Pentium B950 vs Phenom II X4 980 BE
Primary details
Comparing Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | 2769 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Intel Pentium |
| Power efficiency | no data | 1.70 |
| Architecture codename | Deneb (2009−2011) | Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) |
| Release date | 3 May 2011 (13 years ago) | 19 June 2011 (13 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $134 |
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950 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) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 4 | 2 |
| Base clock speed | 3.7 GHz | 2.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.7 GHz | 2.1 GHz |
| Bus type | no data | DMI 2.0 |
| Bus rate | no data | 4 × 5 GT/s |
| Multiplier | no data | 21 |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 256K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 6 MB (shared) | 2 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 32 nm |
| Die size | 258 mm2 | 131 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 85 °C |
| Number of transistors | 758 million | 504 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | - |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950 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 | AM3 | PGA988 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 35 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2 |
| FMA | - | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
| My WiFi | no data | - |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | - |
| Idle States | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | - | + |
| Flex Memory Access | no data | + |
| Demand Based Switching | no data | - |
| FDI | no data | + |
| Fast Memory Access | no data | + |
Security technologies
Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | no data | - |
| EDB | no data | + |
| Anti-Theft | no data | - |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | no data | - |
| VT-x | no data | - |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 16 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 21.335 GB/s |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | Intel® HD Graphics for 2nd Generation Intel® Processors |
| Graphics max frequency | no data | 1.1 GHz |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | no data | 2 |
| eDP | no data | + |
| DisplayPort | - | + |
| HDMI | - | + |
| SDVO | no data | + |
| CRT | no data | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 16 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 3 May 2011 | 19 June 2011 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 2 |
| Threads | 4 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 32 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 35 Watt |
Phenom II X4 980 BE has 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.
Pentium B950, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 month, a 40.6% more advanced lithography process, and 257.1% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950. We've got no test results to judge.
Note that Phenom II X4 980 BE is a desktop processor while Pentium B950 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom II X4 980 BE and Pentium B950, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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