Ryzen 9 9950X vs Pentium D 960

Primary details

Comparing Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	2886	58
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	65.14
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Power efficiency	0.37	23.24
Architecture codename	Presler (2005−2007)	Granite Ridge (2024)
Release date	23 April 2006 (18 years ago)	15 August 2024 (less than a year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$523	$649

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X have a nearly equal value for money.

Detailed specifications

Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X 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)	16 (Hexadeca-Core)
Threads	2	32
Base clock speed	3.6 GHz	4.3 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.6 GHz	5.7 GHz
L1 cache	16 KB (per core)	80 KB (per core)
L2 cache	2 MB (per die)	1 MB (per core)
L3 cache	0 KB	64 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	65 nm	4 nm
Die size	2x 81 mm2	2x 70.6 mm2
Maximum core temperature	no data	95 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)	69 °C	no data
Number of transistors	376 million	16,630 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	no data
Unlocked multiplier	-	+
VID voltage range	1.2V-1.3375V	no data

Compatibility

Information on Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X 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	LGA775,PLGA775	AM5
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	170 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	no data	SMT, AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, FMA3, MMX (+), SHA, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A
AES-NI	-	+
AVX	-	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	-	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	-	no data
PAE	32 Bit	no data
FSB parity	-	no data
Precision Boost 2	no data	+

Security technologies

Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X 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 Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X are enumerated here.

AMD-V	-	+
VT-d	-	no data
VT-x	+	no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types

DDR1, DDR2, DDR3

DDR5

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

On certain motherboards (Chipset feature)

AMD Radeon Graphics

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X.

PCIe version	no data	5.0
PCI Express lanes	no data	24

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	0.51	41.77
Recency	23 April 2006	15 August 2024
Physical cores	2	16
Threads	2	32
Chip lithography	65 nm	4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	130 Watt	170 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium D 960 and Ryzen 9 9950X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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