i3-2348M vs i7-2960XM

Place in the ranking	1637	2601
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Core i7	Intel Core i3
Power efficiency	5.14	2.16
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)
Release date	4 September 2011 (13 years ago)	1 January 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$1,096	$225

Detailed specifications

Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M 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	8	4
Base clock speed	2.7 GHz	2.3 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.7 GHz	2.3 GHz
Bus type	no data	DMI 2.0
Bus rate	5 GT/s	4 × 5 GT/s
Multiplier	no data	23
L1 cache	64K (per core)	128 KB
L2 cache	256K (per core)	512 KB
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	3 MB
Chip lithography	32 nm	32 nm
Die size	216 mm²	149 mm²
Maximum core temperature	100 °C	85C (PGA); 100C (BGA)
Number of transistors	1,160 million	624 Million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	+	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M 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 (Uniprocessor)
Socket	FCPGA988	PPGA988
Power consumption (TDP)	55 Watt	35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	Intel® AVX
AES-NI	+	-
FMA	-	+
AVX	+	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
My WiFi	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	+	+
Demand Based Switching	-	-
FDI	+	+
Fast Memory Access	+	+

Security technologies

Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	-
EDB	+	+
Identity Protection	+	+
Anti-Theft	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	32 GB	16 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	21.335 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	Intel HD Graphics 3000	Intel HD Graphics 3000
Quick Sync Video	+	+
Clear Video HD	+	+
Graphics max frequency	1.3 GHz	1.15 GHz
InTru 3D	+	+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported	2	2
eDP	+	+
DisplayPort	+	+
HDMI	+	+
SDVO	+	+
CRT	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-2960XM and Core i3-2348M.

PCIe version	2.0	2
PCI Express lanes	16	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.

i7-2960XM 2.99
+274%

i3-2348M 0.80

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
+273%

i3-2348M 1274

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
+67.5%

i3-2348M 351

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
+174%

i3-2348M 695

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
+141%

i3-2348M 2829

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
+190%

i3-2348M 2