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Intel Celeron G3900T

Intel Celeron G3900T: A Budget Processor for Undemanding Tasks (Analysis for 2025)

Introduction

Even in 2025, Intel Celeron processors remain popular for budget PCs. The G3900T model, released back in 2016, is still available for purchase due to its low price (around $30–40) and energy efficiency. Let’s explore who this chip is suitable for today and what to pay attention to when building a system based on it.

1. Key Specifications

Architecture and Process Technology

The Celeron G3900T is built on the Skylake microarchitecture (6th generation Intel) with a 14 nm process technology. This is a dual-core processor without Hyper-Threading support (2 cores / 2 threads). The base frequency is 2.6 GHz, and there is no turbo boost. The integrated graphics is Intel HD Graphics 510 with a base frequency of 350 MHz.

Performance

According to Geekbench 6 tests (2025):

- Single-Core: 544 points

- Multi-Core: 942 points

For comparison, a modern budget processor like the Intel N100 (2023) scores around ~1100/2300 points. The G3900T even lags behind some smartphones, but its performance is sufficient for basic tasks.

Key Features

- TDP 35W: Suitable for compact and silent systems.

- DDR4 support: Current memory standard.

- Integrated graphics: Allows for a setup without a discrete graphics card.

2. Compatible Motherboards

Socket and Chipsets

The processor uses the LGA 1151 (H4 version) socket but is only compatible with 100/200 series chipsets:

- H110 (basic option, from $35 on the used market).

- B150/B250 (more SATA/USB ports, RAID support).

- H170/Q170 (enterprise solutions).

Important! Motherboards for the 8th–9th generation Intel (for example, based on the H310 chipset) do not support the G3900T due to pin configuration differences.

Example Models (2025)

- ASUS H110M-K: Compact mATX motherboard, 2 DDR4 slots, price ~$40 (used).

- Gigabyte B250M-DS3H: 4 memory slots, HDMI, suitable for media centers.

3. Supported Memory

The Celeron G3900T works with DDR4-2133 MHz (officially). The maximum capacity is 64 GB (dependent on the motherboard).

Recommendations:

- Use dual-channel mode (2 modules of 4-8 GB each). This will provide a +15% performance boost in gaming and rendering.

- DDR4-2400/2666 memory will run at 2133 MHz—there’s no point in overpaying.

4. Power Supply Units

With a TDP of 35W and no discrete graphics card, a power supply rated at 300–400W is sufficient.

Examples:

- Corsair CV450 (450W, 80+ Bronze, $55) — with headroom for upgrades.

- be quiet! System Power 10 (350W, $40) — quiet and reliable.

Tip: For systems with an SSD and no graphics card, even a 250W PSU will suffice, but such units are rarely found on the market.

5. Pros and Cons

Advantages

- Price: $30–40 for a new processor (2025).

- Energy efficiency: Ideal for NAS or media center.

- Compatibility with Windows 10/11 (in Legacy mode).

Disadvantages

- Weak multi-threading capability: 2 cores struggle with video editing or modern games.

- Outdated graphics: HD 510 does not support 4K@60Hz via HDMI.

- No PCIe 4.0/5.0 support: Maximum PCIe 3.0 x16.

6. Usage Scenarios

Office Tasks

- Working with documents, browsers (up to 10 tabs), Zoom.

- Example: A PC based on G3900T + 8 GB DDR4 + 240 GB SSD — an excellent solution for cashiers or call centers.

Multimedia

- Playback of 1080p (H.264) via Kodi or Plex.

- Limitation: 4K video will lag even on YouTube.

Gaming

- Older titles: Half-Life 2, Minecraft (on low settings).

- Cloud gaming (GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud) — with stable internet.

7. Comparison with Competitors

Intel Pentium Gold G6400 (2020)

- 2 cores / 4 threads, Geekbench 6: 780/1480.

- Price: $60. Conclusion: Pentium is better for multitasking.

AMD Athlon 3000G (2019)

- 2 cores / 4 threads, Vega 3 graphics.

- Overclocking support, 4K@60Hz. Price: $50. Conclusion: Better choice for HTPC.

Intel N100 (2023)

- 4 cores / 4 threads, TDP 6W.

- Geekbench 6: 1100/2300. Price: $120. Conclusion: For new systems, the N100 is preferable.

8. Practical Assembly Tips

1. SSD is essential: An HDD will bottleneck this processor. Kingston A400 (240 GB, $25) — minimum.

2. Cooling: The BOX cooler will suffice, but for silence, consider the Deepcool GAMMAXX 200T ($15).

3. Upgrade: Choose a motherboard with M.2 (NVMe) and USB 3.1 — this will prolong the system's life.

4. Operating System: Windows 10 LTSC or Linux (Lubuntu) will reduce resource load.

9. Final Conclusion: Who is the Celeron G3900T Suitable For?

This processor should only be considered in two cases:

1. Building an extremely cheap PC for text tasks or digital signage.

2. Upgrading an old system on LGA 1151 without changing the motherboard.

Alternative: If the budget allows for $100–150, it’s better to get a used Intel Core i3-8100 (4 cores, 65W) or a new AMD Ryzen 3 5300U (laptop APU).

The Celeron G3900T in 2025 is a relic, but it still finds use where saving money is more important than performance.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

October 2015

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

G3900T

Code Name

SkyLake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

2.60 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCLGA1151

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

14 nm

TDP

35 W

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

3.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16 | 2x8 | 1x8+2x4

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR4-1866/2133 | DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

64 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

8 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

34.1 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

Yes

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® HD Graphics 510

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

350 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

950 MHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

64 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@24Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (VGA)

N/A

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

Graphics Output defines the interfaces available to communicate with display devices.

eDP/DP/HDMI/DVI

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

2 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.4

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

544

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

942

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

673

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1275

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1570

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

2089

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

PRO A6-8570E

617 +13.4%

Core i3-3240

577 +6.1%

Celeron G3900T

544

Core i3-3130M

500 -8.1%

Xeon E5-4650

472 -13.2%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i7-3540M

1168 +24%

Celeron G4900T

1040 +10.4%

Celeron G3900T

942

A8-3820

831 -11.8%

A8-6500T

685 -27.3%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Core i5-8210Y

716 +6.4%

Xeon E7-8880 v3

691 +2.7%

Celeron G3900T

673

FX-8300

652 -3.1%

Core m5-6Y54

628 -6.7%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Pentium G3450

1417 +11.1%

Xeon E5-2403 v2

1359 +6.6%

Celeron G3900T

1275

Core i5-2430M

1192 -6.5%

FX-4320

1102 -13.6%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Core i3-4130T

1628 +3.7%

Core i7-3687U

1595 +1.6%

Celeron G3900T

1570

Xeon E5-2630L v3

1534 -2.3%

Xeon X5675

1494 -4.8%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Celeron G6900TE

2373 +13.6%

Core i5-3427U

2244 +7.4%

Celeron G3900T

2089

Core i5-2410M

1934 -7.4%

Core i7-2637M

1831 -12.4%