Pentium B960 vs i7-3940XM

Aggregate performance score

Core i7-3940XM
2012
4 cores / 8 threads, 55 Watt
3.82
+497%

Core i7-3940XM outperforms Pentium B960 by a whopping 497% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking14782772
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i7Intel Pentium
Power efficiency6.331.67
Architecture codenameIvy Bridge (2012−2013)Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)
Release date3 September 2012 (12 years ago)3 October 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$1,096$134

Detailed specifications

Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960 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 cores4 (Quad-Core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads82
Base clock speed3 GHz2.2 GHz
Boost clock speed3.9 GHz2.2 GHz
Bus typeno dataDMI 2.0
Bus rate5 GT/s4 × 5 GT/s
Multiplierno data22
L1 cache64K (per core)128 KB
L2 cache256K (per core)512 KB
L3 cache8 MB (shared)2 MB (shared)
Chip lithography22 nm32 nm
Die size160 mm2131 mm2
Maximum core temperature105 °C85 °C
Number of transistors1,400 million504 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
Unlocked multiplier+-

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960 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 configuration11 (Uniprocessor)
SocketFCPGA988FCPGA988,PGA988
Power consumption (TDP)55 Watt35 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® AVXIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI+-
FMA-+
AVX+-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
My WiFi+-
Turbo Boost Technology2.0-
Hyper-Threading Technology+-
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Access++
Demand Based Switching--
FDI++
Fast Memory Access++

Security technologies

Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+-
EDB++
Identity Protection+-
Anti-Theft+-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960 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 i7-3940XM and Pentium B960. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR3
Maximum memory size32 GB16 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth25.6 GB/s21.335 GB/s

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIntel HD Graphics 4000Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors
Quick Sync Video+-
Clear Video HD+-
Graphics max frequency1.35 GHz1.1 GHz
InTru 3D+-

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported32
eDP++
DisplayPort++
HDMI++
SDVO++
CRT++

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960.

PCIe version3.02.0
PCI Express lanes1616

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.

i7-3940XM 3.82
+497%
Pentium B960 0.64

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.

i7-3940XM 5840
+493%
Pentium B960 985

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.

i7-3940XM 645
+98.5%
Pentium B960 325

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.

i7-3940XM 2153
+305%
Pentium B960 532

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i7-3940XM 5252
+84.2%
Pentium B960 2851

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.

i7-3940XM 20564
+274%
Pentium B960 5500

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i7-3940XM 7176
+222%
Pentium B960 2231

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.

i7-3940XM 6.98
+380%
Pentium B960 33.48

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i7-3940XM 7
+343%
Pentium B960 2

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i7-3940XM 1.62
+88.4%
Pentium B960 0.86

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i7-3940XM 3.7
+2076%
Pentium B960 0.2

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i7-3940XM 41
+339%
Pentium B960 9

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i7-3940XM 161
+212%
Pentium B960 52

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i7-3940XM 4124
+202%
Pentium B960 1367

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.82 0.64
Recency 3 September 2012 3 October 2011
Physical cores 4 2
Threads 8 2
Chip lithography 22 nm 32 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 55 Watt 35 Watt

i7-3940XM has a 496.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 months, 100% more physical cores and 300% more threads, and a 45.5% more advanced lithography process.

Pentium B960, on the other hand, has 57.1% lower power consumption.

The Core i7-3940XM is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium B960 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-3940XM and Pentium B960, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i7-3940XM
Core i7-3940XM
Intel Pentium B960
Pentium B960

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Community ratings

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