Core i7-2960XM: specs and benchmarks

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Aggregate performance score

Core i7-2960XM
2011
4 cores / 8 threads, 55 Watt
2.99

Core i7-2960XM provides poor benchmark performance at 2.99% of a leader's which is a 96-core EPYC 9655P.

Summary

Intel started Core i7-2960XM sales 4 September 2011 at a recommended price of $1,096. This is a Sandy Bridge architecture notebook processor primarily aimed at office systems. It has 4 cores and 8 threads, and is based on 32 nm manufacturing technology, with a max turbo frequency of 3700 MHz and an unlocked multiplier.

Compatibility-wise, this is FCPGA988 processor with a TDP of 55 Watt. It supports DDR3 memory.

Primary details

Core i7-2960XM processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and pricing.

Place in the ranking1646
Place by popularitynot in top-100
Market segmentLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i7
Power efficiency5.14of 100.00 (Ryzen Z1 Extreme)
Architecture codenameSandy Bridge (2011−2013)
Release date4 September 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$1,096of 17,906 (Xeon Platinum 8280L)

Detailed specifications

Basic microprocessor parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters can generally indicate CPU performance, but to be more precise you have to review its test results.

Physical cores4 (Quad-Core)
Threads8
Base clock speed2.7 GHzof 4.7 GHz (FX-9590)
Boost clock speed3.7 GHzof 6.2 GHz (Core i9-14900KS)
Bus rate5 GT/s
L1 cache64K (per core)of 80 KB (EPYC 9965)
L2 cache256K (per core)
L3 cache8 MB (shared)of 1152 MB (EPYC 9684X)
Chip lithography32 nmof 3 nm (Apple M3 Max 16-Core)
Die size216 mm2
Maximum core temperature100 °Cof 110 °C (Atom x7-E3950)
Number of transistors1,160 millionof 135,240 million (EPYC 9684X)
64 bit support+
Windows 11 compatibility-
Unlocked multiplier+

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-2960XM compatibility with other computer components and devices: 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 configuration1of 8 (Opteron 842)
SocketFCPGA988
Power consumption (TDP)55 Wattof 500 Watt (Xeon 6960P)

Technologies and extensions

Technological capabilities and additional instructions supported by Core i7-2960XM. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® AVX
AES-NI+
AVX+
vPro+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)+
My WiFi+
Turbo Boost Technology2.0
Hyper-Threading Technology+
Idle States+
Thermal Monitoring+
Flex Memory Access+
Demand Based Switching-
FDI+
Fast Memory Access+

Security technologies

Processor technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+
EDB+
Identity Protection+
Anti-Theft+

Virtualization technologies

Supported virtual machine optimization technologies. Some are specific to Intel only, some to AMD.

AMD-V+
VT-d+
VT-x+
EPT+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel number of RAM supported by Core i7-2960XM's memory controller. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequency may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3
Maximum memory size32 GBof 6 TiB (EPYC 9124)
Max memory channels2of 12 (Xeon Platinum 9221)
Maximum memory bandwidth25.6 GB/sof 460.8 GB/s (EPYC 9124)

Graphics specifications

General parameters of a GPU integrated into Core i7-2960XM.

Integrated graphics cardIntel HD Graphics 3000
Quick Sync Video+
Clear Video HD+
Graphics max frequency1.3 GHz
InTru 3D+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-2960XM's integrated GPU.

Number of displays supported2
eDP+
DisplayPort+
HDMI+
SDVO+
CRT+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection types of supported peripherals.

PCIe version2.0of 5.0 (Core i9-12900K)
PCI Express lanes16of 128 (EPYC 7551P)

Benchmark performance

Single-core and multi-core benchmark results of Core i7-2960XM. Overall benchmark performance 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.

i7-2960XM 2.99

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.

i7-2960XM 4754

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.

i7-2960XM 588

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.

i7-2960XM 1904

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.

i7-2960XM 4928

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.

i7-2960XM 18300

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.

i7-2960XM 6820

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.

i7-2960XM 6

Gaming performance

Closest competitors

Core i7-2960XM's performance relative to its closest rivals among notebook CPUs.


Core i7-2960XM 100

AMD equivalent

According to our data, the closest AMD alternative to Core i7-2960XM is Athlon Gold 7220U, which is slower by 2% and lower by 15 positions in our ranking.

Here are some closest AMD rivals to Core i7-2960XM:

Ryzen 3 2300U 117.06
Core i7-2960XM 100

Similar processors

Here is our recommendation of several processors that are more or less close in performance to the one reviewed.

Recommended GPUs

People consider these graphics cards to be good for Core i7-2960XM, according to our PC configuration statistics.

These are the fastest graphics cards for Core i7-2960XM in our user configuration statistics. There is a total of 105 configurations using Core i7-2960XM in our database.

All comparisons with Core i7-2960XM

Community ratings

Here is the rating given to the reviewed processor by our users. Let others know your opinion by rating it yourself.


4.8 31 vote

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Questions & comments

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