Pentium G840 vs i7-920

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-920 and Pentium G840 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	2005	2606
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.22	4.61
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Series	Core i7 (Desktop)	no data
Power efficiency	1.30	1.15
Architecture codename	Bloomfield (2008−2010)	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)
Release date	November 2008 (16 years ago)	22 May 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$340	$60

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Pentium G840 has 278% better value for money than i7-920.

Detailed specifications

Core i7-920 and Pentium G840 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	2
Base clock speed	2.66 GHz	2.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.93 GHz	2.8 GHz
Bus rate	1333 MHz	no data
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	3 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	45 nm	32 nm
Die size	263 mm2	131 mm2
Maximum core temperature	68 °C	69 °C
Number of transistors	731 million	504 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-920 and Pentium G840 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
Socket	FCLGA1366,PLGA1366	FCLGA1155
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-920 and Pentium G840. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.2	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	-	+
AVX	-	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	1.0	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	-	+
Flex Memory Access	no data	+
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
PAE	36 Bit	no data
FDI	no data	+
Fast Memory Access	no data	+

Security technologies

Core i7-920 and Pentium G840 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	-
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-920 and Pentium G840 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-920 and Pentium G840. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	24 GB	32 GB
Max memory channels	3	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	21 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	no data	Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors
Graphics max frequency	no data	1.1 GHz

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-920 and Pentium G840 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported

no data

2

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-920 and Pentium G840.

PCIe version

no data

2.0

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

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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.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	1.86	0.82
Physical cores	4	2
Threads	8	2
Chip lithography	45 nm	32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	65 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-920 and Pentium G840, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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