Celeron 2980U vs Core i3-350M

The Celeron 2980U packs 2 cores / 2 threads, matching the Core i3-350M's 2 cores. Boost clocks reach 1.6 GHz on the Celeron 2980U versus 0.27 GHz on the Core i3-350M — a 142.2% clock advantage for the Celeron 2980U (base: 1.6 GHz vs 2.26 GHz). The Celeron 2980U uses the Haswell (2013−2015) architecture (22 nm), while the Core i3-350M uses Arrandale (2010−2011) (32 nm). In PassMark, the Celeron 2980U scores 1,092 against the Core i3-350M's 1,088 — a 0.4% lead for the Celeron 2980U. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 354 vs 280, a 23.3% lead for the Celeron 2980U that directly translates to higher frame rates. Multi-core Geekbench: 694 vs 650 (6.5% advantage for the Celeron 2980U). L3 cache: 2 MB (total) on the Celeron 2980U vs 3 MB (total) on the Core i3-350M.

The Celeron 2980U uses the FCBGA1168 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i3-350M uses PGA988 (PCIe 2.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Both support up to DDR3L-1600 memory speed. The Celeron 2980U supports up to 16 GB of RAM compared to 8 GB — 66.7% more capacity for professional workloads. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. PCIe lanes: 12 (Celeron 2980U) vs 16 (Core i3-350M) — the Core i3-350M offers 4 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives. Chipset compatibility: Haswell-ULT (Celeron 2980U) and HM55,HM57 (Core i3-350M).

Neither processor supports overclocking. Virtualization support: VT-x (Celeron 2980U) vs VT-x, VT-d, EPT (Core i3-350M). Both include integrated graphics — Intel HD Graphics (Haswell) (Celeron 2980U) and Intel HD Graphics (Core i3-350M) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Celeron 2980U targets Low Power, Core i3-350M targets Entry Laptop. Direct competitor: Celeron 2980U rivals AMD A4-5000; Core i3-350M rivals AMD Athlon II P320.