Athlon 64 X2 3600+ vs i7-960

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+ processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	1861	not rated
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.14	no data
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Series	Core i7 (Desktop)	no data
Power efficiency	1.54	no data
Architecture codename	Bloomfield (2008−2010)	Manchester (2005−2006)
Release date	20 October 2009 (15 years ago)	31 May 2005 (19 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$316	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Detailed specifications

Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 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	3.2 GHz	no data
Boost clock speed	3.46 GHz	2 GHz
Bus rate	1333 MHz	no data
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	128 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	0 KB
Chip lithography	45 nm	90 nm
Die size	263 mm2	156 mm2
Maximum core temperature	68 °C	no data
Number of transistors	731 million	154 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 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	939
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	89 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.2	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	1.0	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
PAE	36 Bit	no data

Security technologies

Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+ technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	no data
EDB	+	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+ are enumerated here.

VT-x	+	no data
EPT	+	no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR1
Maximum memory size	24 GB	no data
Max memory channels	3	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

N/A

On certain motherboards (Chipset feature)

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+.

PCIe version

2.0

no data

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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Pros & cons summary

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Recency	20 October 2009	31 May 2005
Physical cores	4	2
Threads	8	2
Chip lithography	45 nm	90 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	89 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-960 and Athlon 64 X2 3600+, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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