i7-960 vs Ultra 7 356H
Aggregate performance score
Core Ultra 7 356H outperforms Core i7-960 by a whopping 819% 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 | 424 | 2178 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 0.18 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop processor |
| Series | no data | Core i7 (Desktop) |
| Power efficiency | 30.08 | 0.63 |
| Designer | Intel | Intel |
| Manufacturer | Intel | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Panther Lake (2026) | Bloomfield (2008−2010) |
| Release date | 5 January 2026 (less than a year ago) | 20 October 2009 (16 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $316 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
Core Ultra 7 356H 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 | 16 (Hexadeca-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Performance-cores | 4 | no data |
| Efficient-cores | 8 | no data |
| Low Power Efficient-cores | 4 | no data |
| Threads | 16 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | 1.9 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4.7 GHz | 3.46 GHz |
| Bus rate | no data | 1333 MHz |
| L1 cache | 192 KB (per core) | 64 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 2.5 MB (per core) | 256 KB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 18 MB (shared) | 8 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | no data | 263 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 68 °C |
| Number of transistors | no data | 731 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | no data | - |
Compatibility
Information on Core Ultra 7 356H 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 | FCBGA2540 | FCLGA1366 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 25 Watt | 130 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 | Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | + | - |
| AVX | + | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| Idle States | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | - |
| Demand Based Switching | no data | - |
| PAE | no data | 36 Bit |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | + | no data |
| Deep Learning Boost | + | - |
| Supported AI Software Frameworks | OpenVINO™, WindowsML, DirectML, ONNX RT, WebNN | - |
Security technologies
Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
| OS Guard | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | no data |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | LPDDR5X-8533, DDR5-7200 | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | 128 GB | 24 GB |
| Max memory channels | 2 | 3 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 25.6 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel® Graphics | N/A |
| Quick Sync Video | + | - |
| Graphics max frequency | 2.45 GHz | no data |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 4 | no data |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| Max resolution over eDP | 3840 x 2400 @ 120Hz | no data |
| Max resolution over DisplayPort | 7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz | no data |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | DirectX 12 Ultimate | no data |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | no data |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core Ultra 7 356H and Core i7-960.
| PCIe version | 5.0 and 4.0 | 2.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 20 | no data |
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.
Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core
Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.
wPrime 32
wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 17.82 | 1.94 |
| Recency | 5 January 2026 | 20 October 2009 |
| Physical cores | 16 | 4 |
| Threads | 16 | 8 |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | 45 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 25 Watt | 130 Watt |
Ultra 7 356H has a 819% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 16 years, 300% more physical cores and 100% more threads, a 1400% more advanced lithography process, and 420% lower power consumption.
The Intel Core Ultra 7 356H is our recommended choice as it beats the Intel Core i7-960 in performance tests.
Be aware that Core Ultra 7 356H is a notebook processor while Core i7-960 is a desktop one.
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