Core i3-8140U vs Celeron G6900E

The Core i3-8140U packs 2 cores / 4 threads, matching the Celeron G6900E's 2 cores. Boost clocks reach 3.9 GHz on the Core i3-8140U versus 3 GHz on the Celeron G6900E — a 26.1% clock advantage for the Core i3-8140U (base: 2.1 GHz vs 3 GHz). The Celeron G6900E is built on the Alder Lake-S (2022) architecture. In PassMark, the Core i3-8140U scores 4,227 against the Celeron G6900E's 4,272 — a 1.1% lead for the Celeron G6900E. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 1,225 vs 1,563, a 24.2% lead for the Celeron G6900E that directly translates to higher frame rates. L3 cache: 4 MB Intel® Smart Cache on the Core i3-8140U vs 4 MB (total) on the Celeron G6900E.

The Core i3-8140U uses the FCBGA1528 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Celeron G6900E uses LGA1700 (PCIe 5.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Maximum memory speed reaches DDR4-2400 on the Core i3-8140U versus DDR5-4800 on the Celeron G6900E — the Celeron G6900E supports 22.2% faster memory, which can translate to measurable gains in memory-sensitive workloads. The Celeron G6900E supports up to 128 GB of RAM compared to 64 GB — 66.7% more capacity for professional workloads. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. PCIe lanes: 16 (Core i3-8140U) vs 20 (Celeron G6900E) — the Celeron G6900E offers 4 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives.

Neither processor supports overclocking. Virtualization support: VT-x, VT-d, EPT (Core i3-8140U) vs VT-x (Celeron G6900E). Both include integrated graphics — UHD Graphics 620 (Core i3-8140U) and UHD Graphics 710 (Celeron G6900E) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i3-8140U targets Mainstream Laptop, Celeron G6900E targets Budget. Direct competitor: Core i3-8140U rivals Ryzen 3 3300U; Celeron G6900E rivals Pentium Gold G7400.