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Intel Pentium B980

Intel Pentium B980: An Obsolete Warrior for Basic Tasks. A Practical Review of the 2025 Processor

Introduction: Why is the Pentium B980 Still Mentioned in 2025?

Despite the fact that the Intel Pentium B980 is a processor from the Sandy Bridge era (2011–2012), it can still be found in budget entry-level laptops, especially in developing countries. In 2025, these devices are sold as "electronic assistants" for minimalist tasks at a price range of $250–$350. But is it worth considering seriously? Let's delve deeper.

1. Architecture and Process Technology: A Simplified Foundation from the 2010s

Cores, Threads, Frequencies

- Cores and Threads: 2 cores, 2 threads — a classic configuration without Hyper-Threading. Multitasking is limited: running a browser with 10+ tabs alongside an office suite will cause slowdowns.

- Clock Frequencies: Base — 2.4 GHz, Turbo Boost is absent. For 2025, this is an extremely low figure. For comparison, a modern Intel Celeron N5100 (2021) operates at 1.1–2.8 GHz, but thanks to the 10nm process and Tremont architecture, it is more energy-efficient and faster.

- Integrated Graphics (iGPU): Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) with 6 EU (Execution Units). Performance reaches 30–40 FPS in Dota 2 (720p, minimum settings). In comparison, modern Intel UHD Graphics (Xe) is ten times more powerful.

Sandy Bridge Features

The Sandy Bridge architecture brought a breakthrough in IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) in 2011, but today it is hopelessly outdated:

- Lack of AVX2, AVX-512 — critical for modern applications, including photo editors and browsers.

- 32nm process technology — enormous by 2025 standards (modern chips are 5–7nm). This leads to high power consumption and heat generation.

2. TDP and Power Consumption: The Price of Aging

- TDP: 35 W — a high figure for a mobile processor. Modern counterparts (for instance, AMD Ryzen 3 7320U) at TDP 15 W demonstrate twice the performance.

- Heating: In laptops with passive cooling (like thin models such as ASUS VivoBook X201E), the Pentium B980 can overheat under load, lowering frequencies to 1.8–2.0 GHz.

3. Performance: What Can it Handle in 2025?

Office Work

- Microsoft Office, Google Docs: Acceptable, but scenarios like simultaneous document editing, video calls on Zoom, and working with Excel will cause lags. It is recommended to keep browser tabs to no more than 5.

- Example: A Lenovo IdeaPad 3 with a Pentium B980 and 8 GB RAM can handle text entry but will "think" when opening PDFs with 50+ pages.

Multimedia

- Video: Streaming 1080p (YouTube, Netflix) — hassle-free, but 4K is not supported hardware-wise. For 2025, where 4K content has become the standard, this is a downside.

- Audio: Processing in Audacity is only possible for simple tasks (trimming, volume normalization).

Gaming

- 2010s Games: Minecraft (40–50 FPS on low settings), Left 4 Dead 2 (60 FPS), CS:GO (25–30 FPS on low settings).

- Modern Titles: Even indie games like Hades (2020) will lag due to weak graphics and CPU.

4. Use Cases: Who Would Suit B980 in 2025?

- Students: For note-taking, working with Google Classroom, and watching lectures.

- Retirees: Social networks, Skype, simple casual games.

- Backup Laptop: In case of the main device failure.

Who it is not suitable for:

- Freelancers (lags in Figma, Photoshop).

- Gamers (even cloud gaming is challenging due to video decoding requirements).

- Programmers (coding in Python or Java will take 3-5 times longer than on modern CPUs).

5. Battery Life: 2-4 Hours — Is It Standard or a Failure?

- Operating Time: Laptops with B980 and a 40–45 Wh battery work for 3–4 hours under web surfing. For comparison, modern devices with Intel Alder Lake-U processors (15 W) provide 8–10 hours.

- Power-Saving Technologies:

- Enhanced SpeedStep: Dynamically adjusts frequency, but due to the outdated process technology, savings are minimal.

- C-States: Puts cores into low-power mode. In 2025, these technologies are considered basic and inefficient.

6. Comparison with Competitors: Who Was and Who Is

AMD From 2012: A6-3420M

- Pros Against B980: 4 cores, better graphics with Radeon HD 6520G (comparable to GeForce 610M).

- Cons: Higher TDP (35 W), heats up more.

Modern Counterparts (2025):

- Intel Celeron N95 (4 cores, 6 W, $120): Twice the performance, supports AVX2, 4K 60 FPS.

- AMD Athlon Silver 7120U (2 cores/2 threads, 15 W, $130): 30% faster in multi-threaded tasks, Radeon 610M graphics.

Conclusion: B980 lags behind even budget CPUs from 2023–2025, but it may be cheaper by $50–$70.

7. Advantages and Disadvantages: Why Is It Still Sold?

Strengths:

- Price: Laptops starting from $250 (new, with warranty).

- Repairability: Replacement of thermal paste, fans — cheaper than in ultrabooks.

- Sufficient for Linux: Runs smoothly on lightweight distributions (Lubuntu, Xubuntu).

Weaknesses:

- No support for Windows 11 (only Windows 10 or Linux).

- Lack of hardware acceleration for modern codecs (AV1, VP9).

- Limited upgrade: Maximum of 16 GB DDR3-1333 RAM.

8. Recommendations for Choosing a Laptop: What to Look For?

- Device Type: Only budget models (not ultrabooks!).

- Essential Parameters:

- Screen: IPS matrix, or else your eyes will tire from TN.

- Storage: SSD 256 GB (SATA III) — HDD will slow down the system.

- Ports: USB 3.0, HDMI for monitor connection.

- Avoid:

- Devices with 4 GB RAM (minimum 8 GB).

- Laptops without warranty (risk of purchasing a refurbished 2013 B980).

9. Final Conclusion: Is It Worth Buying in 2025?

The Pentium B980 is suitable if:

- The budget is strictly limited ($250–$300).

- A cheap laptop is needed for Windows 10 or Linux.

- Main tasks include text, YouTube, Zoom.

Do not buy if:

- You plan to use the laptop for 3–4 years. Already in 2026, support for Windows 10 will end, and modern software will become even more demanding.

- You want to do gaming or work with graphics.

Key Benefit: Minimum price for a new device with a warranty. However, even budget Chromebooks on ARM processors (like the MediaTek Kompanio 500) offer better battery life and support updates until 2030.

Postscript: Alternatives for the Same Money

For $300–$350 in 2025, you can find:

- Used Business Laptops: For example, Dell Latitude 5420 (2021) with Intel Core i5-1135G7 — 4 times more powerful.

- New Chromebooks: Support for Android applications, battery life of 10+ hours.

The Pentium B980 is a choice only for those who fundamentally want a new device "out of the box" and are willing to tolerate archaic performance.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

April 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.

B980

Code Name

Sandy 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.

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.

FCPGA988 | PGA988

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.

32 nm

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

85C

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

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.

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

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

PCI Express Configurations

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

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 1066/1333

Max Memory Size

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

16 GB

Memory Channels

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

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).

21.3 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 for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors

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.

1.15 GHz

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

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

eDP/DP/HDMI/SDVO/CRT

Miscellaneous

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.

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.

Instruction Set Extensions

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

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.

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Intel Flex Memory Access

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.

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

357

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

601

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

345

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

611

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

1035

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

1073

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Xeon E5-2407

423 +18.5%

Athlon X4 830

393 +10.1%

Pentium B980

357

A4-4300M

313 -12.3%

A8-3520M

257 -28%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i3-3120M

840 +39.8%

Celeron 3865U

693 +15.3%

Pentium B980

601

Core i3-2377M

500 -16.8%

A6-4455M

336 -44.1%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Athlon II X4 651

414 +20%

Xeon L5630

374 +8.4%

Pentium B980

345

Athlon II X4 631

309 -10.4%

Pentium 997

257 -25.5%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i3-390M

802 +31.3%

PRO A6-8570E

711 +16.4%

Pentium B980

611

A4-3330MX

491 -19.6%

Celeron N2807

368 -39.8%

Passmark CPU Single Core

A10-5750M

1138 +10%

Xeon D-1557

1090 +5.3%

Pentium B980

1035

Celeron G1820TE

978 -5.5%

Celeron B840

918 -11.3%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

A4-6300B

1328 +23.8%

Core i3-2330M

1224 +14.1%

Pentium B980

1073

Pentium P6300

834 -22.3%

Pentium 967

643 -40.1%