head benchmark against the Intel Core i3-4350, a desktop Haswell chip that launched years later, winning all five recorded tests by margins clustered tightly around 20 percent. Both processors sit at the 29th percentile against the full CPU database, with nearly identical average benchmark scores of 1069 for the i7 and 1058 for the i3, which makes the older mobile chip's clean sweep all the more curious and worth unpacking.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Every comparison in the database goes the same way, and the consistency is striking. In Cinebench R15 multi-core, the i7-2820QM scores 372 against the i3-4350's 309, a 20.4 percent win. Cinebench R20 multi-core lands at 1552 versus 1291, a 20.2 percent gap. R20 single-core reads 219 versus 182, again 20.3 percent in the i7's favor. Cinebench R23 repeats the pattern: 3697 against 3076 in multi-core (20.2 percent) and 522 against 434 in single-core (20.3 percent).

That uniformity raises a question: why does an older, nominally slower-clocked mobile processor beat a newer desktop chip by essentially the same margin everywhere? Part of the answer is structural. The i7-2820QM carries four cores and eight threads against the i3-4350's two cores and four threads, which explains the multi-core results. But the single-core results cannot be explained by core count, and here the i7 still wins by 20.3 percent in R20 and R23 despite a base clock of 2.30 GHz versus the i3's 3.60 GHz. The i7's boost clock of 3.40 GHz narrows the nominal frequency gap considerably, and its larger L3 cache, 8 MB shared versus 4 MB shared, plausibly contributes to throughput that raw clock figures would not predict. The database contains no Geekbench or R15 single-core results for the i3-4350, so those comparisons cannot be made from recorded data.

For context against the wider field, the i7-2820QM's nearest rivals by average score include the Intel Processor N95 (average 1070, a delta of just -0.1 percent), the AMD Opteron 3380 (1071, -0.2 percent), the AMD Athlon X4 880K (1071, -0.2 percent), and the Intel Core i5-5287U (1072, -0.3 percent). The i3-4350's neighborhood is similarly tight: the AMD Ryzen 5 2500U matches its 1058 average exactly, the Intel Core i7-2760QM sits at 1057 (0.1 percent), the AMD FX-8320E at 1059 (-0.1 percent), and the Intel Pentium G4600 at 1056 (0.2 percent). Both chips occupy the same general performance tier overall, yet head-to-head the i7 dominates.

Architecture Differences

The generational gap between these two runs in the i3's favor on paper, yet the results say otherwise. The i7-2820QM is a Sandy Bridge design fabricated on Intel's 32 nm process, packing 1,160 million transistors onto a 216 mm² die. The i3-4350 is a Haswell design on a denser 22 nm process, with 1,400 million transistors on a smaller 177 mm² die. Haswell is the newer architecture, and the i3 benefits from a much higher base clock of 3.60 GHz, but it lacks a boost clock entirely, while the i7 can raise its 2.30 GHz base to 3.40 GHz when thermal conditions allow.

The core and cache hierarchy diverges sharply. The i7 has four cores and eight threads with 8 MB of shared L3, plus 64 KB of L1 and 256 KB of L2 per core. The i3 has two cores and four threads with 4 MB of shared L3, and identical per-core L1 and L2 sizes. Both use dual-channel memory buses, though only the i3 lists explicit DDR3 support and PCIe Gen 3; the i7's recorded memory support and PCIe fields are empty. Neither supports ECC memory, and neither has an unlocked multiplier.

Integrated graphics differ by generation: the i7 carries Intel HD 3000, the i3 the newer Intel HD 4600. Market segment is the other obvious split, mobile versus desktop, reflected in the sockets (Intel Socket G2 (988B) versus Intel Socket 1150) and in the TDP figures: 45 W for the i7 against 54 W for the i3. The mobile part is actually the lower-power chip here, which makes its benchmark sweep more impressive.

Where Each One Wins

On the recorded data, the answer is blunt: the i7-2820QM wins everywhere that was measured. It takes all five head-to-head tests, multi-core and single-core alike, with winsA at 5 and winsB at 0. For multi-threaded workloads such as rendering, the four-core, eight-thread i7 delivers roughly 20 percent higher Cinebench scores across R15, R20, and R23. For lightly threaded or per-core-bound work, the i7 again leads by about 20 percent in R20 and R23 single-core, suggesting its boost behavior and cache advantage outweigh the i3's higher base clock.

The case for the i3-4350 must therefore be built on characteristics the benchmarks do not capture directly. It is the newer architecture (Haswell versus Sandy Bridge) on the newer node, it runs the newer HD 4600 integrated graphics against the older HD 3000, it sits on the desktop Socket 1150 platform with listed DDR3 support and PCIe Gen 3, and it posts the same 29th percentile placement against the broader database. But strictly by head-to-head benchmark wins, it records none.

Specification Differences

The fields where these two processors diverge:

• Cores/threads: i7 has 4 cores, 8 threads; i3 has 2 cores, 4 threads
• Base clock: 2.30 GHz for the i7 versus 3.60 GHz for the i3
• Boost clock: 3.40 GHz on the i7; the i3 has none recorded
• TDP: 45 W (i7) versus 54 W (i3)
• Socket: Intel Socket G2 (988B) versus Intel Socket 1150
• Architecture/codename: Sandy Bridge versus Haswell
• Process node: 32 nm versus 22 nm
• Transistors: 1,160 million versus 1,400 million
• Die size: 216 mm² versus 177 mm²
• L3 cache: 8 MB shared versus 4 MB shared
• Memory support: not recorded for the i7; DDR3 for the i3
• PCIe: not recorded for the i7; Gen 3 for the i3
• Integrated graphics: Intel HD 3000 versus Intel HD 4600
• Market segment: Mobile versus Desktop
• Release date: the i7 launched first, the i3 later, per the database's recorded dates
• Production status: the i7 is marked end-of-life; the i3's status is not recorded
• Part number: SR012 recorded for the i7; none for the i3

Shared traits include the Intel foundry, dual-channel memory bus, no ECC support, locked multipliers, and identical 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 per-core cache sizes.

FAQ

Q: Does the i3-4350 win any benchmark against the i7-2820QM?

A: No. The database records five head-to-head tests, all Cinebench runs, and the i7-2820QM wins all five, with deltas between 20.2 and 20.4 percent.

Q: How can a 2.30 GHz mobile chip beat a 3.60 GHz desktop chip in single-core tests?

A: The i7's boost clock reaches 3.40 GHz, closing most of the nominal frequency gap, and its 8 MB shared L3 cache is double the i3's 4 MB. The recorded R20 and R23 single-core results favor the i7 by 20.3 percent in both cases.

Q: How do the two compare against the wider CPU database?

A: Both sit at the 29th percentile. The i7's average benchmark score is 1069 and the i3's is 1058, and each chip's nearest rivals cluster within a fraction of a percent of its average.

Q: Which chip has the newer integrated graphics?

A: The i3-4350, with Intel HD 4600 from the Haswell generation, versus the older Intel HD 3000 in the i7-2820QM.

Q: Which processor consumes less power by specification?

A: The i7-2820QM, with a 45 W TDP versus 54 W for the i3-4350, despite being the faster chip in the recorded benchmarks.

Q: Are these chips still in production?

A: The i7-2820QM is flagged as end-of-life in the database. The i3-4350's production status is not recorded.

The Verdict

Strictly from the recorded data, the choice is lopsided in favor of the i7-2820QM for anyone whose priority is benchmark performance. It wins every measured test, multi-core and single-core, by margins of roughly 20 percent, while also carrying the lower TDP at 45 W versus 54 W. Users running rendering or other threaded workloads get the four-core, eight-thread advantage; users running lightly threaded tasks still get the better single-core scores.

The i3-4350's appeal lies in what the benchmarks do not measure: the newer Haswell architecture on a 22 nm node, the newer HD 4600 integrated graphics, a desktop Socket 1150 platform with recorded DDR3 support and PCIe Gen 3, and a much higher sustained base clock of 3.60 GHz with no dependence on boost behavior. For platform-building considerations where socket and connectivity matter, the i3 offers those recorded platform features. But on pure measured performance, the database is unambiguous: five tests, five wins for the i7-2820QM, and a clean sweep by a chip that, on paper, looks like it should have lost.