Pentium Gold G6400 vs Athlon X4 970
Aggregate performance score
Pentium Gold G6400 outperforms Athlon X4 970 by an impressive 57% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2062 | 1721 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Power efficiency | 2.42 | 4.24 |
| Architecture codename | Bristol Ridge (2016−2019) | Comet Lake (2020) |
| Release date | 27 July 2017 (7 years ago) | 30 April 2020 (4 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 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 | 4 (Quad-Core) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 4 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | 3.8 GHz | 4 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4 GHz | 4 GHz |
| Bus rate | no data | 8 GT/s |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 256K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 4 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Die size | 246 mm2 | no data |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 100 °C |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 74 °C | 72 °C |
| Number of transistors | 1,178 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | - |
Compatibility
Information on Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 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 | AM4 | FCLGA1200 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 58 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| FMA | + | - |
| AVX | + | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| Idle States | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | - | + |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | no data | - |
Security technologies
Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | no data | + |
| EDB | no data | + |
| Secure Key | no data | + |
| Identity Protection | - | + |
| SGX | no data | Yes with Intel® ME |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | no data | + |
| VT-x | no data | + |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4 Dual-channel | DDR4-2666 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 128 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 41.6 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | Intel UHD Graphics 610 |
| Max video memory | no data | 64 GB |
| Quick Sync Video | - | + |
| Clear Video | no data | + |
| Clear Video HD | no data | + |
| Graphics max frequency | no data | 1.05 GHz |
| InTru 3D | no data | + |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | no data | 3 |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| 4K resolution support | no data | + |
| Max resolution over HDMI 1.4 | no data | 4096x2160@30Hz |
| Max resolution over eDP | no data | 4096x2304@60Hz |
| Max resolution over DisplayPort | no data | 4096x2304@60Hz |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | no data | 12 |
| OpenGL | no data | 4.5 |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400.
| PCIe version | no data | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 16 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.66 | 2.60 |
| Recency | 27 July 2017 | 30 April 2020 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 58 Watt |
Athlon X4 970 has 100% more physical cores.
Pentium Gold G6400, on the other hand, has a 56.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 12.1% lower power consumption.
The Pentium Gold G6400 is our recommended choice as it beats the Athlon X4 970 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Athlon X4 970 and Pentium Gold G6400, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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