i3-7101E vs Pentium B950

Place in the ranking	2762	1672
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	1.15
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop processor
Series	Intel Pentium	Intel Core i3
Power efficiency	1.69	4.88
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Kaby Lake (2016−2019)
Release date	13 June 2011 (13 years ago)	3 January 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$134	$117

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E 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	2 (Dual-core)	2 (Dual-core)
Threads	2	4
Base clock speed	2.1 GHz	3.9 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.1 GHz	3.9 GHz
Bus type	DMI 2.0	DMI 3.0
Bus rate	4 × 5 GT/s	8 GT/s
Multiplier	21	39
L1 cache	128 KB	128 KB
L2 cache	512 KB	512 KB
L3 cache	2 MB (shared)	3 MB
Chip lithography	32 nm	14 nm
Die size	131 mm²	no data
Maximum core temperature	85 °C	100 °C
Number of transistors	504 million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E 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 (Uniprocessor)
Socket	PGA988	FCLGA1151
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	54 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI	-	+
FMA	+	-
AVX	-	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
My WiFi	-	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	+
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
FDI	+	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data

Security technologies

Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	-	-
EDB	+	+
Secure Key	no data	+
MPX	-	+
Identity Protection	-	+
SGX	no data	Yes with Intel® ME
OS Guard	no data	+
Anti-Theft	-	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3L-1600, DDR4-2400
Maximum memory size	16 GB	64 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	21.335 GB/s	34.134 GB/s
ECC memory support	-	+

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors	Intel HD Graphics 630
Max video memory	no data	64 GB
Quick Sync Video	-	+
Clear Video HD	-	+
Graphics max frequency	1.1 GHz	1.1 GHz
InTru 3D	-	+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported	2	3
eDP	+	+
DisplayPort	+	+
HDMI	+	+
DVI	no data	+
SDVO	+	no data
CRT	+	no data

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution support	no data	+
Max resolution over HDMI 1.4	no data	4096x2304@30Hz
Max resolution over eDP	no data	4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort	no data	4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over VGA	no data	N/A

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX	no data	12
OpenGL	no data	4.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E.

PCIe version	2.0	3.0
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.

Pentium B950 0.65

i3-7101E 2.89
+345%

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.

Pentium B950 995

i3-7101E 4430
+345%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.65	2.89
Recency	13 June 2011	3 January 2017
Threads	2	4
Chip lithography	32 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	35 Watt	54 Watt

Pentium B950 has 54.3% lower power consumption.

i3-7101E, on the other hand, has a 344.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, 100% more threads, and a 128.6% more advanced lithography process.

The Core i3-7101E is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium B950 in performance tests.

Be aware that Pentium B950 is a notebook processor while Core i3-7101E is a desktop one.

Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium B950 and Core i3-7101E, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.