Intel Pentium G4620 2-core LGA 1151

The Pentium G4620 is a dual-core Kaby Lake chip with a 3.7GHz clock and surprisingly decent single-thread performance for its age. Multi-threaded work is weak, with a PassMark score of 3760 that lands in the bottom third of our database. Pricing is all over the place, from EUR 107 to EUR 356 in Europe alone. Only worth buying as a drop-in replacement for an existing LGA 1151 system, and only at the low end of that price range.

The PassMark scores tell the story pretty clearly. The G4620 pulls a 3760 multi-thread score and 2233 single-thread. For context, that single-thread number lands in the 63rd percentile of all CPUs in our database, which is actually not terrible for a chip this old. The 3.7GHz clock speed does some heavy lifting there. But the multi-thread score is where the dual-core limitation hits hard. It sits in the 33rd percentile, meaning two-thirds of the CPUs we track beat it in multi-threaded workloads.

What does that mean in practice? Basic tasks like web browsing, document editing, and video streaming will feel fine. The single-thread performance is solid enough that everyday desktop use won't make you want to throw the machine out a window. But anything that actually uses multiple cores, like video encoding, heavy multitasking, or modern games, will choke. The 51W TDP is modest, so it won't turn your case into a space heater, but the efficiency score of 38/100 in our database reflects that you're getting very little work done per watt compared to anything modern. Even a budget Ryzen 3 from a few years ago will run circles around this thing in multi-threaded tasks.

The competitor list for this chip is honestly a bit absurd. The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D shows up as a top competitor, and that's like comparing a bicycle to a fighter jet. The 7800X3D has 8 cores, 16 threads, and is one of the best gaming CPUs ever made. It also costs more, but the performance gap is so massive that even mentioning them in the same sentence feels wrong. If you have any choice at all, the Ryzen is the obvious pick for anything beyond basic desktop use.

The Dell Xeon E5-2637 V2 is a more interesting comparison. It's an older server chip with 4 cores and 8 threads, and you can often find them dirt cheap on the used market. The Xeon will beat the G4620 in multi-threaded workloads thanks to those extra threads, though the single-thread performance is lower. If you're building a budget home server or a cheap workstation, a used Xeon platform might actually give you more bang for your buck. The Core i9 X-Series chip in the competitor list is another reminder that this Pentium is playing in a completely different league. The G4620's only real advantage is that it's simple, low-power, and drops into a common consumer socket.

Here's where things get weird. The pricing on this chip is all over the map. In the US, there's a single listing at USD 223. In the UK, it's GBP 306. Brazil has it at BRL 2,247. But the real story is in Europe, where the price swings from EUR 107 to EUR 356 depending on which store you're looking at. That's a EUR 249 spread for the exact same processor. If you're in France or Italy and you find it at the EUR 107 end, that's a defensible purchase for keeping an old system alive. At EUR 356, you're paying more than a modern mid-range CPU that would absolutely destroy this thing.

Our affordability score puts this at the 43rd percentile, which sounds middle of the pack until you remember this is a dual-core chip from 2017. The value proposition only makes sense if you already own the motherboard, RAM, and everything else. If you're building from scratch, even a budget modern platform will give you dramatically better performance per dollar. The only scenario where this makes financial sense is a drop-in replacement for a dead CPU in an existing LGA 1151 system, and only if you can find it at the low end of that price range.

The Intel Pentium G4620 is one of those chips that makes you do a double take when you see the price. It's a dual-core Kaby Lake part from 2017, sitting on the ancient LGA 1151 socket, and yet some listings have it going for over 200 bucks. That's not a typo. This is what happens when old stock meets a market that still has working motherboards lying around. If you've got an old LGA 1151 board and just need something to boot, this chip technically does the job. But let's be real about what you're getting.

This is a 2-core, 4-thread processor with a 3.7GHz base clock and no turbo to speak of. The 3MB of cache mentioned in the highlights is actually the L3 cache, not the 0.5MB L2 listed in the specs. Intel's spec sheet for the G4620 says 3MB of L3, so that's what you're working with. It supports DDR4-2133/2400 and DDR3L memory, which gives you some flexibility if you're resurrecting an older system. The integrated HD Graphics 630 is fine for desktop use and maybe some very light retro gaming.

Who is this actually for? Someone with a dead CPU in an old LGA 1151 board who doesn't want to replace the whole system. Maybe a home server, a basic office machine, or a PC for grandma. The problem is the price. At EUR 107 on the low end, it's tolerable. At EUR 356 on the high end, you're getting robbed. We'll dig into that more later.

Anyone building a new system should skip this entirely. The LGA 1151 platform is dead, the dual-core design is outdated, and the price-to-performance ratio is terrible compared to modern budget CPUs. If you're putting together a new machine, even a cheap Ryzen 3 or Intel Core i3 will give you more cores, better efficiency, and an upgrade path that doesn't end in 2017.

Also skip it if you need any kind of multi-threaded performance. Video editing, streaming, running virtual machines, or even heavy multitasking will bring this chip to its knees. The AI and LLM score of 20.2 out of 100 in our database is a clear signal that this isn't the chip for any kind of modern workload. If you need cheap multi-threaded power, look at used Xeon or older Ryzen parts instead. They'll give you far more performance per dollar, even if the platform is also aging.

If you have an old LGA 1151 board with a dead CPU and you just need the machine to work again, the G4620 is a reasonable fix, provided you can find it at the low end of the price range. The EUR 107 listing in Europe is about the most I'd pay. It'll handle web browsing, office work, and media playback without complaint. The integrated graphics mean you don't even need a dedicated GPU, which keeps the total cost down.

For anyone building a new system, even a budget one, look elsewhere. A modern entry-level CPU will give you more cores, better efficiency, and an actual upgrade path. The G4620's platform is a dead end. You're locked into 7th gen Intel chips, and the best you could ever upgrade to is a 7700K, which is also ancient by today's standards. The only reason to buy this chip is necessity, not choice. And if you're paying more than EUR 150 for it, you're getting taken for a ride.