Processors/Comparison
15 specifications
Intel Core i3-3225 vs Intel Core i3-4150
On the specifications we can verify, the Intel Core i3-3225 and the Intel Core i3-4150 are closely matched. Which one is faster on your desk depends on cooling and sustained behaviour rather than on anything printed here.
Intel Core i3-3225
Intel · Core 3rd generation · Desktop
Intel Core i3-4150
Intel · Core 4th generation · Desktop
Cores and clocks
Cache and power
Platform
A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.
Reading the table
What the difference means.
Power and cooling
The Core i3-3225 is rated at 55 W against 54 W. The rating is the heat the cooler has to move for the chip to hold its speed, and modern chips draw well above it in short bursts. A competent tower cooler suits the Core i3-3225; the Core i3-4150 is easier to keep quiet and fits smaller cases. A chip whose cooling falls short does not fail. It slows down, and it does so after the first minute, which is why short benchmarks miss it.
Platform
They use different sockets, FCLGA1155 and FCLGA1150, so moving from one to the other means a new motherboard. For an upgrade, that cost belongs in the comparison; for a new build, the newer platform is the one with later chips still to come.
Which to pick, on paper
- A quiet or compact build
- Core i3-4150
- 54 W against 55 W: less heat to move, so a smaller cooler and slower fans.
What no table says
How much of its speed a processor keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.
Questions
- Is the Core i3-3225 better than the Core i3-4150?
- By need, on the specifications: a quiet or compact build: the Core i3-4150. No specification says how much speed either one keeps under a long load; that depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in, and it is what a sustained test measures.
- Do the Core i3-3225 and the Core i3-4150 use the same socket?
- No. The Core i3-3225 uses FCLGA1155 and the Core i3-4150 uses FCLGA1150, so switching means a new motherboard.
- Does the Core i3-3225 or the Core i3-4150 have integrated graphics?
- Both do: Intel HD Graphics 4000 on the Core i3-3225 and Intel HD Graphics 4400 on the Core i3-4150.
- Which runs hotter, the Core i3-3225 or the Core i3-4150?
- The Core i3-3225 is rated at 55 W against 54 W, so it produces more heat under load and needs the larger cooler. How hot either one actually runs depends on the cooler and the case more than on the chip.
More comparisons
- Intel Core i3-3225 vs AMD Athlon 200GE
- Intel Core i3-3225 vs Intel Core i3-530
- Intel Core i3-3225 vs Intel Core i3-540
- Intel Core i3-3225 vs Intel Core i5-4430
- Intel Core i3-3225 vs Intel Core i5-750
- Intel Core i3-4150 vs AMD Athlon 200GE
- Intel Core i3-4150 vs Intel Core i3-530
- Intel Core i3-4150 vs Intel Core i3-540
- Intel Core i3-4150 vs Intel Core i5-4430
- Intel Core i3-4150 vs Intel Core i5-750
Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.
Nothing above describes how a processor behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.
We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.