AMD A10-7700K vs Intel Core i7-3960X

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Combined performance score

i7-3960X
5.47
+163%

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 163% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

Comparing Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking10551767
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money2.400.46
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
SeriesCore i7 (Desktop)AMD A-Series (Desktop)
Architecture codenameSandy Bridge-E (2011−2013)Godaveri (2014−2018)
Release date14 November 2011 (12 years old)14 January 2014 (10 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$861$152
Current price$170 (0.2x MSRP)$87 (0.6x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance per price, higher is better.

i7-3960X has 422% better value for money than A10-7700K.

Technical specs

Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K 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 cores6 (Hexa-Core)4 (Quad-Core)
Threads124
Base clock speed3.3 GHz3.5 GHz
Boost clock speed3.9 GHz3.8 GHz
L1 cache64 KB (per core)256 KB
L2 cache256 KB (per core)4096 KB
L3 cache15 MB (shared)0 KB
Chip lithography32 nm28 nm
Die size435 mm2246 mm2
Maximum core temperature67 °C72 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)67 °C74 °C
Number of transistors2,270 million1,178 million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
Unlocked multiplierYesYes

Compatibility

Information on Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K 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
SocketFCLGA2011FM2+
Power consumption (TDP)130 Watt95 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVXSSE1-4a, AVX, AES, FMA4, VT
AES-NI++
FMAno data+
AVX++
FRTCno data1
FreeSyncno data1
PowerTuneno data-
DualGraphicsno data1
TrueAudiono data+
PowerNowno data+
PowerGatingno data+
Out-of-band client managementno data+
VirusProtectno data+
HSAno data1
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0no data
Hyper-Threading Technology+no data
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring+no data
Smart Response+no data
Demand Based Switching-no data
StatusDiscontinuedno data

Security technologies

Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT-no data
EDB+no data
Identity Protection+no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K are enumerated here.

AMD-Vno data+
VT-d+no data
VT-x+no data
EPT+no data
IOMMU 2.0no data+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR3-2133
Maximum memory size64 GBno data
Max memory channels42
Maximum memory bandwidth51.2 GB/sno data
ECC memory support-no data

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardno dataAMD Radeon R7 Graphics
iGPU core countno data6
Number of pipelinesno data384
Endurono data+
Switchable graphicsno data1
UVDno data+
VCEno data+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K integrated GPUs.

DisplayPortno data+
HDMIno data+

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectXno dataDirectX® 12
Vulkanno data1

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K.

PCIe version2.03.0
PCI Express lanes40no 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.

i7-3960X 5.47
+163%
A10-7700K 2.08

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 163% in our combined benchmark results.


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%

i7-3960X 8397
+163%
A10-7700K 3197

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 163% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 20%

i7-3960X 5014
+66.9%
A10-7700K 3004

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 67% in Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 19%

i7-3960X 27190
+177%
A10-7700K 9821

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 177% in Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 19%

i7-3960X 8330
+85.1%
A10-7700K 4500

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 85% in 3DMark06 CPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 18%

i7-3960X 5.12
+168%
A10-7700K 13.7

A10-7700K outperforms Core i7-3960X by 168% in wPrime 32.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

i7-3960X 11
+205%
A10-7700K 3

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 205% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core.

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

Benchmark coverage: 15%

i7-3960X 1158
+306%
A10-7700K 285

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 306% in Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core.

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made 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 (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

Benchmark coverage: 15%

i7-3960X 159
+91.6%
A10-7700K 83

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 92% in Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

i7-3960X 1.52
+61.7%
A10-7700K 0.94

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 62% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 5.2
+148%
A10-7700K 2.1

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 148% in TrueCrypt AES.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 4205
+100%
A10-7700K 2098

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 100% in WinRAR 4.0.

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.  

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 173
+57.3%
A10-7700K 110

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 57% in x264 encoding pass 1.

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.  

Benchmark coverage: 13%

i7-3960X 55
+137%
A10-7700K 23

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 137% in x264 encoding pass 2.

3DMark Fire Strike Physics

Benchmark coverage: 4%

i7-3960X 12460
+254%
A10-7700K 3520

Core i7-3960X outperforms A10-7700K by 254% in 3DMark Fire Strike Physics.

Gaming performance

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 5.47 2.08
Recency 14 November 2011 14 January 2014
Physical cores 6 4
Threads 12 4
Cost $861 $152
Chip lithography 32 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 130 Watt 95 Watt

The Core i7-3960X is our recommended choice as it beats the A10-7700K in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-3960X and A10-7700K, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite CPU.


Intel Core i7-3960X
Core i7-3960X
AMD A10-7700K
A10-7700K

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