Intel Pentium Silver J5040 vs Intel Celeron N3350 vs Intel Pentium Silver N5030
Intel Pentium Silver J5040
► remove from comparison
The Intel Pentium Silver J5040 is a quad-core SoC primarily for inexpensive mini-PCs and was announced late 2019. It runs at 2 GHz (base) to 3.2 GHz (single core burst) and is based on the Gemini Lake platform (refresh). Similar to the Apollo Lake predecessor, the chip is manufactured in a 14 nm process with FinFETs but offers slightly improved processor cores, double the amount of L2 cache, a smaller package, a better GPU architecture and a partly integrated WiFi support. Besides four CPU cores, the chip also includes a DirectX 12 capable GPU as well as a DDR4/LPDDR4 memory controller (dual-channel, up to 2400 MHz). The SoC is not replaceable as it is directly soldered to the mainboard.
Architecture
The processor architecture is still called Goldmont Plus. Compared to the older Goldmont cores in Apollo Lake, they feature an increased level 2 cache (to 4 MB). That means the per-clock-performance should be a bit better, but not near the Core CPUs like Kaby Lake Y.
Performance
Thanks to the higher clock speed and TDP, the Pentium J5040 is slightly faster than the mobile counterpart, the Pentium Silver N5030. Compare to AMD, it ranks on average slightly higher compared to the Athlon Silver 3050e (Zen based Dual-Core) that wins in single-core tests but looses out in multi-threaded tests. Intel Core i3 from 2019 (like the i3-1005G1) are clearly faster and win even in multi-threaded tests easily although being only dual-core CPUs.
GPU Performance
The UHD Graphics 605 (Gemini Lake) is based on Intel's Gen9 architecture, which supports DirectX 12 and is also used for the Kaby Lake / Skylake / Apollo Lake graphics adapters (like HD Graphics 520). Equipped with 18 EUs and a clock of up to 800 MHz, the performance should be roughly on par with the older HD Graphics 5300 and HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake).
The chip also includes an advanced video engine with hardware support for the playback of VP9 and H.265 material (8-bit color-depth).
Power Consumption
The J-variant of the Gemini Lake SoCs are specified at 10W TDP and therefore higher than the mobile N variants (6 Watt).
Intel Celeron N3350
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Celeron N3350 is an Apollo Lake family, dual-core, ultra-low-power processor (SoC) that saw the light of day in 2016. Its two cores run at 1.1 GHz to 2.4 GHz; these are not Hyper-Threading-enabled meaning there are no additional threads. This chip has a fairly competent integrated graphics solution, the Intel HD Graphics 500, and eats very little (~6 W).
Amusingly enough, Intel keeps making and selling the Celeron as of late 2022, albeit the price has dropped from about $100 to about $20 per unit making the CPU even more popular with ultra-budget nettop and laptop makers.
Architecture & Features
Just like other Celeron N, Celeron J, Pentium N, Pentium J processors, this Celeron is notable for its small die size. It is easy to manufacture, lowering the costs and enabling Intel to compete with various ARM-based products (hello, Raspberry Pi).
The Celeron N3350 features the Goldmont CPU microarchitecture. This replaces the dated Silvermont (2013), bringing with it several welcome improvements and making for a double-digit IPC improvement. There is still no L3 cache to be found here, however, it now takes less cycles to perform many operations.
The Celeron is compatible with DDR3L-1866, LPDDR3-1866, LPDDR4-2400 RAM. Intel's guidelines state that up to 8 GB are supported; that being said, various forum users report that the CPU functions just fine if mated to 16 GB and even 32 GB of RAM. The chip features six PCI-Express 2.0 lanes for connecting various devices, meaning a four-lane NVMe SSD will not be able to deliver a data transfer rate of more than 2 GB/s. eMMC and SATA storage is supported natively, too.
This Intel CPU is Secure Boot-compatible; technically, it will have no issue running 64-bit Windows 11. However, Microsoft only allows Windows 11 to be installed on systems with CPUs released in 2017 or later, making 64-bit Windows 10 the only OS that the Celeron is officially compatible with.
Last but not the least, please keep in mind that this is not a user-replaceable CPU. It gets permanently soldered to the motherboard (BGA1296 socket interface).
Performance
The average N3350 in our database is just as fast as the Atom x5-Z8300 and the Core 2 Duo SU7300, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. Which is not fast at all. In fact, the two cores of this Celeron trail behind a single core of any half-decent CPU such as Intel's very own Core i3-7130U. A proper x86 CPU, Celeron N3350 will let you run nearly any Windows app, the caveat being that you will have to wait for several seconds every time you click on something. Windows 10 takes nearly a minute to fully boot with this CPU.
Graphics
The Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake) is the highlight of this little Celeron. As far as the feature set is concerned, the HD Graphics 500 is not much different from the HD Graphics 520 or any other graphics adapter that full-blown six-generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 chips have. This iGPU is compatible with DX12; it will drive up to 3 monitors with resolutions as high as 2160p60. It will happily decode VP9 and AVC-encoded videos, too. These are the two codecs that YouTube mostly relies on, as of 2021.
It's not all roses and sunshine. To keep power consumption under control, the number of Execution Units was reduced to 12 (the HD Graphics 520 has 24 EUs at its disposal, for reference). Besides, the UHD Graphics runs at up to 650 MHz which is not a lot. Very few games will be playable on this graphics solution - mostly, ones that were released in the 2000s or even in the 1990s.
Power consumption
The Celeron's default TDP (also known as the Power Limit 1) is 6 W, making it a great option for passively cooled systems. Increasing the PL1 by one or two watts, which many systems built around Apollo Lake allow one to do, makes for a much more responsive user experience, speaking subjectively.
Energy efficiency isn't great here, as Intel's 14 nm processes are very old as of mid 2022.
Intel Pentium Silver N5030
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Pentium Silver N5030 is a quad-core SoC primarily for inexpensive notebooks and was announced late 2019. It runs at 1.1-3.1 GHz (Single Core Burst) and is based on the Gemini Lake platform. The 5030 is the refresh of the older Pentium 5000 and offers a 400 MHz higher Boost clock. Similar to the Apollo Lake predecessor, the chip is manufactured in a 14 nm process with FinFETs but offers slightly improved processor cores, double the amount of L2 cache, a smaller package, a better GPU architecture and a partly integrated WiFi support. Besides four CPU cores, the chip also includes a DirectX 12 capable GPU as well as a DDR4/LPDDR4 memory controller (dual-channel, up to 2400 MHz). The SoC is not replaceable as it is directly soldered to the mainboard.
Architecture
The processor architecture is still called Goldmont Plus. Compared to the older Goldmont cores in Apollo Lake, they feature an increased level 2 cache (to 4 MB). That means the per-clock-performance should be a bit better, but not near the Core CPUs like Kaby Lake Y.
Performance
The average N5030 in our database proves unable to beat the AMD 3020e, an entry-level dual-core CPU of similar power efficiency, in multi-thread performance, rendering the Pentium a poor option for anything but the most basic day-to-day activities, as of late 2022.
GPU Performance
The UHD Graphics 605 (Gemini Lake) is based on Intel's Gen9 architecture, which supports DirectX 12 and is also used for the Kaby Lake / Skylake / Apollo Lake graphics adapters (like HD Graphics 520). Equipped with 18 EUs and a clock of up to 750 MHz, the performance should be roughly on par with the older HD Graphics 5300 and HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake).
The chip also includes an advanced video engine with hardware support for the playback of VP9 and H.265 material (8-bit color-depth).
Power consumption
Like most N-class Intel chips, the Pentium has a default TDP, also known as the long-term power limit, of 6 W. This is low and thus good enough for passively cooled tablets, laptops, mini-PCs and handhelds.
The Intel Pentium N5030 is built with one of the old 14 nm Intel processes making for poor, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.
| Model | Intel Pentium Silver J5040 | Intel Celeron N3350 | Intel Pentium Silver N5030 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Codename | Gemini Lake Refresh | Apollo Lake | Gemini Lake Refresh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | Intel Gemini Lake | Intel Celeron | Intel Gemini Lake | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series: Gemini Lake Gemini Lake Refresh |
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| Clock | 2000 - 3200 MHz | 1100 - 2400 MHz | 1100 - 3100 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L2 Cache | 4 MB | 2 MB | 4 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cores / Threads | 4 / 4 | 2 / 2 | 4 / 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TDP | 10 Watt | 6 Watt | 6 Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology | 14 nm | 14 nm | 14 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| max. Temp. | 105 °C | 105 °C | 105 °C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Socket | FCBGA1090 | BGA1296 | BGA1090 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Features | Intel UHD Graphics 605 (18 EUs, 200 - 750 MHz), Quick Sync, AES-NI, max. 8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4/LPDDR4-2400 | DDR3L-1866/LPDDR3-1866/LPDDR4-2400 RAM, PCIe 2, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AES | DDR4-2400/LPDDR4-2400 RAM, PCIe 2, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, VMX, SMEP, SMAP, MPX, EIST, TM1, TM2, Turbo, AES-NI, RDRAND, RDSEED, SHA, SGX | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iGPU | Intel UHD Graphics 605 (250 - 800 MHz) | Intel HD Graphics 500 (200 - 650 MHz) | Intel UHD Graphics 605 (200 - 750 MHz) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Architecture | x86 | x86 | x86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announced | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | www.intel.com | ark.intel.com | ark.intel.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| $24 U.S. |
Benchmarks
Average Benchmarks Intel Pentium Silver J5040 → 100% n=32
Average Benchmarks Intel Celeron N3350 → 46% n=32
Average Benchmarks Intel Pentium Silver N5030 → 84% n=32
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
