Core i7-720QM vs Phenom II X4 N970
Aggregated performance score
General info
Comparing Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 2287 | 2282 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | 4x AMD Phenom II | Intel Core i7 |
| Architecture codename | Champlain (2010−2011) | Clarksfield (2009−2010) |
| Release date | 16 December 2010 (13 years old) | 23 September 2009 (14 years old) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $546 |
| Current price | no data | $418 (0.8x MSRP) |
Technical specs
Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM 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) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | no data | 1.6 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.2 GHz | 2.8 GHz |
| Bus support | 3600 MHz | 2500 MHz |
| L1 cache | 512 KB | 64 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 2 MB | 256 KB (per core) |
| L3 cache | no data | 6 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 45 nm |
| Die size | no data | 296 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 100 °C |
| Number of transistors | no data | 774 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | No | No |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM 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 | no data | 1 |
| Socket | S1 | FCPGA988,PGA988 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 45 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | no data | - |
| vPro | no data | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | 1.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| Idle States | no data | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | no data | + |
| PAE | no data | 36 Bit |
| Status | no data | Discontinued |
Security technologies
Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | no data | + |
| EDB | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM are enumerated here.
| VT-d | no data | + |
| VT-x | no data | + |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | no data | DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 8 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 21 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | no data | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | None |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM.
| PCIe version | no data | 2 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 16 |
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.
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%
Core i7-720QM outperforms Phenom II X4 N970 by 1% in Passmark.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 42%
Core i7-720QM outperforms Phenom II X4 N970 by 25% in GeekBench 5 Single-Core.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 42%
Phenom II X4 N970 outperforms Core i7-720QM by 5% in GeekBench 5 Multi-Core.
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%
Core i7-720QM outperforms Phenom II X4 N970 by 61% 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%
Core i7-720QM outperforms Phenom II X4 N970 by 23% 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%
Core i7-720QM outperforms Phenom II X4 N970 by 2% 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%
Phenom II X4 N970 outperforms Core i7-720QM by 7% 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%
Core i7-720QM outperforms Phenom II X4 N970 by 17% in Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Recency | 16 December 2010 | 23 September 2009 |
| Threads | 4 | 8 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 35 Watt | 45 Watt |
We couldn't decide between Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM. The differences in performance seem too small.
Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom II X4 N970 and Core i7-720QM, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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