The Intel Core i3-2120 was a desktop processor with 2 cores, launched in February 2011, at an MSRP of $138. It is part of the Core i3 lineup, using the Sandy Bridge architecture with Socket 1155. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 4 threads. Core i3-2120 has 3 MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.3 GHz. Intel is building the Core i3-2120 on a 32 nm production process using 504 million transistors. The multiplier is locked on Core i3-2120, which limits its overclocking capabilities.

With a TDP of 65 W, the Core i3-2120 consumes typical power levels for a modern PC. Intel's processor supports DDR3 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 1333 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the system, Core i3-2120 uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection.

Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i3-2120, which greatly improves virtual machine performance.