Pentium D 960 vs Xeon E5-2650

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	1201	2759
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	3.34	no data
Market segment	Server	Desktop processor
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge-EP (2012)	Presler (2006−2007)
Release date	6 March 2012 (12 years ago)	23 April 2006 (18 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$91	no data
Current price	$46 (0.5x MSRP)	$149

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960 have a nearly equal value for money.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960 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	8 (Octa-Core)	2 (Dual-core)
Threads	16	2
Base clock speed	2 GHz	3.6 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.8 GHz	3.6 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	16 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	2 MB (per die)
L3 cache	20480 KB (shared)	0 KB
Chip lithography	32 nm	65 nm
Die size	435 mm2	2x 81 mm2
Maximum core temperature	77 °C	C1=69 °C, D0=63 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)	no data	69 °C
Number of transistors	2,270 million	376 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	No
VID voltage range	no data	1.2V-1.3375V

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960 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	2	1
Socket	FCLGA2011	LGA775,PLGA775
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	130 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	no data
AES-NI	+	-
AVX	+	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	-	no data
Demand Based Switching	+	-
PAE	no data	32 Bit
FSB parity	no data	-
Status	Discontinued	Discontinued

Security technologies

Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	-
EDB	+	+
Identity Protection	-	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR1, DDR2, DDR3
Maximum memory size	384 GB	no data
Max memory channels	4	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	51.2 GB/s	no data
ECC memory support	+	-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

no data

On certain motherboards (Chipset feature)

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960.

PCIe version	3.0	no data
PCI Express lanes	40	no 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.

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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.

Xeon E5-2650 outperforms Pentium D 960 by 819% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	4.78	0.52
Recency	6 March 2012	23 April 2006
Physical cores	8	2
Threads	16	2
Chip lithography	32 nm	65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	130 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2650 and Pentium D 960, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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