Pentium B970 vs Phenom X3 8400
Aggregate performance score
Phenom X3 8400 outperforms Pentium B970 by a small 7% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in performance ranking | 2542 | 2588 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 7.32 | no data |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Intel Pentium |
| Architecture codename | Toliman (2008) | Sandy Bridge (2011−2013) |
| Release date | March 2008 (16 years ago) | 16 January 2012 (12 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $125 |
| Current price | $9.95 | $174 (1.4x MSRP) |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970 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 | 3 (Tri-Core) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 3 | 2 |
| Base clock speed | no data | 2.3 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.1 GHz | 2.3 GHz |
| Bus support | no data | 4 × 5 GT/s |
| L1 cache | 128 KB (per core) | 128 KB |
| L2 cache | 512 KB (per core) | 512 KB |
| L3 cache | 2 MB (shared) | 2 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 65 nm | 32 nm |
| Die size | 285 mm2 | 131 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 85 °C |
| Number of transistors | 450 million | 504 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
| Unlocked multiplier | No | No |
Compatibility
Information on Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970 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 | AM2+ | FCPGA988 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 35 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | no data | - |
| FMA | no data | + |
| 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 | no data | + |
| Flex Memory Access | no data | + |
| Demand Based Switching | no data | - |
| FDI | no data | + |
| Fast Memory Access | no data | + |
| Status | no data | Discontinued |
Security technologies
Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970 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 X3 8400 and Pentium B970 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | no data |
| VT-d | no data | - |
| VT-x | no data | - |
| EPT | no data | - |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | no data | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 16 GB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | no data | 21.3 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | no data | - |
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 | 1.15 GHz |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | no data | 2 |
| eDP | no data | + |
| DisplayPort | no data | + |
| HDMI | no data | + |
| SDVO | no data | + |
| CRT | no data | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970.
| PCIe version | no data | 2.0 |
| 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.
Phenom X3 8400 outperforms Pentium B970 by 7% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
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%
Phenom X3 8400 outperforms Pentium B970 by 8% 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%
Pentium B970 outperforms Phenom X3 8400 by 96% 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%
Pentium B970 outperforms Phenom X3 8400 by 9% in GeekBench 5 Multi-Core.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 0.75 | 0.70 |
| Physical cores | 3 | 2 |
| Threads | 3 | 2 |
| Chip lithography | 65 nm | 32 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 35 Watt |
Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970.
Note that Phenom X3 8400 is a desktop processor while Pentium B970 is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions on choice between Phenom X3 8400 and Pentium B970, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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.
