Performance per price, higher is better.
Core i7-960 vs Athlon X4 840
Aggregated performance score
Athlon X4 840
2014
4 cores / 4 threads
2.17
General info
Comparing Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 1743 | 1740 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Value for money | 7.38 | 1.01 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Series | 4x Athlon | Core i7 (Desktop) |
| Architecture codename | Kaveri (2014−2015) | Bloomfield (2008−2010) |
| Release date | August 2014 (9 years old) | October 2009 (14 years old) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $316 |
| Current price | $45 | $170 (0.5x MSRP) |
Value for money
Athlon X4 840 has 631% better value for money than i7-960.
Technical specs
Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960 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) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | 3.1 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.8 GHz | 3.46 GHz |
| Bus support | no data | 1333 MHz |
| L1 cache | 256K | 64 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 4 MB | 256 KB (per core) |
| L3 cache | no data | 8 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | 245 mm2 | 263 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 68 °C |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 72 °C | no data |
| Number of transistors | 2,411 million | 731 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | Yes | No |
Compatibility
Information on Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960 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 | Socket FM2+ | FCLGA1366 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 watt | 130 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | + | - |
| FMA | + | no data |
| AVX | + | no data |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | 1.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| Idle States | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | no data | - |
| Demand Based Switching | no data | - |
| PAE | no data | 36 Bit |
| Status | no data | Discontinued |
Security technologies
Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960 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 Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | no data |
| VT-x | no data | + |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 24 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 3 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 25.6 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | no data | - |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | no data |
| PCI Express lanes | 16 | 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.
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.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 68%
GeekBench 5 Single-Core
GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.
Benchmark coverage: 42%
Core i7-960 outperforms Athlon X4 840 by 9% in GeekBench 5 Single-Core.
GeekBench 5 Multi-Core
GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.
Benchmark coverage: 42%
Core i7-960 outperforms Athlon X4 840 by 47% in GeekBench 5 Multi-Core.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Performance score | 2.17 | 2.18 |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 45 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 130 Watt |
We couldn't decide between Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960. The differences in performance seem too small.
Should you still have questions on choice between Athlon X4 840 and Core i7-960, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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