Athlon 900 vs i7-6970HQ
Primary details
Comparing Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1652 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop processor |
| Series | Intel Core i7 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 6.14 | no data |
| Architecture codename | Skylake (2015−2016) | Thunderbird (1999−2000) |
| Release date | 2 January 2016 (8 years ago) | 6 March 2000 (24 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $623 | $899 |
Detailed specifications
Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 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) | 1 (Single-Core) |
| Threads | 8 | 1 |
| Base clock speed | 2.8 GHz | no data |
| Boost clock speed | 3.7 GHz | 0.9 GHz |
| Bus type | DMI 3.0 | no data |
| Bus rate | 4 × 8 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | 28 | no data |
| L1 cache | 256 KB | 128 KB |
| L2 cache | 1 MB | 512 KB |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 180 nm |
| Die size | no data | 102 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 100 °C | no data |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 70 °C |
| Number of transistors | no data | 22 million |
| 64 bit support | + | - |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 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) | 1 |
| Socket | FCBGA1440 | A |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 45 Watt | 60 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 | no data |
| AES-NI | + | - |
| AVX | + | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
| eDRAM | 128 MB | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | no data |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | - |
| Smart Response | + | no data |
Security technologies
Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | no data |
| EDB | + | no data |
| Secure Key | + | no data |
| MPX | + | - |
| SGX | Yes with Intel® ME | no data |
| OS Guard | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | + | no data |
| VT-x | + | no data |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3, DDR4 | DDR1 |
| Maximum memory size | 64 GB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 2 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 34.134 GB/s | no data |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580 | N/A |
| Max video memory | 64 GB | no data |
| Quick Sync Video | + | - |
| Clear Video HD | + | no data |
| Graphics max frequency | 1.05 GHz | no data |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 3 | no data |
| eDP | + | no data |
| DisplayPort | + | - |
| HDMI | + | - |
| DVI | + | no data |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| 4K resolution support | + | no data |
| Max resolution over HDMI 1.4 | 4096x2304@24Hz | no data |
| Max resolution over eDP | 4096x2304@60Hz | no data |
| Max resolution over DisplayPort | 4096x2304@60Hz | no data |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | 12 | no data |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | no data |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | no data |
| PCI Express lanes | 16 | no data |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 2 January 2016 | 6 March 2000 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 1 |
| Threads | 8 | 1 |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 180 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 45 Watt | 60 Watt |
i7-6970HQ has an age advantage of 15 years, 300% more physical cores and 700% more threads, a 1185.7% more advanced lithography process, and 33.3% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Core i7-6970HQ is a notebook processor while Athlon 900 is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-6970HQ and Athlon 900, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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