Phenom II X4 P920 vs i7-3960X Extreme Edition
Aggregate performance score
Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition outperforms Phenom II X4 P920 by a whopping 555% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1142 | 2560 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | Intel Core i7EE | 4x AMD Phenom II |
| Power efficiency | 4.07 | 3.23 |
| Architecture codename | Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) | Champlain (2010−2011) |
| Release date | 14 November 2011 (13 years ago) | 12 May 2010 (14 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920 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 | 6 (Hexa-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 12 | 4 |
| Boost clock speed | 3.3 GHz | 1.6 GHz |
| Bus type | DMI 2.0 | no data |
| Bus rate | 5 GT/s | 3600 MHz |
| Multiplier | 33 | no data |
| L1 cache | no data | 512 KB |
| L2 cache | 1,536 KB | 2 MB |
| L3 cache | 15 MB | no data |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | 434.72 mm2 | no data |
| Number of transistors | 2270 Million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920 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 (Uniprocessor) | no data |
| Socket | no data | S1 (S1g4) |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 25 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | MMX, 3DNow, SSE (1,2,3,4A), AMD64, Enhanced Virus Protection, Virtualization, HyperTransport 3.0 |
| AES-NI | + | - |
| AVX | + | - |
| VirusProtect | - | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | - | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | no data | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | 64 GB | no data |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920.
| PCIe version | 2.00 | no data |
| PCI Express lanes | 40 | no data |
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 5.70 | 0.87 |
| Recency | 14 November 2011 | 12 May 2010 |
| Physical cores | 6 | 4 |
| Threads | 12 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 45 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 25 Watt |
i7-3960X Extreme Edition has a 555.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, 50% more physical cores and 200% more threads, and a 40.6% more advanced lithography process.
Phenom II X4 P920, on the other hand, has 420% lower power consumption.
The Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition is our recommended choice as it beats the Phenom II X4 P920 in performance tests.
Note that Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition is a desktop processor while Phenom II X4 P920 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition and Phenom II X4 P920, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Similar processor comparisons
We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.
