Core i3-350M vs Celeron 2980U

The Core i3-350M packs 2 cores / 4 threads, matching the Celeron 2980U's 2 cores. Boost clocks reach 0.27 GHz on the Core i3-350M versus 1.6 GHz on the Celeron 2980U — a 142.2% clock advantage for the Celeron 2980U (base: 2.26 GHz vs 1.6 GHz). The Core i3-350M uses the Arrandale (2010−2011) architecture (32 nm), while the Celeron 2980U uses Haswell (2013−2015) (22 nm). In PassMark, the Core i3-350M scores 1,088 against the Celeron 2980U's 1,092 — a 0.4% lead for the Celeron 2980U. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 280 vs 354, a 23.3% lead for the Celeron 2980U that directly translates to higher frame rates. Multi-core Geekbench: 650 vs 694 (6.5% advantage for the Celeron 2980U). L3 cache: 3 MB (total) on the Core i3-350M vs 2 MB (total) on the Celeron 2980U.

The Core i3-350M uses the PGA988 socket (PCIe 2.0), while the Celeron 2980U uses FCBGA1168 (PCIe 3.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Both support up to DDR3-1066 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: 16 (Core i3-350M) vs 12 (Celeron 2980U) — the Core i3-350M offers 4 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives. Chipset compatibility: HM55,HM57 (Core i3-350M) and Haswell-ULT (Celeron 2980U).

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