Core i7-720QM vs Core 2 Duo T9800

Place in the ranking	2637	2426
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Core 2 Duo	Intel Core i7
Power efficiency	2.07	2.19
Architecture codename	Penryn (2008−2011)	Clarksfield (2009−2010)
Release date	1 January 2009 (15 years ago)	24 June 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$530	$546

Detailed specifications

Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM 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	2 (Dual-core)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	2	8
Base clock speed	2.93 GHz	1.6 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.92 GHz	2.8 GHz
Bus type	no data	DMI 1.0
Bus rate	1066 MHz	2.5 GT/s
Multiplier	no data	12
L1 cache	128 KB	256 KB
L2 cache	6 MB	1 MB
L3 cache	6 MB L2 Cache	6 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	45 nm	45 nm
Die size	107 mm²	296 mm²
Maximum core temperature	105 °C	100 °C
Number of transistors	410 Million	774 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM 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	no data	1 (Uniprocessor)
Socket	BGA479,PGA478	FCPGA988,PGA988
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	45 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	no data	Intel® SSE4.2
vPro	no data	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	-	1.0
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	+
Idle States	-	+
Thermal Monitoring	-	+
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
PAE	no data	36 Bit
FSB parity	-	no data

Security technologies

Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM are enumerated here.

VT-d	no data	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	no data	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	no data	DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333
Maximum memory size	no data	8 GB
Max memory channels	no data	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	no data	21.335 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

no data

None

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM.

PCIe version	no data	2
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.

Core 2 Duo T9800 0.78

i7-720QM 1.06
+35.9%

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.

Core 2 Duo T9800 1216

i7-720QM 1657
+36.3%

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

Core 2 Duo T9800 320
+7%

i7-720QM 299

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

Core 2 Duo T9800 597

i7-720QM 841
+40.9%

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

Core 2 Duo T9800 3633
+21.3%

i7-720QM 2995

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

Core 2 Duo T9800 6839

i7-720QM 8357
+22.2%

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

Core 2 Duo T9800 2626

i7-720QM 3100
+18.1%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.78	1.06
Recency	1 January 2009	24 June 2009
Physical cores	2	4
Threads	2	8
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	45 Watt

Core 2 Duo T9800 has 28.6% lower power consumption.

i7-720QM, on the other hand, has a 35.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 months, and 100% more physical cores and 300% more threads.

The Core i7-720QM is our recommended choice as it beats the Core 2 Duo T9800 in performance tests.

Should you still have questions on choice between Core 2 Duo T9800 and Core i7-720QM, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.