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Intel Core i3-3220

Intel Core i3-3220: Review of an Outdated, Yet Relevant Budget Processor

April 2025

1. Key Specifications: Ivy Bridge Architecture and Modest Performance

The Intel Core i3-3220 processor, released in 2012, became part of the third generation of Core processors (codename Ivy Bridge). This was an evolution of the Sandy Bridge architecture, improved by transitioning to a 22nm manufacturing process, which reduced power consumption and slightly increased clock speeds.

Key parameters:

- 2 cores / 4 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading;

- Base clock speed: 3.3 GHz (without Turbo Boost);

- TDP 55W;

- Integrated graphics: Intel HD Graphics 2500;

- L3 cache: 3MB.

Performance:

According to Geekbench 6 (2025), the i3-3220 scores 503 points in single-core and 867 in multi-core modes. In comparison, the modern budget Intel Celeron G6900 (2023) scores ~1500/2500 points. However, it is sufficient for basic tasks (office work, browsing, HD video).

Features of its Time:

- Support for PCIe 3.0 (relevant for SSDs);

- Virtualization technologies (VT-x, VT-d);

- Energy efficiency for its era.

2. Compatible Motherboards: LGA 1155 Socket and Chipsets

The processor uses the outdated LGA 1155 socket, which limits the choice of motherboards. Suitable chipsets include:

- H61 (basic, non-overclockable);

- B75 (additional SATA 6Gbps/USB 3.0 ports);

- H77/Z75/Z77 (RAID support, multiplier overclocking for K-index processors).

Choosing Tips:

- New motherboards are no longer manufactured — look for used ones on eBay or local marketplaces (price: $30-60);

- Check the condition of capacitors and the presence of the latest BIOS version;

- Avoid boards with damaged sockets — repairs are not cost-effective.

Practical Example: A user from Poland built a PC based on the i3-3220 and ASUS P8B75-M LX motherboard (used for $40), adding a Kingston A400 SSD — the system runs smoothly on Windows 10.

3. Supported Memory: Only DDR3

The i3-3220 works with DDR3-1333/1600 MHz in dual-channel mode. The maximum volume—32GB (theoretically)—but in practice, motherboards from that time rarely support more than 16GB.

Issues:

- DDR4/DDR5 not compatible;

- Prices for new DDR3 modules are inflated due to discontinuation (8GB — $25-30);

- It is recommended to buy used memory (8GB — $10-15).

Tip: Use two identical modules (e.g., 2x4GB) to enable dual-channel mode — this will give +10-15% performance in gaming and rendering.

4. Power Supply: Minimum 400W with Headroom

With a TDP of 55W and no discrete graphics card, a power supply of 300-350W is sufficient for the system. However, for upgrades (e.g., adding a GTX 1650), 400-450W will be required.

Recommendations:

- Budget models: EVGA 450 BR ($45) or Be Quiet! System Power 10 450W ($55);

- Check the motherboard power connector (24-pin + 4-pin CPU);

- Don’t skimp on efficiency — choose an 80+ Bronze certification or higher.

Important: Old power supplies lose power due to capacitor wear. If the unit is over 7 years old — replace it.

5. Pros and Cons: Who is it Relevant for in 2025?

Pros:

- Low price on the secondary market ($15-30);

- Energy efficiency (suitable for HTPC);

- Sufficient performance for basic tasks.

Cons:

- No support for AVX2, DirectX 12 Ultimate;

- Limited upgradeability (maximum is i7-3770K);

- Outdated standards (DDR3, PCIe 3.0).

6. Use Cases: From Office to Retro Gaming

- Office and Web Browsing: With an SSD and 8GB of RAM, the system can handle Chrome, Excel, and Zoom.

- Multimedia: Playback of Full HD video (4K via HDMI 1.4 is only possible at reduced frame rates).

- Gaming:

- Older titles: GTA V on low settings (30-40 FPS with GTX 750 Ti);

- Indie games: Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley — without issues.

Real Example: In 2024, a user from Ukraine built a PC with an i3-3220, GTX 1050, and 8GB DDR3 for playing CS:2 — average FPS was 45-60 on low settings.

7. Comparison with Competitors: AMD vs Intel

In its Era (2012-2013):

- AMD A8-5600K (4 cores, Radeon HD 7560D): Better in multi-threaded tasks, but higher TDP (100W);

- Intel Pentium G2120 (2 cores/2 threads): Cheaper, but without Hyper-Threading.

In 2025:

- Intel Celeron G6900 ($50-60): Twice as fast, supports DDR4;

- AMD Athlon 3000G ($60): 2 cores/4 threads, Vega 3 iGPU.

Conclusion: The i3-3220 lags behind modern budget options but wins in price on the used market.

8. Practical Assembly Tips

- Don’t overpay for DDR3: Buy used modules — 8GB for $10;

- Use an SSD: Even a SATA drive (e.g., Crucial MX500 250GB for $35) will speed up the system;

- Cooling: The stock cooler is adequate, but replace the thermal paste (Arctic MX-4 — $5);

- Upgrade: If more power is needed — look for used i5-3470 ($25) or i7-3770 ($50).

9. Final Conclusion: Who is the i3-3220 Suitable For?

This processor should be considered only in cases of:

- Building an ultra-budget PC for office work or study (e.g., for a student);

- Retro gaming or HTPC;

- A temporary solution before investing in a modern platform.

Target Audience:

- Enthusiasts building PCs from used components;

- Users who do not require high performance.

Alternative: If the budget allows $100-150, it is better to get a new Intel Celeron G6900 or AMD Athlon 3000G — they will provide support for modern standards and future-proofing.

Conclusion

The Intel Core i3-3220 in 2025 is an archaic but functional option for niche scenarios. Its main advantages are price and minimal power requirements. However, it is no longer suitable for serious tasks or gaming. Purchase it only if your budget is tightly constrained and your PC requirements are modest.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

July 2012

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.

i3-3220

Code Name

Ivi Bridge

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

3.30 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.

Yes

CPU Socket

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

FCLGA1155

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.

22 nm

TDP

55 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.

2.0

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.

DDR3 1333/1600

Max Memory Size

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

32 GB

Memory Channels

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

Bus Speed

5 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).

25.6 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.

GPU Specifications

GPU Name

Intel® HD Graphics 2500

Graphics Base Frequency

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

650 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.

1.05 GHz

Number of Displays Supported

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.

Instruction Set Extensions

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX

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.

3 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.

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 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 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

503

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

867

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

606

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1351

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1730

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

2263

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

A10-9700E

578 +14.9%

Xeon E5-1410 v2

546 +8.5%

Core i3-3220

503

FX-4300

473 -6%

Pentium Silver J5040

435 -13.5%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Pentium G3258

1078 +24.3%

Core i3-2105

959 +10.6%

Core i3-3220

867

A10-4600M

721 -16.8%

Celeron G550

629 -27.5%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

FX-8300

652 +7.6%

Core m5-6Y54

628 +3.6%

Core i3-3220

606

Xeon Platinum 8176

584 -3.6%

Xeon D-2141I

564 -6.9%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

A10-7700K

1485 +9.9%

Xeon E5-2697 v2

1411 +4.4%

Core i3-3220

1351

Core i7-2640M

1256 -7%

Athlon Silver 3050U

1173 -13.2%

Passmark CPU Single Core

EPYC 7351P

1786 +3.2%

Pentium D1508

1760 +1.7%

Core i3-3220

1730

Celeron G3930T

1706 -1.4%

FX-9370

1682 -2.8%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i7-3687U

2630 +16.2%

Pentium G4500T

2391 +5.7%

Core i3-3220

2263

Core i5-3337U

2096 -7.4%

Atom x7213RE

1957 -13.5%