AMD Athlon II X2 260 vs Intel Pentium Gold 8500

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CPU comparison with benchmarks

-VS-

CPU lineage

AMD Athlon II X2 260 or AMD Athlon II X2 260 – which processor offers superior performance? In this comparison, we examine disparities and assess which of these two CPUs outperforms the other. We delve into technical specifications and benchmark outcomes.
The AMD Athlon II X2 260 features 2 processor cores and has the capability to manage 2 threads concurrently.
It was released in Q2/2010 and belongs to the 1 generation of the AMD Athlon II series.
To use the AMD Athlon II X2 260, you'll need a motherboard with a AM3 socket.
The Intel Pentium Gold 8500 features 5 processor cores and has the capability to manage 6 threads concurrently.
It was released in Q1/2022 and belongs to the 12 generation of the Intel Pentium series.
To use the Intel Pentium Gold 8500, you'll need a motherboard with a BGA 1744 socket.
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
AMD Athlon II X2 260 Name Intel Pentium Gold 8500
AMD Athlon II Family Intel Pentium
1 Generation 12
AMD Athlon II X2 (Propus) Group Intel Pentium Gold 8000
 
 

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The AMD Athlon II X2 260 has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 2 threads in parallel.
The clock frequency of the AMD Athlon II X2 260 is 3.2 GHz
The Intel Pentium Gold 8500 has 5 CPU cores and can calculate 6 threads in parallel.
The clock frequency of the A-Core is 1.0 GHz.
The number of CPU cores greatly affects the speed of the processor and is an important performance indicator.
Processors with hybrid (big.LITTLE) architecture strike a balance between performance and power efficiency, making them ideal for mobile devices.
None None 4.4 GHz
None None 3.3 GHz
2 Threads 6
No Hyperthreading Yes
2x Cores None
None None 0.7 GHz
None None 1.0 GHz
None None 4x Gracemont
None None 1x Golden Cove
No Overclocking No
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
3.2 GHz Frequency None
2 CPU Cores 5
 
 

Internal Graphics

The AMD Athlon II X2 260 does not have integrated graphics.
The Intel Pentium Gold 8500 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short.
Specifically, the Intel Pentium Gold 8500 uses the Intel UHD Graphics 11th Gen (48 EU), which has 384 texture shaders
and 48 execution units.
The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.
-- GPU frequency 0.2 GHz
-- Release date Q2/2020
-- Direct X 12
GPU name Intel UHD Graphics 11th Gen (48 EU)
-- Technology 10 nm
-- Max. displays --
-- Shaders 384
0 bytes Max. GPU Memory 64.0 GB
-- Execution units 48
-- Generation 12
-- GPU (Turbo) 0.8 GHz
 
 

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

-- AI specifications --
-- AI hardware --
 
 

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.
-- AVC Decode / Encode
-- VC-1 Decode
-- VP9 Decode / Encode
-- h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
-- h264 Decode / Encode
-- VP8 Decode
-- h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
-- JPEG Decode / Encode
-- AV1 Decode
 
 

Memory & PCIe

The processor supports a maximum memory capacity of 64.0 GB distributed across 2 memory channels. It offers a peak memory bandwidth of 76.8 GB/s. Both the type and quantity of memory can have a substantial impact on the overall system performance.
2 Memory channels 2
16.0 GB Max. Memory 64.0 GB
pci PCIe pci
No AES-NI Yes
No ECC No
-- Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s
DDR3-1333 Memory type DDR4-3200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, LPDDR5-5200
 
 

Thermal Management

The processor has a thermal design power (TDP) of 65 W watts.
TDP indicates the cooling solution needed to effectively manage the processor's heat. It generally provides an approximate indication of the actual power consumption of the CPU itself.
The processor has a thermal design power (TDP) of 9 W watts.
-- Tjunction max 100 °C
None TDP (PL2) 29 W
65 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 9 W
 
 

Technical details

The AMD Athlon II X2 260 is manufactured using a 45 nm process.
A smaller manufacturing process indicates a more contemporary and energy-efficient CPU.
A substantial cache can significantly enhance the processor's performance, particularly in scenarios like gaming.
The Intel Pentium Gold 8500 is manufactured using a 10 nm process.
In total, this processor boasts a generous 8.0 MB cache.
Q2/2010 Release date Q1/2022
-- Part Number --
2.0 MB L2-Cache 3.2 MB
AMD-V Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
SSE3, SSE4a, MMX, 3DNow! ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
-- Chip design Monolithic
Propus Architecture Alder Lake U
45 nm Technology 10 nm
AM3 Socket BGA 1744
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems
-- Release price --
Technical data sheet Documents Technical data sheet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
0 bytes L3-Cache 8.0 MB