Intel Pentium G3220 On Linux

The Intel Pentium G3220 is just a dual-core budget processor but the performance of this Haswell-based CPU has proven to be decent from the Lini PC, especially when it comes to the Intel HD Graphics on Ubuntu.

A few days ago I delivered some benchmarks from the Xubuntu-powered Lini PC, a Linux-friendly $500 small-form factor PC that happens to be using the G3220. For those interested more in the Haswell Pentium performance, there are more benchmarks in this weekend Phoronix article. The Intel Pentium G3220 is a dual-core 3.0GHz processor (without any Turbo frequency), features 3MB of cache, SSE 4.1+4.2 instruction set extensions, based on a 22nm manufacturing process and other shared Haswell features, and has a 54 Watt TDP. The G3220 also boasts Haswell HD Graphics with a top frequency of 1150MHz. The Pentium G3220 premiered this past September and is currently retailing for about $70 USD.

Besides the Linux performance results shared in the aforelinked Lini PC review, in this article the G3220 is being compared to a few older Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors. The comparison CPUs include the Intel Core i3 2120, Core i5 2400S, Core i5 2500K, and Core i5 3470. The other system components were maintained where possible with the Lini PC (and the G3220) being in a mini-ITX form factor and a review sample that needs to be returned to the vendor (thus not able to take it apart, etc). The purpose of these results is mainly for reference if you are looking for an Intel budget CPU. Ubuntu 13.10 was used throughout for the benchmarking.

Via the Phoronix Test Suite you can easily compare your own system's performance against the Pentium G3220 in numerous CPU tests along with the Core i3 2120 / i5 2400S / i5 2500K / i5 3470 via installing the Phoronix Test Suite and then simply running phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1312075-SO-INTELCPUS95.