Athlon 950 vs Phenom II X4 970 BE
Primary details
Comparing Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Architecture codename | Deneb (2009−2011) | Thunderbird (1999−2000) |
| Release date | 21 September 2010 (14 years ago) | 6 March 2000 (24 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $999 |
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950 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 | 4 | 1 |
| Base clock speed | 3.5 GHz | no data |
| Boost clock speed | 3.5 GHz | 0.95 GHz |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 128 KB |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 512 KB |
| L3 cache | 6 MB (shared) | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 180 nm |
| Die size | 258 mm2 | 102 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 70 °C |
| Number of transistors | 758 million | 22 million |
| 64 bit support | + | - |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | - |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950 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 | AM3 | A |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 62 Watt |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR1 |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | N/A |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | no data |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 21 September 2010 | 6 March 2000 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 1 |
| Threads | 4 | 1 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 180 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 62 Watt |
Phenom II X4 970 BE has an age advantage of 10 years, 300% more physical cores and 300% more threads, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.
Athlon 950, on the other hand, has 101.6% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom II X4 970 BE and Athlon 950, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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