Pentium Extreme Edition 955 vs Phenom II X4 B97
Aggregate performance score
Phenom II X4 B97 outperforms Pentium Extreme Edition 955 by a whopping 433% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 2381 | 3401 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 2.36 | no data |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Desktop processor |
| Power efficiency | 1.63 | 0.22 |
| Designer | AMD | Intel |
| Manufacturer | no data | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Deneb (2009−2011) | Presler (2005−2007) |
| Release date | 11 May 2010 (15 years ago) | 27 December 2005 (19 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $100 | $999 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Phenom II X4 B97 and Pentium Extreme Edition 955 have a nearly equal value for money.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X4 B97 and Pentium Extreme Edition 955 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 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 3.466 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 0.47 GHz |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 16 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 2 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 6 MB (shared) | no data |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 65 nm |
| Die size | 258 mm2 | 2x 81 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 69 °C |
| Number of transistors | 758 million | 376 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | no data |
| Unlocked multiplier | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X4 B97 and Pentium Extreme Edition 955 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 |
| Socket | AM3 | 775 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 130 Watt |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 B97 and Pentium Extreme Edition 955 are enumerated here.
| VT-x | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X4 B97 and Pentium Extreme Edition 955. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR1, DDR2, DDR3 Depends on motherboard |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | On certain motherboards (Chipset feature) |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X4 B97 and Pentium Extreme Edition 955.
| PCIe version | 2.0 | no data |
Synthetic benchmarks
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.
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. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 1.44 | 0.27 |
| Recency | 11 May 2010 | 27 December 2005 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 130 Watt |
Phenom II X4 B97 has a 433.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, 100% more physical cores, a 44.4% more advanced lithography process, and 36.8% lower power consumption.
The AMD Phenom II X4 B97 is our recommended choice as it beats the Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 in performance tests.
Other comparisons
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