Athlon X4 970 vs Athlon 950
Primary details
Comparing Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | 2077 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Power efficiency | no data | 2.42 |
| Architecture codename | Thunderbird (1999−2000) | Bristol Ridge (2016−2019) |
| Release date | 6 March 2000 (24 years ago) | 27 July 2017 (7 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | no data |
Detailed specifications
Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 1 (Single-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 1 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | no data | 3.8 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 0.95 GHz | 4 GHz |
| L1 cache | 128 KB | 128 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 512 KB | 512 KB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 180 nm | 28 nm |
| Die size | 102 mm2 | 246 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 70 °C | 74 °C |
| Number of transistors | 22 million | 1,178 million |
| 64 bit support | - | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 1 | 1 |
| Socket | A | AM4 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 62 Watt | 65 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| AES-NI | - | + |
| FMA | - | + |
| AVX | - | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | - | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR1 | DDR4 Dual-channel |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | N/A | no data |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 6 March 2000 | 27 July 2017 |
| Physical cores | 1 | 4 |
| Threads | 1 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 180 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 62 Watt | 65 Watt |
Athlon 950 has 4.8% lower power consumption.
Athlon X4 970, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 17 years, 300% more physical cores and 300% more threads, and a 542.9% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions on choice between Athlon 950 and Athlon X4 970, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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