Core 2 Duo SL9600 vs Phenom II X4 P960

Aggregate performance score

Phenom II X4 P960
2010
4 cores / 4 threads, 25 Watt
0.97
+102%
Core 2 Duo SL9600
2009
2 cores / 2 threads, 17 Watt
0.48

Phenom II X4 P960 outperforms Core 2 Duo SL9600 by a whopping 102% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking24962913
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Series4x AMD Phenom IIIntel Core 2 Duo
Power efficiency3.652.66
Architecture codenameChamplain (2010−2011)Penryn (2008−2011)
Release date19 October 2010 (14 years ago)1 March 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$316

Detailed specifications

Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600 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 cores4 (Quad-Core)2 (Dual-core)
Threads42
Base clock speedno data2.13 GHz
Boost clock speed1.8 GHz2.13 GHz
Bus rate3600 MHz1066 MHz
L1 cache512 KB128 KB
L2 cache2 MB6 MB
L3 cacheno data6 MB L2 Cache
Chip lithography45 nm45 nm
Die sizeno data107 mm2
Maximum core temperatureno data105 °C
Number of transistorsno data410 Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
VID voltage rangeno data1.05V-1.15V

Compatibility

Information on Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600 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.

SocketS1 (S1g4)BGA956
Power consumption (TDP)25 Watt17 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsMMX, 3DNow, SSE (1,2,3,4A), AMD64, Enhanced Virus Protection, Virtualization, HyperTransport 3.0no data
VirusProtect+-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)no data+
Turbo Boost Technologyno data-
Hyper-Threading Technologyno data-
Demand Based Switchingno data-
FSB parityno data-

Security technologies

Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXTno data+
EDBno data+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600 are enumerated here.

AMD-V+-
VT-xno data+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3no 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.


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.

Phenom II X4 P960 0.97
+102%
Core 2 Duo SL9600 0.48

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.

Phenom II X4 P960 1542
Core 2 Duo SL9600 2054
+33.2%

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.

Phenom II X4 P960 5354
+63.2%
Core 2 Duo SL9600 3281

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.

Phenom II X4 P960 24
+79.6%
Core 2 Duo SL9600 43.1

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 0.97 0.48
Recency 19 October 2010 1 March 2009
Physical cores 4 2
Threads 4 2
Power consumption (TDP) 25 Watt 17 Watt

Phenom II X4 P960 has a 102.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.

Core 2 Duo SL9600, on the other hand, has 47.1% lower power consumption.

The Phenom II X4 P960 is our recommended choice as it beats the Core 2 Duo SL9600 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom II X4 P960 and Core 2 Duo SL9600, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite CPU.


AMD Phenom II X4 P960
Phenom II X4 P960
Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600
Core 2 Duo SL9600

Similar processor comparisons

We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.

Community ratings

Here you can see how users rate the processors, as well as rate them yourself.


3.7 171 vote

Rate Phenom II X4 P960 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
5 7 votes

Rate Core 2 Duo SL9600 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about Phenom II X4 P960 or Core 2 Duo SL9600, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.