Atom C3538 vs Phenom II X4 P960
Aggregate performance score
Atom C3538 outperforms Phenom II X4 P960 by a significant 24% 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 | 2808 | 2649 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 0.04 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Server |
| Series | 4x AMD Phenom II | Intel Atom |
| Power efficiency | 1.49 | 3.07 |
| Designer | AMD | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Champlain (2010−2011) | Goldmont (2016−2017) |
| Release date | 19 October 2010 (15 years ago) | 15 August 2017 (8 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $75 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
Phenom II X4 P960 and Atom C3538 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 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | no data | 2.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1.8 GHz | 2.1 GHz |
| Bus rate | 3600 MHz | no data |
| Multiplier | no data | 21 |
| L1 cache | 512 KB | 224 KB |
| L2 cache | 2 MB | 8 MB |
| L3 cache | no data | 8 MB |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 14 nm |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 87 °C |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom II X4 P960 and Atom C3538 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 (Uniprocessor) |
| Socket | S1 (S1g4) | FCBGA1310 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 25 Watt | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X4 P960 and Atom C3538. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | MMX, 3DNow, SSE (1,2,3,4A), AMD64, Enhanced Virus Protection, Virtualization, HyperTransport 3.0 | no data |
| AES-NI | - | + |
| VirusProtect | + | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | no data | + |
| QuickAssist | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | - |
Security technologies
Phenom II X4 P960 and Atom C3538 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| EDB | no data | + |
| Secure Boot | no data | + |
| SGX | no data | - |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 P960 and Atom C3538 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| 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 P960 and Atom C3538. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4: 2133 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 256 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 29.871 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | - | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom II X4 P960 and Atom C3538.
| PCIe version | no data | 3 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 12 |
| USB revision | no data | 3 |
| Total number of SATA ports | no data | 12 |
| Number of USB ports | no data | 8 |
| Integrated LAN | no data | 2x10/2.5/1 GBE + 2x2.5/1 GBE |
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.
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.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.88 | 1.09 |
| Recency | 19 October 2010 | 15 August 2017 |
| Chip lithography | 45 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 25 Watt | 15 Watt |
Atom C3538 has a 23.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 221.4% more advanced lithography process, and 66.7% lower power consumption.
The Intel Atom C3538 is our recommended choice as it beats the AMD Phenom II X4 P960 in performance tests.
Be aware that Phenom II X4 P960 is a notebook processor while Atom C3538 is a server/workstation one.
Other comparisons
We've compiled a selection of CPU comparisons, ranging from closely matched processors to other comparisons that may be of interest.
