Athlon X4 970 vs Athlon II X2 280

Primary details

Comparing Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	2558	2060
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	4.52	no data
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Power efficiency	1.24	2.42
Architecture codename	Regor (2009−2013)	Bristol Ridge (2016−2019)
Release date	6 February 2013 (11 years ago)	27 July 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$100	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Detailed specifications

Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970 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)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	2	4
Base clock speed	3.6 GHz	3.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.6 GHz	4 GHz
L1 cache	128 KB	128 KB (per core)
L2 cache	1 MB	512 KB (per core)
L3 cache	0 KB	0 KB
Chip lithography	45 nm	28 nm
Die size	117 mm2	246 mm2
Maximum case temperature (TCase)	no data	74 °C
Number of transistors	410 million	1,178 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	-	+

Compatibility

Information on Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970 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	AM4
Power consumption (TDP)	65 Watt	65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

AES-NI	-	+
FMA	-	+
AVX	-	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970 are enumerated here.

AMD-V

-

+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types

DDR2, DDR3

DDR4 Dual-channel

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970.

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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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	0.85	1.66
Recency	6 February 2013	27 July 2017
Physical cores	2	4
Threads	2	4
Chip lithography	45 nm	28 nm

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Should you still have questions on choice between Athlon II X2 280 and Athlon X4 970, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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