EPYC 7261 vs Athlon X4 970
Aggregate performance score
EPYC 7261 outperforms Athlon X4 970 by a whopping 322% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2385 | 1273 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Server |
| Series | no data | AMD EPYC |
| Power efficiency | 0.98 | 1.58 |
| Designer | AMD | AMD |
| Manufacturer | no data | GlobalFoundries |
| Architecture codename | Bristol Ridge (2016−2019) | Naples (2017−2018) |
| Release date | 27 July 2017 (8 years ago) | 14 June 2018 (7 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Athlon X4 970 and EPYC 7261 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) | 8 (Octa-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 16 |
| Base clock speed | 3.8 GHz | 2.5 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4 GHz | 2.9 GHz |
| Multiplier | no data | 25 |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 96K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 512K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 0 KB | 32 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Die size | 246 mm2 | 213 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 74 °C | 81 °C |
| Number of transistors | 1,178 million | 4,800 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | + |
Compatibility
Information on Athlon X4 970 and EPYC 7261 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 | 2 (Multiprocessor) |
| Socket | AM4 | SP3 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 170 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Athlon X4 970 and EPYC 7261. 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 X4 970 and EPYC 7261 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon X4 970 and EPYC 7261. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4 Dual-channel | DDR4-2666 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 2 TiB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 8 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 170.671 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | - | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Athlon X4 970 and EPYC 7261.
| PCIe version | no data | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 128 |
Synthetic benchmarks
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.
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. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.51 | 6.37 |
| Recency | 27 July 2017 | 14 June 2018 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 8 |
| Threads | 4 | 16 |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 65 Watt | 170 Watt |
Athlon X4 970 has 162% lower power consumption.
EPYC 7261, on the other hand, has a 322% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 months, 100% more physical cores and 300% more threads, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.
The AMD EPYC 7261 is our recommended choice as it beats the AMD Athlon X4 970 in performance tests.
Note that Athlon X4 970 is a desktop processor while EPYC 7261 is a server/workstation one.
Other comparisons
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