i7-2960XM Extreme vs Xeon E3-1290 v2

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	1369	not rated
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.74	no data
Market segment	Server	Laptop
Series	no data	Intel Core i7EE
Architecture codename	Ivy Bridge (2012−2013)	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)
Release date	14 May 2012 (12 years ago)	4 September 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$885	$1,096

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme 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	8	8
Base clock speed	3.7 GHz	no data
Boost clock speed	4.1 GHz	2.7 GHz
Bus type	no data	DMI 2.0
Bus rate	5 GT/s	4 × 5 GT/s
Multiplier	no data	27
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	256 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	1 MB
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	8 MB
Chip lithography	22 nm	32 nm
Die size	160 mm2	216 mm2
Number of transistors	1,400 million	1160 Million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme 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 (Uniprocessor)
Socket	FCLGA1155	Socket G2
Power consumption (TDP)	87 Watt	55 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX	no data
AES-NI	+	+
FMA	-	+
AVX	+	+
vPro	no data	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	no data
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	no data
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	+	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data
Status	Discontinued	no data

Security technologies

Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	no data
Identity Protection	+	-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme are enumerated here.

VT-d	+	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3-1600
Maximum memory size	32.77 GB	32 GB
Max memory channels	2	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	25.598 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

no data

Intel HD Graphics 3000

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme.

PCIe version

3.0

no data

Pros & cons summary

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Recency	14 May 2012	4 September 2011
Chip lithography	22 nm	32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	87 Watt	55 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E3-1290 v2 and Core i7-2960XM Extreme, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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