Pentium B960 vs i7-2600K

VS

Aggregate performance score

Core i7-2600K
2011
4 cores / 8 threads, 95 Watt
3.47
+460%
Pentium B960
2011
2 cores / 2 threads, 35 Watt
0.62

Core i7-2600K outperforms Pentium B960 by a whopping 460% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking15392776
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.40no data
Market segmentDesktop processorLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i7 (Desktop)Intel Pentium
Power efficiency3.441.67
Architecture codenameSandy Bridge (2011−2013)Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)
Release date9 January 2011 (13 years ago)3 October 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$317$134

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960 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 cores4 (Quad-Core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads82
Base clock speed3.4 GHz2.2 GHz
Boost clock speed3.8 GHz2.2 GHz
Bus typeno dataDMI 2.0
Bus rate5 GT/s4 × 5 GT/s
Multiplierno data22
L1 cache64 KB (per core)128 KB
L2 cache256K (per core)512 KB
L3 cache8 MB (shared)2 MB (shared)
Chip lithography32 nm32 nm
Die size216 mm2131 mm2
Maximum core temperature73 °C85 °C
Number of transistors1,160 million504 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
Unlocked multiplier+-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960 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 configuration11 (Uniprocessor)
SocketLGA1155FCPGA988,PGA988
Power consumption (TDP)95 Watt35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVXIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI+-
FMA-+
AVX+-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
My WiFino data-
Turbo Boost Technology+-
Hyper-Threading Technology+-
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Access++
Demand Based Switchingno data-
FDI++
Fast Memory Access++

Security technologies

Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT--
EDB++
Identity Protection+-
Anti-Theftno data-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR3
Maximum memory size32 GB16 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth21 GB/s21.335 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIntel HD Graphics 3000Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors
Quick Sync Video+-
Clear Video HD+-
Graphics max frequency1.35 GHz1.1 GHz
InTru 3D+-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported22
eDPno data+
DisplayPort-+
HDMI-+
SDVOno data+
CRTno data+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960.

PCIe version2.02.0
PCI Express lanes1616

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.

i7-2600K 3.47
+460%
Pentium B960 0.62

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.

i7-2600K 5492
+458%
Pentium B960 985

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.

i7-2600K 667
+105%
Pentium B960 325

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.

i7-2600K 2294
+330%
Pentium B960 534

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.

i7-2600K 4809
+68.7%
Pentium B960 2851

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.

i7-2600K 18608
+238%
Pentium B960 5500

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.

i7-2600K 6669
+199%
Pentium B960 2231

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i7-2600K 10.5
+219%
Pentium B960 33.48

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i7-2600K 7
+302%
Pentium B960 2

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i7-2600K 1.51
+75.6%
Pentium B960 0.86

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i7-2600K 3.3
+1841%
Pentium B960 0.2

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i7-2600K 37
+295%
Pentium B960 9

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i7-2600K 145
+180%
Pentium B960 52

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i7-2600K 3486
+155%
Pentium B960 1367

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.47 0.62
Recency 9 January 2011 3 October 2011
Physical cores 4 2
Threads 8 2
Power consumption (TDP) 95 Watt 35 Watt

i7-2600K has a 459.7% higher aggregate performance score, and 100% more physical cores and 300% more threads.

Pentium B960, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 8 months, and 171.4% lower power consumption.

The Core i7-2600K is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium B960 in performance tests.

Note that Core i7-2600K is a desktop processor while Pentium B960 is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-2600K and Pentium B960, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i7-2600K
Core i7-2600K
Intel Pentium B960
Pentium B960

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Community ratings

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