Pentium 957 vs i7-3520M
Primary details
Comparing Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1975 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | Intel Core i7 | Intel Pentium |
| Architecture codename | Ivy Bridge (2012−2013) | Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) |
| Release date | 3 June 2012 (12 years ago) | 19 June 2011 (13 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $346 | $134 |
Detailed specifications
Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957 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) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 4 | 2 |
| Base clock speed | 2.9 GHz | 1.2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.6 GHz | 1.2 GHz |
| Bus type | no data | DMI 2.0 |
| Bus rate | 5 GT/s | 4 × 5 GT/s |
| Multiplier | no data | 12 |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | 256K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 4 MB (shared) | 2 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 22 nm | 32 nm |
| Die size | 118 mm2 | 131 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 105 °C | 100 °C |
| Number of transistors | no data | 504 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957 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 (Uniprocessor) |
| Socket | FCBGA1023,FCPGA988 | FCBGA1023 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 17 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® AVX | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | + | - |
| FMA | - | + |
| AVX | + | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| My WiFi | + | - |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | - |
| Idle States | + | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | + |
| Flex Memory Access | + | + |
| Demand Based Switching | - | - |
| FDI | + | + |
| Fast Memory Access | + | + |
| Status | Discontinued | Discontinued |
Security technologies
Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | - |
| EDB | + | + |
| Secure Key | + | no data |
| Identity Protection | + | - |
| Anti-Theft | + | - |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | + | - |
| VT-x | + | - |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | 32 GB | 8.01 GB |
| Max memory channels | 2 | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 25.6 GB/s | 21.335 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card Compare | Intel HD Graphics 4000 | Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) |
| Quick Sync Video | + | - |
| Clear Video HD | + | - |
| Graphics max frequency | 1.25 GHz | 800 MHz |
| InTru 3D | + | - |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 3 | 2 |
| eDP | + | + |
| DisplayPort | + | + |
| HDMI | + | + |
| SDVO | + | + |
| CRT | + | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 16 | 16 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 3 June 2012 | 19 June 2011 |
| Threads | 4 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 22 nm | 32 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 17 Watt |
i7-3520M has an age advantage of 11 months, 100% more threads, and a 45.5% more advanced lithography process.
Pentium 957, on the other hand, has 105.9% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-3520M and Pentium 957, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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