Atom Z500 vs Core i7-950
Primary details
Comparing Core i7-950 and Atom Z500 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 1813 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.74 | no data |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | Core i7 (Desktop) | Intel Atom |
| Architecture codename | Bloomfield (2008−2010) | Silverthorne (2008−2010) |
| Release date | June 2009 (15 years ago) | 2 April 2008 (16 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $290 | $45 |
| Current price | $178 (0.6x MSRP) | $702 (15.6x MSRP) |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Core i7-950 and Atom Z500 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) | 1 (Single-Core) |
| Threads | 8 | 1 |
| Base clock speed | 3.06 GHz | no data |
| Boost clock speed | 3.33 GHz | 0.8 GHz |
| Bus support | 1333 MHz | 400 MT/s |
| L1 cache | 64 KB (per core) | 56 KB |
| L2 cache | 256 KB (per core) | 512 KB |
| L3 cache | 8 MB (shared) | 0 KB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | 263 mm2 | 24.18 mm27.8 mm × 3.1 mm |
| Maximum core temperature | 68 °C | 90 °C |
| Number of transistors | 731 million | 47 Million |
| 64 bit support | + | - |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | No | No |
| VID voltage range | no data | 0.80 -1.1V |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-950 and Atom Z500 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 | FCLGA1366 | PBGA441 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 0.65 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-950 and Atom Z500. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® SSE2, Intel® SSE3, Intel® SSSE3 |
| AES-NI | - | no data |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 1.0 | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | + |
| Idle States | + | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | - | + |
| Demand Based Switching | - | + |
| PAE | 36 Bit | no data |
| FSB parity | no data | - |
| Status | Discontinued | Discontinued |
Security technologies
Core i7-950 and Atom Z500 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | - |
| EDB | + | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-950 and Atom Z500 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | no data | - |
| VT-x | + | - |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-950 and Atom Z500. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | no data |
| Maximum memory size | 24 GB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 3 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 25.6 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | - | no 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.
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%
Atom Z500 outperforms Core i7-950 by 1329% in wPrime 32.
Pros & cons summary
| Physical cores | 4 | 1 |
| Threads | 8 | 1 |
| Cost | $290 | $45 |
We couldn't decide between Core i7-950 and Atom Z500. We've got no test results to judge.
Note that Core i7-950 is a desktop processor while Atom Z500 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-950 and Atom Z500, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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